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Firefox can handle fewer and fewer pages

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On my bank's web site, Firefox won't load the Bill Pay section. I have to use Chrome for that. On the Washington Post site, Firefox won't show the new style comments on articles. With a recent update, Firefox stopped showing all the pages on the Weather Underground site. With the latest update, Firefox now won't show the comments on articles on my local newspaper's site.

Increasingly, I am having to go into Chrome in order to do things -- but I don't like Chrome's interface. I like Firefox's customizability, but it is of no use to me if I can't see all the content I need to see.

On top of this, Firefox won't allow as many pages to be open as it used to, and it is always slowing down and/or crashing. The only version I ever liked was version 2.

On my bank's web site, Firefox won't load the Bill Pay section. I have to use Chrome for that. On the Washington Post site, Firefox won't show the new style comments on articles. With a recent update, Firefox stopped showing all the pages on the Weather Underground site. With the latest update, Firefox now won't show the comments on articles on my local newspaper's site. Increasingly, I am having to go into Chrome in order to do things -- but I don't like Chrome's interface. I like Firefox's customizability, but it is of no use to me if I can't see all the content I need to see. On top of this, Firefox won't allow as many pages to be open as it used to, and it is always slowing down and/or crashing. The only version I ever liked was version 2.

All Replies (12)

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A few versions ago, the margins changed, I think, and that can cause one row to disappear from the bottom.

What do you think about using zoom to fit more in the page, albeit with smaller captions? Hold down the Ctrl key and tap - once or twice to see whether that suits you.

Firefox may fail to remember your preferred zoom level on the new tab page when preloading is enabled. If you find that Firefox cannot remember the zoom level, here's how you disable preloading:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste newtab and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the browser.newtab.preload preference to switch its value from true to false

After the change, if you have any "new tab" pages open, close them, and open a new one, change the zoom setting, and now it should be remembered.

If you do not want to reduce the zoom level, the following extension has a rich set of options for styling the page: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/new-tab-tools/

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Sorry, but I don't understand what you are saying. I'm saying that Firefox is not displaying all the content of pages, and you are talking about zoom. Zooming in and out of a page doesn't cause the missing content to appear.

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I sympathize with you. There is a bug that prevents some pages from either fully loading or loading at all in Firefox. It will be fixed in 57. I have run across this problem on various website pages too since FF updated to 55.

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1379148

Have you tried starting Firefox in safe mode to see if any of your add-ons are the cause?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-slow-how-make-it-faster

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Hi Purebeads, there may be different reasons for these problems:

  • On my bank's web site, Firefox won't load the Bill Pay section. Do you get any error messages, or does the area just remain blank, or do you get a blank page?
  • On the Washington Post site, Firefox won't show the new style comments on articles. I'll give the general suggestions for missing content below (in addition to the ones already given).
  • With a recent update, Firefox stopped showing all the pages on the Weather Underground site. Same.
  • With the latest update, Firefox now won't show the comments on articles on my local newspaper's site. Same.

If the site is generally known to work in Firefox, these are general suggestions to try when it stops working:

Check for Tracking Protection: Firefox may block some off-site content associated with tracking services. When it does that, it will display a shield icon toward the left end of the address bar to help you manage the feature. Please see this article for more information: What happened to Tracking Protection?.

Cache and Cookies: When you have a problem with one particular site, a good "first thing to try" is clearing your Firefox cache and deleting your saved cookies for the site.

(1) Clear Firefox's Cache

See: How to clear the Firefox cache

If you have a large hard drive, this might take a few minutes. If you do not see the number going down on the page, you can reload it using Ctrl+r to check progress.

(2) Remove the site's cookies (save any pending work first). While viewing a page on the site, try either:

  • right-click (on Mac Ctrl+click) a blank area of the page and choose View Page Info > Security > "View Cookies"
  • (menu bar) Tools > Page Info > Security > "View Cookies"
  • click the padlock or "i" icon in the address bar, then the ">" button, then More Information, and finally the "View Cookies" button

In the dialog that opens, the current site should be pre-filled in the search box at the top of the dialog so you can remove that site's cookies individually.

Then try reloading the page. Does that help?

As goodwitch mentioned:

Testing in Firefox's Safe Mode: In Safe Mode, Firefox temporarily deactivates extensions, hardware acceleration, and some other advanced features to help you assess whether these are causing the problem.

If Firefox is not running: Hold down the Shift key when starting Firefox.

If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
  • Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

and OK the restart.

Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

Any improvement? (More info: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode)

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You can check the Web Console (Tools -> Web Developer) for messages about blocked content and about the presence of mixed or unsafe content.

You can check the Network Monitor to see if content is blocked or otherwise fails to load.

Use "Ctrl+F5" or "Ctrl+Shift+R" to reload the page and bypass the cache to generate a fresh log.

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First, the Bill Pay section of my bank's website doesn't show any error message when it doesn't display. There's a wheel which spins as it's loading, and it just sits there -- it doesn't even spin.

Here's what I did:

I turned on tracking. I cleared the cache. I restarted FF in safe mode. Doing all of this had only one effect: It allowed me to see article comments on my local newspaper site. But that was a capability that I lost with JUST the last upgrade. So I still can't see the new-style comments on Washington Post articles. I still can't see the Bill Pay section of my bank's web site.

As for Weather Underground (www.wunderground.com), I still can't see the 10-day forecast for my area. Now, this is a capability that I lost with the update before the last update. So with the last two updates, I have lost a capability with each one.

So three out of four problems were not fixed, and now I know that Firefox is responsible for those problems, not my extensions.

I stay with FF because I like that I can customize my tabs, but with version 57, the Tab Mix Plus extension will no longer work, so I won't be able to do that. Consequently, I'm NOT upgrading to version 57.

I don't understand Mozilla's stake in developing Firefox, but it seems to me that a non-profit project like this should be producing the best browser, but it isn't. Firefox has been a mess for a LONG TIME.

I just discovered that there are TWO valuable extensions that I'll lose if I upgrade to version 57, so I'm now stuck on version 56 forever. Indeed, I would like to backgrade to version 55 (to get back two of the items on my list). How can I do that?

Modified by Purebeads

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Just for the heck of it in case site uses Flash please use Abobe Flash Uninstaller https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-windows.html then get a new version https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/ Step 1: Select Operating System Step 2: Select A Version (Firefox, Win IE . . . .) Note: Other software is offered in the download. <Windows Only>

If something is corrupted it can effect pages.

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Hi Purebeads, I don't know if there is a common thread to the non-working sites. Sometimes it is very difficult to guess what setting might be involved -- if it is a setting.

Do you want to try:

New Profile Test

This takes about 3 minutes, plus the time to test your sites.

Inside Firefox, type or paste about:profiles in the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it.

Click the Create a New Profile button, then click Next. Assign a name like Oct2017, ignore the option to relocate the profile folder, and click the Finish button.

After creating the profile, scroll down to it and click the Set as default profile button below that profile, then scroll back up and click the Restart normally button. (There are some other buttons, but please ignore them.)

Firefox should exit and then start up using the new profile, which will just look brand new.

Do your sites work any better in the new profile?

When you are done with the experiment, open the about:profiles page again, click the Set as default profile button for your normal profile, then click the Restart normally button to get back to it.

Regarding Firefox 57:

I stay with FF because I like that I can customize my tabs, but with version 57, the Tab Mix Plus extension will no longer work, so I won't be able to do that.

In what ways do you like to customize the tabs?

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I'll try the new suggestions soon.

I found one more thing that Firefox won't display: The horizonal bar at the top of the re-designed PayPal pages. I have to use PayPal in Chrome.

Regarding customizing tabs, I have the Tab Close button on the right, not on every tab, and I like rows of tabs, not one long tab line that scrolls back and forth.

Can anyone recommend a browser that DOESN'T have the X (the close button) on every tab? I hate that.

Modified by Purebeads

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Purebeads said

Regarding customizing tabs, I have the Tab Close button on the right, not on every tab, and I like rows of tabs, not one long tab line that scrolls back and forth.

Can anyone recommend a browser that DOESN'T have the X (the close button) on every tab? I hate that.

Custom style rules can hide the individual tab close buttons, or hide them until you hover the tab. Custom style rules also can create a multi-line tab bar.

However, I doubt that custom style rules can add a new tab close button at the right end of the tab bar. If the individual buttons are completely hidden, you could close tabs using either right-click > Close Tab or to close the active tab, the Ctrl+w keyboard shortcut.

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Something interesting just happened. All the active windows in all my Firefox windows just crashed, giving me this message: "Gah. Your tab just crashed." This is new with version 56. Now I REALLY want to go back to version 55!

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Is that the first time you've ever seen the "Gah" message? When Firefox is using its multiprocess mode, instead of a crash closing Firefox completely, it shows that message.

Regarding Firefox 55, see: Install an older version of Firefox.