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[[File:Firefox.png|thumb|right|A true furry hero.]]


'''Firefox''' is a free and open source [[browsers|web browser]] developed and maintained by the Mozilla Foundation. It is known for its high degree of customisability through add-ons and its adherence to Web standards.
{{note| Try to keep this page up-to-date by updating the status of the extensions and patches.}}
{{Browser Infobox
|name= Mozilla Firefox
|image= [[file:NuFox.png|64px]]
|type= Free
|layout= Gecko
|website= [https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/]
}}
'''Firefox''' is a free and open source [[browsers|web browser]] developed and maintained by Mozilla. It is known for its high degree of customization through add-ons and its adherence to Web standards.


== Official Branches ==
==Official branches==


''Unfortunately, [https://support.mozilla.org/kb/firefox-36-no-longer-supported the v3.6.x series of Firefox is now unsupported]. It will no longer receive security or stability updates.''
''Unfortunately, [https://support.mozilla.org/kb/firefox-36-no-longer-supported the v3.6.x series of Firefox is now unsupported]. It will no longer receive security or stability updates. Please use Pale Moon for those olde-skool aesthetics.''


Mozilla offers six officially compiled branches or channels of Firefox. These are ESR, Stable, Beta, Aurora, Nightly, and UX.
Mozilla offers five officially compiled branches or channels of Firefox. These are Release, Beta, Dev Edition, Nightly, and [[ESR (Software)|ESR]].


*The [https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/organizations/all/ Extended support release or ESR] branch of Firefox is geared towards large organisations who require long-term support for mass deployments, but it is can also be a good option for the technologically illiterate. It remains static for approximately one year after a major release, receiving new code only in the form of security and stability patches.
* The [https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/ Release] branch of Firefox is geared towards the the average home or office Web user. It receives a major update every four weeks if all goes according to plan, but security and stability patches are issued as needed in the meantime.


*The [https://www.getfirefox.com/ Stable] branch of Firefox is geared towards the the average home or office Web user. It receives a major update every six weeks if all goes according to plan, but security and stability patches are issued as needed in the meantime.
*The [https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/beta/ Beta] branch of Firefox is geared towards home users who want to try new features a few weeks early while contributing to Firefox development. It is generally quite stable with most remaining bugs being specific to certain configurations or drivers. In the course of a typical six week beta run, there are between seven and thirteen builds released.  


*The [https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/channel/#beta Beta] branch of Firefox is geared towards home users who want to try new features a few weeks early while contributing to Firefox development. It is generally quite stable with most remaining bugs being specific to certain configurations or drivers. In the course of a typical six week beta run, there are between seven and thirteen builds released.
*The [https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/developer/ Developer Edition] or alpha branch of Firefox is geared towards Web developers and includes extra development tools and a special theme. Some instability and bugs should be expected.


*The [https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/channel/#aurora Aurora] or alpha branch is intended for testing and debugging purposes, but it is more suitable for general use than Nightly. Naturally, some instability and a few bugs are to be expected.
*The [https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/ Nightly] or pre-alpha branch is intended for testing and debugging purposes. It represents the bleeding edge of Firefox development, so the likelihood of encountering instability, security vulnerabilities, and major bugs is high. As the name implies, Nightly typically receives patches on a day-to-day basis and new features as soon as they become ready.


*The [https://nightly.mozilla.org/ Nightly] or pre-alpha branch is intended for testing and debugging purposes. It represents the bleeding edge of Firefox development, so the likelihood of encountering instability, security vulnerabilities, and major bugs is high. As the name implies, Nightly typically receives patches on a day-to-day basis and new features as soon as they become ready. Oddly, it is the only official branch in which native 64-bit builds for Windows are offered.
*The [https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/organizations/ Extended support release or ESR] branch of Firefox is geared towards large organizations who require long-term support for mass deployments, but it is can also be a good option for the home user. It remains static for approximately one year after a major release, receiving new code only in the form of security and stability patches.


*The [https://people.mozilla.org/~jwein/ux-nightly/ UX (Nightly)] branch is a clone of the Nightly branch used to début and test user interface changes like the Australis project before they are added to Nightly. At the time of this writing, UX builds appear to be identical to standard Nightly builds.
==Notable forks==


== Notable Forks ==
Due to the free and open source nature of its code base, Firefox has given rise to several forks.
 
*[http://www.palemoon.org/ Pale Moon] is a fork of Firefox dedicated to providing the classic user interface layout of the v3.6.x series while maintaining support for [https://github.com/JustOff/ca-archive old XUL addons]. It uses a fork of the Gecko rendering engine called Goanna. For a complete list of the differences between Pale Moon and Firefox, see [http://www.palemoon.org/technical.shtml#Firefox_Differences this page]. Note: it's made by a furry who has a fursona named Moonchild. He has art and has written furry stories. His furry website is [http://www.moonchildproductions.info/ here].
 
*The [https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en Tor Browser Bundle] is a package designed specifically to visit Onion sites and to browse the Internet through the Tor network.
**[https://mullvad.net/en/browser Mullvad Browser] is a fork of Tor developed by a VPN company, intended for use on the clearnet.
 
*[https://librewolf-community.gitlab.io/ LibreWolf] Is a fork designed to increase protection against tracking and fingerprinting techniques, removing all telemetry, data collection and annoyances, as well as disabling anti-freedom features like DRM.
 
==Add-Ons==
 
===Adblocking, privacy, and security===
[[File:uBlock.png|48px]] '''uBlock Origin'''
 
[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/ uBlock Origin] is a lightweight and low-resource adblocker. Has many filter lists built in, with EasyList, Peter Lowe’s Ad server list, EasyPrivacy, and Malware domains enabled by default.
 
*Can fully replace NoScript in advanced mode and outperform it, whilst offering more features.
*Able to replace ClearURLs by adding [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DandelionSprout/adfilt/master/LegitimateURLShortener.txt LegitmateURLShortner list].
*Not to be confused with 'uBlock', an EXTREMELY outdated fork with some very slight changes to the UI.
* If you feel bad about blocking advertisements, make a deal with yourself: you'll stop blocking ads when major international internet companies stop [http://uk.businessinsider.com/yahoos-advertising-network-is-being-targeted-by-hackers-malwarebytes-says-2015-8?r=US&IR=T serving]  [https://blog.malwarebytes.org/malvertising-2/2015/08/large-malvertising-campaign-takes-on-yahoo/ malware].
*Supports the WebExtensions API.
 
[[File:LocalCDN.png|48px]] '''LocalCDN'''
 
[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/localcdn-fork-of-decentraleyes/ LocalCDN] is an updated fork of Decentraleyes, emulates remote frameworks (e.g. jQuery, Bootstrap, AngularJS) and delivers them as local resource. Prevents unnecessary 3rd party requests to Google, StackPath, MaxCDN and more.
 
[[File:ClearURLs.png|48px]] '''ClearURLs'''
 
[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/clearurls/ ClearURLs] is a extension that automatically removes useless tracking elements from URLs
 
[[File:MultiAccountContainer.png|48px]] '''Multi Account Containers''' 
 
[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account-containers/ Multi Account Containers] is an extension by Mozilla that lets you filter your browser's cookies into "groups".
 
===Customisation===
'''Stylus'''
 
[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/styl-us/ Stylus] lets you customise websites by setting custom CSS for them. It is a replacement for the previously recommended add-on Stylish, which was brought out by a company and is now [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/styl-us/ spyware that steals browsing history] and more.


Due to the free and open source nature of its code base, Firefox has given rise to several forks.
[[File:Treestyletabs.png|48px]] '''Tree Style Tabs''' 
 
[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/ Tree Style Tabs] shows tabs like a tree.
 
'''OneLiner'''
 
[https://github.com/khuedoan98/one-line-firefox OneLiner] is custom CSS that puts all the different bars at the top of the page, into a single bar (URLs, tabs, etc all on the same line).


*[https://gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/ GNU IceCat] is a fork maintained by the GNU Project for those who happen to be of one mind with [[Richard Stallman]]. In addition to removing and replacing the copyrighted or trademarked parts of Firefox, the maintainer has added a couple of minor privacy and security features.
===Usability===
[[File:FxIF.png|48px]] '''WxIF'''


*[http://packages.debian.org/wheezy/iceweasel Iceweasel] is a fork maintained by the Debian Project. It is designed to allow the project to back-port as it pleased without running afoul of Mozilla's trademarks.
[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/wxif/ WxIF] is a WebExt port of the legacy add-on FxIF. A tool to view EXIF data in image properties.


*[http://www.palemoon.org/ Pale Moon] is a fork of Firefox ESR dedicated to providing an optimised Firefox with the classic user interface layout of the v3.6.x series. Pale Moon is offered in both [http://www.palemoon.org/download-ng.shtml 32-bit] and [http://www.palemoon.org/palemoon-x64.shtml 64-bit] builds, and uses a fork of the Gecko rendering engine called Goanna. For a complete list of the differences between Pale Moon and Firefox, see [http://www.palemoon.org/technical.shtml#Firefox_Differences this page].
[[File:ViolentMonkey.png|48px]] '''Violentmonkey'''


*The [https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en Tor Browser Bundle] is a package designed specifically for the purposes of visiting Onion sites and browsing the Internet through the Tor network.
[https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/violentmonkey/ Violentmonkey] allows you to install and manage custom [[Browsers#Recommended_User_Scripts |userscripts]].


*[https://www.waterfoxproject.org/ Waterfox] is a highly optimised build of Firefox for 64-bit systems running Windows. Unfortunately, it is rarely updated.
[[File:Redirector.png|48px]] '''Redirector'''


== Notable Add-Ons ==
[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/redirector/ Redirector] automatically redirects to user-defined URLs on a per-hyperlink basis.


[[File:Tree-style-tabs.png|thumb|Tree Style Tabs]]
'''Vimium-FF'''


=== Adblocking, privacy, and security ===
[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/vimium-ff/ Vimium-FF] offers vim bindings via WebExt. However all WebExt extensions offering vim bindings are limited and will not work as well as they should (you will still need the mouse), due to how WebExt/nu-firefox works.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/betterprivacy/ BetterPrivacy] — Manages and auto destroys flash cookies, aka super cookies.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/blender-1/ Blender] — Automatically spoofs your user agent string to another popular one.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/certificate-patrol/ Certificate Patrol] — Discover when certs have changed.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookie-monster/ Cookie Monster] — Manages cookies permissions.
* <del>[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/disconnect/ Disconnect] — lets you visualize and block the otherwise invisible websites that track your search and browsing history.</del> Use [https://www.eff.org/privacybadger/ PrivacyBadger] instead, as it's directly maintained by the EFF and is completely free and open source, unlike Disconnect. No point in using this if you're already using uBlock and/or uMatrix.
* [https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere HTTPS-Everywhere] — Encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure. If you can only install a couple of add-ons, this should be one of them.
* [https://code.google.com/p/https-finder/downloads/list HTTPS Finder] — Detects available https and creates HTTPS Everywhere rules.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript/ NoScript] — Allows JavaScript, Java and other executable content to run only from trusted domains of your choice.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/policeman/ Policeman] [[https://github.com/futpib/policeman/commits/master Not under active development], [https://github.com/futpib/policeman/issues buggy]] — Invaluable privacy and security addon that gives you precise control over what web requests are allowed. Create rules based on domain name and type of resource being requested. This single addon renders Adblock, NoScript<sup>1</sup> and RequestPolicy mostly useless.
**<sup>1</sup> Cannot replace NoScript's surrogate script functionality (which is very, VERY rarely used anyway). uBlock has a similar [https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Experimental-filters feature called redirect], whose purpose is to redirect blocked resources to neutered contents.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/refcontrol/ RefControl] — Control what gets sent as the HTTP Referer on a per-site basis.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/requestpolicy/ RequestPolicy] — Controls cross-site requests. Discontinued.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/self-destructing-cookies/ Self-Destructing Cookies] — Auto deletes cookies after tab close.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/priv8/ Priv8] — a Firefox addon that uses part of the security model of Firefox OS to create sandboxed tabs and manage them. Updated infrequently and might be incompatible with certain addons.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/session-manager/ SessionManager] — Along with many other features allows you to encrypt your Firefox session.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/ uBlock Origin] — A lightweight and low-resource adblocker. Has many filter lists built in, with EasyList, Peter Lowe’s Ad server list, EasyPrivacy, and Malware domains enabled by default. Can fully replace NoScript in advanced mode and outperform it, whilst offering more features.
** Not to be confused with 'uBlock', an EXTREMELY outdated fork with some very slight changes to the UI.
** If you feel bad about blocking advertisements, make a deal with yourself: You'll stop blocking ads when major international internet companies stop [http://uk.businessinsider.com/yahoos-advertising-network-is-being-targeted-by-hackers-malwarebytes-says-2015-8?r=US&IR=T serving]  [https://blog.malwarebytes.org/malvertising-2/2015/08/large-malvertising-campaign-takes-on-yahoo/ malware].
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/umatrix/ uMatrix] — Made by the creator of uBlock, uMatrix is a high performance matrix-based firewall that supports hosts files, capable of blocking a myriad of objects, complete with per-hostname and global toggles, as well as plenty of privacy oriented features. Able to replace NoScript<sup>1</sup>, policeman, and request policy continued. Can be used with uBlock.
* [http://chrispederick.com/work/user-agent-switcher/ User Agent Switcher] — Spoofs your user-agent string to any value of your choice.


=== Customisability ===
'''Other Vim Binding Options'''
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/classicthemerestorer/ Classic Theme Restorer] — Extensive GUI options to make Firefox look like old Firefox.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/ Tree Style Tabs] — Show tabs like a tree.


=== Dev tools ===
There is a [https://breeze.d0ty.me/vim/wiki/Vim_key_bindings_for_web_browsers list] on the vim Wiki that goes over all the vim extensions/add-ons.
* [https://livehttpheaders.mozdev.org/ LiveHTTPHeaders] — View HTTP headers, includes generator and filter.  


=== Usability ===
==Ricing==
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/fxif/ FxIF] — View EXIF data in image properties.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/ Greasemonkey] — Manages [[Browsers#Recommended_User_Scripts | Userscripts]].
** The [https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/scriptish/ Scriptish] fork of this add-on that was once popular on /g/ is no longer recommended.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/redirector/ Redirector] — Automatically redirects to user-defined urls on a per hyperlink basis.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/singing-stallman/ Singing Stallman] — The Singing Stallman icon bides its time in the toolbar, waiting to be invoked in your time of need.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/stylish/ Stylish] — Create and use custom CSS styles for any website you want.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/vimfx/ VimFx] — [[Vim]] bindings without changes in the UI.
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/youtube-center/ YouTube Center] — Enhances YouTube. It is recommended that you use the [https://github.com/YePpHa/YouTubeCenter/wiki/Developer-Version developer version], as per their wiki.


== Tweaking ==
You can edit Firefox's appearance with [[CSS]] (Cascading Style Sheets). To be more general, you can alter ANY web page with CSS. This is achieved with the usage of userstyles. To use and take complete advantage of them, you need a userstyle manager. A repository of userstyles can be found at [https://userstyles.world/ userstyles.world].


Below are options in [about:config about:config] worth considering.
==Config ==


* dom.storage.enabled FALSE - Disable "client-side session and persistent storage" cookies. (bad for 8ch - the replies hypelinks next to the post number disappears)
Below are options in '''about:config''' worth considering. Instead of doing this manually, consider visiting [https://ffprofile.com/ ffprofile] to do this much easier and install extensions as well.
* geo.enabled FALSE - Disable location data.
* general.useragent.override - Create as a String value and insert your own useragent.
** [http://techblog.willshouse.com/2012/01/03/most-common-user-agents/ Dynamically updated list of common user agents]
* network.dns.disablePrefetch TRUE - Stop Firefox looking up IP addresses of links of the page you haven't/aren't going to.
* network.http.pipelining TRUE - Possible speedup for some servers (send multiple files through one connection).
* network.http.pipelining.max-optimistic-requests 8 - Total number of pipelines.
* network.http.pipelining.ssl TRUE - Pipeline with HTTPS sites.
* network.http.proxy.pipelining TRUE - Pipleline through proxy connections.
* network.http.sendRefererHeader - 0 = never (bad for 8ch), 1 = domain only, 2 = full url (default)
* network.prefetch-next FALSE - Don't download pages linked to the current page unless we click the link.
* dom.event.clipboardevents.enabled FALSE - Don't allow webpages to mess with the clipboard.
* dom.disable_window_move_resize TRUE - Don't allow webpages to move or resize the browser window.
* dom.ipc.plugins.flash.subprocess.crashreporter.enabled FALSE - Don't report flash plugin crashes.
* media.autoplay.enabled FALSE - Don't autoplay media.
* media.peerconnection.enabled FALSE - Important for VPN users. Don't allow p2p downloading of media.
* pdfjs.disabled TRUE - Don't run javascript within the builtin pdf viewer.
* reader.parse-on-load.enabled FALSE - disable "reader view"
* browser.pocket.enabled FALSE - disable pocket
* network.http.speculative-parallel-limit 0 - don't create connections to links [http://news.slashdot.org/story/15/08/14/2321202/how-to-quash-firefoxs-silent-requests you only hover over]


For a privacy conscious user.js, study https://github.com/crisbrm/user.js for a user.js that comes with minimal breakage, or https://github.com/pyllyukko/user.js for one with even more emphasis on security (occasionally at the cost of functionality, like when you completely disable DOM storage, for instance), and less emphasis on blending in.
*'''dom.storage.enabled''' ''FALSE'' - Disable "client-side session and persistent storage" cookies (bad for 8ch - the replies hyperlinks next to the post number disappears).
*'''geo.enabled''' ''FALSE'' - Disable location data.
*'''general.useragent.override''' - Create as a String value and insert your own useragent.
**[http://techblog.willshouse.com/2012/01/03/most-common-user-agents/ Dynamically updated list of common user agents].
* '''network.dns.disablePrefetch''' ''TRUE'' - Stop Firefox looking up IP addresses of links of the page you haven't/aren't going to.
*'''network.http.pipelining''' ''TRUE'' - Possible speedup for some servers (send multiple files through one connection).
*'''network.http.pipelining.max-optimistic-requests''' ''8'' - Total number of pipelines.
*'''network.http.pipelining.ssl''' ''TRUE'' - Pipeline with HTTPS sites.
* '''network.http.proxy.pipelining''' ''TRUE'' - Pipleline through proxy connections.
*'''network.http.sendRefererHeader''' - ''0'' = never (bad for 8ch), ''1'' = domain only, ''2'' = full url (default).
*'''network.prefetch-next''' ''FALSE'' - Don't download pages linked to the current page unless we click the link.
*'''dom.event.clipboardevents.enabled''' ''FALSE'' - Don't allow webpages to mess with the clipboard.
*'''dom.disable_window_move_resize''' ''TRUE'' - Don't allow webpages to move or resize the browser window.
*'''dom.ipc.plugins.flash.subprocess.crashreporter.enabled''' ''FALSE'' - Don't report flash plugin crashes.
* '''media.autoplay.enabled''' ''FALSE'' - Don't autoplay media.
*'''media.peerconnection.enabled''' ''FALSE'' - Important for VPN users. Don't allow p2p downloading of media.
* '''pdfjs.disabled''' ''TRUE'' - Don't run javascript within the builtin PDF viewer.
*'''reader.parse-on-load.enabled''' ''FALSE'' - disable "reader view".
*'''browser.pocket.enabled''' (or '''extensions.pocket.enabled''') ''FALSE''  - disable pocket.
*'''network.http.speculative-parallel-limit''' ''0'' - don't create connections to links [http://news.slashdot.org/story/15/08/14/2321202/how-to-quash-firefoxs-silent-requests you only hover over].
*'''dom.push.connection.enabled''' ''FALSE'' - Disable push notifications (FF44+).
*'''dom.push.enabled''' ''FALSE'' - (as above).
*'''dom.webnotifications.enabled''' ''FALSE'' - (as above).
*'''dom.webnotifications.serviceworker.enabled''' ''FALSE'' - (as above).
*'''loop.enabled''' ''FALSE'' - Disable loop/conversation calling features.
* '''browser.urlbar.unifiedcomplete''' ''FALSE'' - Disables the "Search With" popup when typing into the location bar.
*'''media.ffmpeg.enabled''' ''FALSE'' (linux only as of FF44) - Disable mp4 playback through ffmpeg, to stop ffmpeg bugs breaking your Firefox.
*'''media.eme.apiVisible''' ''FALSE'' - Stops pages from using a JavaScript library for DRM (Digital Rights Management/Digital Restrictions Management) in html video.


== External links ==
*'''media.eme.enabled''' ''FALSE'' - (as above).


* [https://github.com/CrisBRM/user.js Panopticlick compliant guide]
For a privacy conscious user.js, create your own with [https://ffprofile.com ffprofile], or consider [https://github.com/arkenfox/user.js Arkenfox] for one with even more emphasis on security (occasionally at the cost of functionality, like when you completely disable DOM storage, for instance), and less emphasis on blending in.
* [http://www.logicalincrements.com/firefox/ Falcon's Firefox /g/uide.]
* [https://gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/addons.html A list of free software add-ons compiled by the GNU Project.]


To compare a myriad of privacy-conscious user.js files, use jm42's [https://jm42.github.io/compare-user.js/ compare-user.js]
[[Category:Browser]]
[[Category:Browser]]
[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:HowTo]]
[[Category:Recommendations]]

Latest revision as of 21:36, 7 December 2024

Note: Try to keep this page up-to-date by updating the status of the extensions and patches.
Mozilla Firefox
NuFox.png
Type Free
Layout engine Gecko
Website https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/

Firefox is a free and open source web browser developed and maintained by Mozilla. It is known for its high degree of customization through add-ons and its adherence to Web standards.

Official branches

Unfortunately, the v3.6.x series of Firefox is now unsupported. It will no longer receive security or stability updates. Please use Pale Moon for those olde-skool aesthetics.

Mozilla offers five officially compiled branches or channels of Firefox. These are Release, Beta, Dev Edition, Nightly, and ESR.

  • The Release branch of Firefox is geared towards the the average home or office Web user. It receives a major update every four weeks if all goes according to plan, but security and stability patches are issued as needed in the meantime.
  • The Beta branch of Firefox is geared towards home users who want to try new features a few weeks early while contributing to Firefox development. It is generally quite stable with most remaining bugs being specific to certain configurations or drivers. In the course of a typical six week beta run, there are between seven and thirteen builds released.
  • The Developer Edition or alpha branch of Firefox is geared towards Web developers and includes extra development tools and a special theme. Some instability and bugs should be expected.
  • The Nightly or pre-alpha branch is intended for testing and debugging purposes. It represents the bleeding edge of Firefox development, so the likelihood of encountering instability, security vulnerabilities, and major bugs is high. As the name implies, Nightly typically receives patches on a day-to-day basis and new features as soon as they become ready.
  • The Extended support release or ESR branch of Firefox is geared towards large organizations who require long-term support for mass deployments, but it is can also be a good option for the home user. It remains static for approximately one year after a major release, receiving new code only in the form of security and stability patches.

Notable forks

Due to the free and open source nature of its code base, Firefox has given rise to several forks.

  • Pale Moon is a fork of Firefox dedicated to providing the classic user interface layout of the v3.6.x series while maintaining support for old XUL addons. It uses a fork of the Gecko rendering engine called Goanna. For a complete list of the differences between Pale Moon and Firefox, see this page. Note: it's made by a furry who has a fursona named Moonchild. He has art and has written furry stories. His furry website is here.
  • The Tor Browser Bundle is a package designed specifically to visit Onion sites and to browse the Internet through the Tor network.
    • Mullvad Browser is a fork of Tor developed by a VPN company, intended for use on the clearnet.
  • LibreWolf Is a fork designed to increase protection against tracking and fingerprinting techniques, removing all telemetry, data collection and annoyances, as well as disabling anti-freedom features like DRM.

Add-Ons

Adblocking, privacy, and security

UBlock.png uBlock Origin

uBlock Origin is a lightweight and low-resource adblocker. Has many filter lists built in, with EasyList, Peter Lowe’s Ad server list, EasyPrivacy, and Malware domains enabled by default.

  • Can fully replace NoScript in advanced mode and outperform it, whilst offering more features.
  • Able to replace ClearURLs by adding LegitmateURLShortner list.
  • Not to be confused with 'uBlock', an EXTREMELY outdated fork with some very slight changes to the UI.
  • If you feel bad about blocking advertisements, make a deal with yourself: you'll stop blocking ads when major international internet companies stop serving malware.
  • Supports the WebExtensions API.

LocalCDN.png LocalCDN

LocalCDN is an updated fork of Decentraleyes, emulates remote frameworks (e.g. jQuery, Bootstrap, AngularJS) and delivers them as local resource. Prevents unnecessary 3rd party requests to Google, StackPath, MaxCDN and more.

ClearURLs.png ClearURLs

ClearURLs is a extension that automatically removes useless tracking elements from URLs

MultiAccountContainer.png Multi Account Containers

Multi Account Containers is an extension by Mozilla that lets you filter your browser's cookies into "groups".

Customisation

Stylus

Stylus lets you customise websites by setting custom CSS for them. It is a replacement for the previously recommended add-on Stylish, which was brought out by a company and is now spyware that steals browsing history and more.

Treestyletabs.png Tree Style Tabs

Tree Style Tabs shows tabs like a tree.

OneLiner

OneLiner is custom CSS that puts all the different bars at the top of the page, into a single bar (URLs, tabs, etc all on the same line).

Usability

FxIF.png WxIF

WxIF is a WebExt port of the legacy add-on FxIF. A tool to view EXIF data in image properties.

ViolentMonkey.png Violentmonkey

Violentmonkey allows you to install and manage custom userscripts.

Redirector.png Redirector

Redirector automatically redirects to user-defined URLs on a per-hyperlink basis.

Vimium-FF

Vimium-FF offers vim bindings via WebExt. However all WebExt extensions offering vim bindings are limited and will not work as well as they should (you will still need the mouse), due to how WebExt/nu-firefox works.

Other Vim Binding Options

There is a list on the vim Wiki that goes over all the vim extensions/add-ons.

Ricing

You can edit Firefox's appearance with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). To be more general, you can alter ANY web page with CSS. This is achieved with the usage of userstyles. To use and take complete advantage of them, you need a userstyle manager. A repository of userstyles can be found at userstyles.world.

Config

Below are options in about:config worth considering. Instead of doing this manually, consider visiting ffprofile to do this much easier and install extensions as well.

  • dom.storage.enabled FALSE - Disable "client-side session and persistent storage" cookies (bad for 8ch - the replies hyperlinks next to the post number disappears).
  • geo.enabled FALSE - Disable location data.
  • general.useragent.override - Create as a String value and insert your own useragent.
  • network.dns.disablePrefetch TRUE - Stop Firefox looking up IP addresses of links of the page you haven't/aren't going to.
  • network.http.pipelining TRUE - Possible speedup for some servers (send multiple files through one connection).
  • network.http.pipelining.max-optimistic-requests 8 - Total number of pipelines.
  • network.http.pipelining.ssl TRUE - Pipeline with HTTPS sites.
  • network.http.proxy.pipelining TRUE - Pipleline through proxy connections.
  • network.http.sendRefererHeader - 0 = never (bad for 8ch), 1 = domain only, 2 = full url (default).
  • network.prefetch-next FALSE - Don't download pages linked to the current page unless we click the link.
  • dom.event.clipboardevents.enabled FALSE - Don't allow webpages to mess with the clipboard.
  • dom.disable_window_move_resize TRUE - Don't allow webpages to move or resize the browser window.
  • dom.ipc.plugins.flash.subprocess.crashreporter.enabled FALSE - Don't report flash plugin crashes.
  • media.autoplay.enabled FALSE - Don't autoplay media.
  • media.peerconnection.enabled FALSE - Important for VPN users. Don't allow p2p downloading of media.
  • pdfjs.disabled TRUE - Don't run javascript within the builtin PDF viewer.
  • reader.parse-on-load.enabled FALSE - disable "reader view".
  • browser.pocket.enabled (or extensions.pocket.enabled) FALSE - disable pocket.
  • network.http.speculative-parallel-limit 0 - don't create connections to links you only hover over.
  • dom.push.connection.enabled FALSE - Disable push notifications (FF44+).
  • dom.push.enabled FALSE - (as above).
  • dom.webnotifications.enabled FALSE - (as above).
  • dom.webnotifications.serviceworker.enabled FALSE - (as above).
  • loop.enabled FALSE - Disable loop/conversation calling features.
  • browser.urlbar.unifiedcomplete FALSE - Disables the "Search With" popup when typing into the location bar.
  • media.ffmpeg.enabled FALSE (linux only as of FF44) - Disable mp4 playback through ffmpeg, to stop ffmpeg bugs breaking your Firefox.
  • media.eme.apiVisible FALSE - Stops pages from using a JavaScript library for DRM (Digital Rights Management/Digital Restrictions Management) in html video.
  • media.eme.enabled FALSE - (as above).

For a privacy conscious user.js, create your own with ffprofile, or consider Arkenfox for one with even more emphasis on security (occasionally at the cost of functionality, like when you completely disable DOM storage, for instance), and less emphasis on blending in.

To compare a myriad of privacy-conscious user.js files, use jm42's compare-user.js

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