New Firefox Beta Released With New User Interface, New Core Engine

[fr3d3r1ck]

 

Mozilla released earlier today the first beta versions of Firefox 57 that come with a new user interface — codenamed Photon — and a new core engine — codenamed Quantum.

 

For the people who lost track of Firefox releases, version 57 is the Firefox release that will make or break the browser's future.

 

There are many new features scheduled for the stable version of  Firefox 57, and many features introduced in previous releases will now be used at their full potential.

 

New browser core engine

 

For starters, the biggest update is under the hood. Firefox 57 will feature a new core engine that has slowly replaced parts of the ancient Gecko engine in previous Firefox releases.

 

This new engine is named Quantum and was announced last year as a savior for Firefox's sluggish Gecko engine that was built two decades ago, in 1997, for the now dead Netscape browser.

 

The new Quantum engine is coded in C++ and Rust, just like Gecko, but Rust is Quantum's main language, not C++.

 

Mozilla tested Quantum's performance inside an experimental browser called Servo, and during the past year, it has taken small parts and replaced Gecko's components with Quantum equivalents.

 

For example, Mozilla replaced Firefox's Gecko CSS engine with Quantum CSS (aka Stylo) last month in August. This has been happening all last year, and Firefox engineers have described the process as "replacing a jet engine while the plane is still in flight."

 

According to Mozilla, Quantum's addition has made Firefox 57 Beta and Firefox 57 Developer Editiontwice as fast as Firefox 52, the Firefox version released a year ago.

 

 

Mozilla attributes the speed boosts in Firefox 57 to previous features it added last year, such as support for multiple processes, which has allowed to split processes across all cores and cut down on RAM use by 30%.

 

In addition, Mozilla engineers said they fixed 468 small bugs in the past year alone, bugs which engineers claim were insignificant but were hampering overall performance, akin to death by a thousand papercuts.

 

"Today’s release is a major milestone in Project Quantum, but we’re not done," said Dan Callahan, Engineer with Mozilla Developer Relations.

 

"Future releases of Firefox will include Quantum Render, a brand new, GPU-optimized rendering pipeline based on Servo’s WebRender project, and Quantum DOM Scheduler, a new technique that ensures that tabs in the background can’t slow down your active tabs."

 

Firefox gets a facelift

 

The second main feature added in Firefox 57 Beta and Developer Edition is the Photon user interface, a new look for the entire browser.

 

Mozilla announced the Photon UI last year, and early sketches came to light in April this year. Since August, the Firefox Nightly edition provided an early look at Firefox's new UI, but now Photon has been added to the Beta and Developer Edition releases.

 

According to Mozilla, the new UI comes with support for High DPI displays and better handling on touch-enabled devices.

 

 

 

Right now, Firefox 57 — set for release on November 14 — looks like a groundbreaking and highly anticipated release. Unfortunately, things aren't that rosy, and some users look at the November 14 release date with fear.

 

The reason is that Firefox 57 will replace the old Add-ons API with the new WebExtensions API. This means that legacy add-ons that have not been ported to Firefox's new add-ons technology will stop working.

 

At the time of writing, there are only 4,609 Firefox add-ons marked as supporting Firefox 57 on the Mozilla Add-ons portal from a total of nearly 19,000. That's only around 25% of all legacy plugins, meaning that nearly 75% of all Firefox add-ons won't be available to users on the new version.

 

Fortunately, not all user use add-ons. According to anonymous telemetry data, 40% of Firefox users do not have add-ons installed on their browser.

 

Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/software/new-firefox-beta-released-with-new-user-interface-new-core-engine/

[Farquard]

I have been running this since the middle of the night, and find it an improvement over version 56 (x64).

[Karlston]

Thanks for the warning.

 

I'll be...

 

1. Keeping Updates set to "Never check for updates".

2. Stopping manual Firefox updates at 56.x.

3. Saving a copy of the 56.x full installer.

4. Saving copies of all the extensions I use as .xpi files.

 

These days I trust Mozilla about as much as I trust Microsoft, and it wouldn't surprise me if they clobber the old extensions to make it impossible to revert to 56.x and compatible (AKA functioning!) extensions.

[mantazzo]

I was surprised by that video added. It was not typical "it's the fastest browser" stuff, but I think almost half of the tests showed were won by Chrome - I found this surprising.

[pc71520]

November 14, 2017 is the date...

[dcs18]

Oh boy, am I glad I stayed put, with the Nightly (V56.)

[mancode20]

Is it possible to create a new profile for just Beta 57 without messing up my current 56 install? If so, how do I do that? I wish each release would use their own profiles, then just have an import option for all your settings and extensions. Did NoSquint Plus come out with a Web Extension yet? How do I turn on Quantum using 56 Beta 12, or is it just Electrolysis (E10s) renamed? One more question, which is very important...Can someone please for the love of God tell me how to turn off that annoying feature where when you drag a tab to re-order it, sometime it auto-closes the tab? There has to be an about:config option for that, right? Let me know please. Thanks!

[DEFIANT]

love this new version...firefox has come back swinging...this is how chrome should be...customizable. im sure with time there will be more extensions or whatever theyre calling them. for the mean time this version is doable.

[Smoore]

Very nice! I was unsure about the change until this version. Smooth, launches fast, pages load quick, customization as well. Not the Firefox we all knew, but that was built for a different era. Chrome extensions are showing up in the store now! I loved Firefox & was forced to use Chrome due to the way the web changed. After jumping on the Chrome bandwagon I would love to find all my usual extensions on Firefox, making it an easy transition back. I am awaiting Lastpass until I can fully convert to Firefox.

update:Bitwarden is an acceptable substitute for Lastpass until it is updated.

[Karlston]

9 hours ago, mancode20 said:

Is it possible to create a new profile for just Beta 57 without messing up my current 56 install?

 

IIRC, you can have multiple Firefox versions installed.

 

Just make sure you use the custom install option on the second install and install it to a different path than the current which is most likely "Mozilla Firefox". Use "Mozilla Firefox 2" or something...

 

Secondly, create a new profile for the second version and only use it in that version.

 

Google for "Firefox install different versions" for the details. GIYF

[Undertaker]

20 hours ago, dcs18 said:

Oh boy, am I glad I stayed put, with the Nightly (V56.)

Why you say so? Anything in the beta that you see troubling?

[dcs18]

The visuals — the GUI looks hideous as it cannot be pimped to match the cosmetics of my existing (legacy) copy.

[Undertaker]

Just now, dcs18 said:

The visuals — the GUI looks hideous as it cannot be pimped to match the cosmetics of my existing (legacy) copy.

I thought you liked the pre australis squared tabs, I certainly love them. And you gotta try the dark theme, I'm waiting for those to come in the stable release.

 

BTW, now you on same version number as the stable.

[dcs18]

Nope, Australis rocks for me — the new GUI does not meet my exacting standards:—

 

[Undertaker]

1 minute ago, dcs18 said:

Nope, Australis rocks for me — the new GUI does not meet my exacting standards:—

You never plan to leave CTR, do you?

What's with uBo and AG addons? Why using them and that too two of them?

You are not getting AGW's full mileage.

[dcs18]

I'm in the middle of a routine deployment — that's the time I need to re-install the ad. blockers being used on client machines (namely uBlock and uMatrix.)

[Undertaker]

Just now, dcs18 said:

I'm in the middle of a routine deployment — that's the time I need to re-install the ad. blockers being used on client machines (namely uBlock and uMatrix.)

I'm guessing that also means you reverting on an image without AGW installed? Sounds like too much work moving back and forth.

[dcs18]

Nah, it's just a TeamViewing deployment — all that is required is copying the Mozilla profile over to the client machines (Adguard does not come into this equation.)

[Undertaker]

1 minute ago, dcs18 said:

Nah, it's just a TeamViewing deployment — all that is required is copying the Mozilla profile over to the client machines (Adguard does not come into this equation.)

Do you remove the AG certificate from the profile?

 

I'm not sure I'm getting, you have uBo and uMatrix in client's and yourself use uBo and AG addon? So how's it syncing it right?

[dcs18]

I've got a separate profile for uBlock and uMatrix, specifically for deployment purposes.

[pc71520]

https://www.ghacks.net/2017/09/26/mozilla-firefox-quantum-twice-as-fast-as-firefox-months-ago/