My Browser Builds (Part 5)

[NotHereToPlayGames]

There are several polyfills for Mozilla's lacking link preload.  I've not tried any of them.

Just a few -
https://github.com/jonathantneal/preloadfill/blob/master/package.json
https://github.com/digitalkaoz/preload-polyfill
https://github.com/aFarkas/link-preload

[modnar]

12 hours ago, XPerceniol said:

Wow ... https://www.tomsguide.com:

Looks 'all over the place' with Mypal68 as well.

Same tomshardware.com in Serpent 52.9, but I seldomly go there anyway...

[UCyborg]

Tom's Guide uses CSS layers, the issue for those was opened about a month ago.

Another example of a broken site in other ways:

https://www.apple.com/si/iphone-15-pro/specs/

JavaScript syntax error, missing pictures, though JavaScript doesn't seem to be required to display those, enabling JavaScript breaks pictures. Seems empty GIF is inserted into picture tags, the GIF is then selected for display.

Edited April 29 by UCyborg

[VistaLover]

On 4/28/2024 at 2:37 AM, Mathwiz said:

I half expected v117, the last version for Windows 7,

... IIANM , the last (stable) version of Mozilla Firefox that has "official" native support for Windows 7 SP1 (both 32 & 64-bit) is the ESR channel of v115, currently at version 115.10.0 ...

On 4/28/2024 at 5:00 AM, Mathwiz said:

I would've expected them to require at least the WebP fix, which V115 lacks.

... Release channel Fx-115.0 does indeed lack that fix, however that's NOT the case for the ESR channel of 115 (patched version was 115.2.1):

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2023-40/

[VistaLover]

On 4/28/2024 at 12:07 PM, UCyborg said:

Moonchild mentioned a workaround - set
dom.forms.button.standards_compliant to false on about:config page
and restart the browser (page reload is not enough).

Many thanks for taking this "upstream" ; indeed, I now fully recollect that martok was/is responsible for creating that pref and the underlying code that is behind it (UXP #2030) ; actually, I had that pref toggled (to false) in my St52 "dirty" profile, but not in my "minimal" NM28 profile...

Toggling that pref was necessary for me (in St52) for GitHub's "sake"; prior to Dec 2023, when a GH repo was being displayed in "Commit List View" (e.g. like that), a button is provided to the right of each commit entry to easily copy (with one click) the commit's HASH:

Read more in a now closed Palefill issue ...

However, after the mid-December 2023 "massacre" , GitHub have replaced their previous code (in many places, including the "Commit List View" mode) with "legacy-web-engines-excluding", "heavily-CPU+GPU+RAM-taxing" ReactJS scripts and, under the new status quo, toggling the referenced pref is no longer required for GH's re-iteration of the "Copy-SHA-button" ...

Edited May 1 by VistaLover

[VistaLover]

On 4/28/2024 at 3:00 PM, UCyborg said:

But then they'll keep making more Chromium exclusive web pages...

... But, isn't this the case already for the past, say, 4-5 yrs? Most websites, at least those that matter the most to everyone this day and age (e.g. social media, media portals, government and state agencies sites, bank sites etc.), have been (and will continue to be) optimised to render best on Chrome and "associated" web engines (Firefox included); Moonchild himself has said that :

Quote

Unfortunately Github is a prayer without end as they explicitly do not support Pale Moon and want to use the latest drafts the moment they get wind of them.

so this "trend" of GH's will continue no matter whether I choose to stay with a UXP-based browser (St52) - and suffer constant distress when using GH "there" - or whether I move on to a Chromium-based browser that renders today's GH satisfactorily ...

[VistaLover]

On 4/29/2024 at 12:12 AM, Mathwiz said:

I cannot understand why MCP still hasn't addressed link rel="preload" in UXP. It's been an issue for a long time, it breaks major sites like Micro$oft's, and (although I'll admit I don't know enough to be sure) it doesn't seem like something that would be all that hard to implement.

... Partial implementation inside latest (33.1.0) Pale Moon release:

Quote

v33.1.0 (2024-04-23)

This is a development, stability and security release.

New features:

Implemented support for single-use <link rel=preload> meta tag. This implementation allows use of it without specifying a second <link rel={type}> meta tag to actually load the linked document which was originally intended for this tag (to hint to a browser it should pre-load the document for fast painting)

[NotHereToPlayGames]

1 hour ago, VistaLover said:

But, isn't this the case already for the past, say, 4-5 yrs?

In my not-so-humble-opinion - "good".

"Turnaround is fair play" - I remember the day when web developers developed for Firefox and did not care about other browsers!

Especially nested tables and column widths, at least that's the one that comes to mind.

You'd ask for assistance with something in IE (more so than Chrome back in the Firefox "and nobody else" era) on a web site like RyanVM or WinCert (perhaps even MSFN, was not here at the time) and you would have a HUNDRED "switch to Firefox" replies before your IE enquiry was even SEEN by anybody willing to offer assistance.

 

St52 is my secondary (to Ungoogled Chromium v114) and I also keep a NM28 profile updated.

So not "dissing" Firefox-based or Mozilla-based or UXP-based, not even sure what to call 'em, lol.

I'm just *beside myself* when I recall the thousands upon thousands of "switch to Firefox" posts I've read over the last couple of decades.

It's not exactly like Firefox / Mozilla has really "cared" about their userbase (ie, extension support).

 

But hey, maybe Manifest V3 will be Chrome / Chromium shooting itself in the foot.

The more choices we have, the better.  Tough one, to be honest.  Too many Linux distros didn't exactly help that cause.

So just how many brower choices is "good" and how many is "bad"?  No clue.

Edited May 1 by NotHereToPlayGames

[VistaLover]

On 4/28/2024 at 3:00 PM, UCyborg said:

more and more sites that have the problem as exhibited on https://www.tomsguide.com/?

On 4/28/2024 at 10:42 PM, NotHereToPlayGames said:

Too many folks tend to think that javascript is the problem that makes modern sites no longer "work" on older browsers.
But that problem has nothing to do with javascript, it's a css issue

On 4/28/2024 at 11:05 PM, AstroSkipper said:

In the case of https://www.tomsguide.com/, I have to agree with you. It really looks like a CSS issue.
But in general, both, JavaScript and CSS, are the main causer for a breakage of websites.

... Over the course of several previous years, "we" (UXP-users) have witnessed how the platform, in agony, struggled to cope with whatever new Javascript "feature" Google devs came up with, the most notorious of them being the non-polyfillable "operators" ("?.", "??"; read this excellent write-up by @InterLinked); at the time, I was semi-convinced that JS operators such as those would deal the final blow to UXP; thankfully, some talented UXP coders came up with own implementations of these operators, thus UXP was "saved" - but for how long?

I'll have to side with NHTPG and, to a good extent, AstroSkipper that the last nail on UXP's  coffin will be a "new" CSS-related "improvement" (sprinkle with a generous dose of sarcasm here ), implemented in a mixture of CSS code inside/alongside JS code (which seems to be the trend recently ); in the case of UXP, MCP's upstream (Mozilla) have CSS features implemented in Servo/Rust, so MCP can't backport easily, if at all, Mozilla code for these and get away with it; CSS-related UXP issues will keep piling up inside their tracker, with very dim prospect ... Case in point is a CSS bug that has been affecting GitHub in particular for many months now, it was acknowledged exactly one year ago, but so far no activity at all towards a resolution ...

On 4/29/2024 at 1:25 PM, UCyborg said:

Tom's Guide uses CSS layers, the issue for those was opened about a month ago.

This particular "feature" was implemented only in Chromium 99, so it does "invalidate" the popular 360EEv13 and/or KafanMiniBrowser variants on XP/Vista x86; only implemented in Firefox 97, thus putting Mypal68 out of the game, too; if it weren't for the new "additions" (Supermium and its semi-fork Thorium) that appeared at a most opportune time , "we" retro-OS-ers (I just devised this term, ) would have run out of options...

Edited May 3 by VistaLover
better English

[UCyborg]

15 hours ago, VistaLover said:

... But, isn't this the case already for the past, say, 4-5 yrs? Most websites, at least those that matter the most to everyone this day and age (e.g. social media, media portals, government and state agencies sites, bank sites etc.), have been (and will continue to be) optimised to render best on Chrome and "associated" web engines (Firefox included);

Guess I'm lucky I'm not everyone and Pale Moon still manages all "important" sites. The latter have certainly gotten worse, though I don't care about GitHub, X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, DRM encumbered media...pretty much don't care for 99% of the internet.

Don't care about Firefox either, it has become a (buggy) monstrosity I don't recognize anymore and I have no time nor interest for seeking workarounds for stuff that recently worked as expected. I've set it up quite some time ago for the family member, assuming it will be "safer" option than Pale Moon...well that was a mistake, Firefox doesn't play videos properly anymore on a humble 5 years old laptop with Intel HD 610, it either lags and the sound is screwed up (with HW acceleration) or it lags and the sound is OK (without HW acceleration). Put Pale Moon on it and it's been smooth sailing ever since.

[dmiranda]

True that - but I prefer sp52 to pm. My rule is: for work related websites (unless unnecessarily scripted) sp2, for social mypal68. For sites that don't work in those two, supermium, or else tablet or linux mint laptop.

[dmiranda]

Wrong thread

Edited May 3 by dmiranda

[Sampei.Nihira]

5 hours ago, dmiranda said:

YT works as I like it, plain portal with functional search and (which I don't like) bloated full of ads play, in vanilla supermium. In my usual profile (now ungoogled or not), neither portal nor search bar show up. So it's something in the many tweaks and settings that used to work, even in this site, in the previous version.

I also note that somehow I managed to get rid of google.com as search engine. Still, I'm only left with bing or yahoo as search engine options. I wonder where and how to include other search engines.

On a positive note: chrome processes don't hang open after closing supermium, when the switches instructing it to do so are in place.

Aslo: switch compact-ui cuts tabs in half, but the font is not affected, leaving the lettering in the tab title cut in half.

Hi,

If it is a Firefox-based browser you should add the search engine from the address bar.
First search for the engine you want to add.
In the image I used StartPage (not my search engine).
Then right click with the mouse and follow the directions with the red arrow:

Edited May 3 by Sampei.Nihira

[dmiranda]

57 minutes ago, Sampei.Nihira said:

If it is a Firefox-based browser you should add the search engine from the address bar.

Sorry. I meant to put that comment in the supermium thread.

[AstroSkipper]

6 hours ago, dmiranda said:

YT works as I like it, plain portal with functional search and (which I don't like) bloated full of ads play, in vanilla supermium. In my usual profile (now ungoogled or not), neither portal nor search bar show up. So it's something in the many tweaks and settings that used to work, even in this site, in the previous version.

I also note that somehow I managed to get rid of google.com as search engine. Still, I'm only left with bing or yahoo as search engine options. I wonder where and how to include other search engines.

On a positive note: chrome processes don't hang open after closing supermium, when the switches instructing it to do so are in place.

Aslo: switch compact-ui cuts tabs in half, but the font is not affected, leaving the lettering in the tab title cut in half.

I think you posted in the wrong thread. This is about @roytam1's browsers and not Supermium. There are no Chrome processes here, fortunately.

Edited May 3 by AstroSkipper
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