The Firefox 87 web browser was released. In addition, an update to the long-term support branch 78.9.0 was created. The Firefox 88 branch has been transferred to the beta testing stage, the release of which is scheduled for April 20.
Main innovations:
- When using the search function and activating the Highlight All mode, the scroll bar now displays marks to indicate the position of the found keys.
- Removed rarely used items from the Library menu. Only links to bookmarks, history and downloads are left in the Library menu (synced tabs, recent bookmarks and the Pocket list have been removed). In the screenshot below, on the left is the state as it was, and on the right is as it was in Firefox 87:
- The Web Developer menu has been significantly simplified - individual links to tools (Inspector, Web Console, Debugger, Network Style Error, Performance, Storage Inspector, Accessibility and Application) have been replaced with a general Web Developer Tools item.
- The Help menu has been simplified, removing links to support pages, keyboard shortcuts, and a tour tour, which are now available on the general Get Help page. The button for importing from another browser has been removed.
- Added SmartBlock mechanism, which solves problems on sites that arise due to blocking of external scripts in private browsing mode or when enhanced blocking of unwanted content (strict) is activated. Among other things, SmartBlock allows you to significantly increase the performance of some sites that are slowing down due to the inability to load script code for tracking. SmartBlock automatically replaces the scripts used for tracking with stubs that ensure the site loads correctly. Stubs are prepared for some popular user tracking scripts included in the Disconnect list, including scripts with Facebook, Twitter, Yandex, VKontakte and Google widgets.
- The Backspace key handler is disabled by default outside the context of input forms. The reason for removing the handler is that the Backspace key is actively used when typing in forms, but when not in focus on the input form, it is treated as a move to the previous page, which can result in the loss of typed text due to unintentional movement to another page. To return the old behavior, the browser.backspace_action option has been added to about:config.
- The formation of the Referer HTTP header has been changed. By default, the “strict-origin-when-cross-origin” policy is set, which implies cutting out paths and parameters when sending a request to other hosts when accessing via HTTPS, removing the Referer when switching from HTTPS to HTTP, and passing the full Referer for internal transitions within one site. The change will apply to normal navigation requests (following links), automatic redirects, and when loading external resources (images, CSS, scripts). For example, when following a link to another site via HTTPS, instead of “Referer: https://www.example.com/path/?arguments”, “Referer: https://www.example.com/” is now transmitted.
- For a small percentage of users, Fission mode is enabled, implementing a modernized multi-process architecture for stricter page isolation. When Fission is activated, pages from different sites are always placed in the memory of different processes, each of which uses its own isolated sandbox. In this case, the division by process is carried out not by tabs, but by domains, which allows you to further isolate the contents of external scripts and iframe blocks. You can manually enable Fission mode on the about:preferences#experimental page or through the “fission.autostart=true” variable in about:config. You can check whether it's enabled on the about:support page.
- The experimental implementation of the mechanism for quickly opening TCP connections (TFO - TCP Fast Open, RFC 7413), which allows you to reduce the number of connection setup steps by combining the first and second steps of the classic 3-step connection negotiation process into one request, has been removed and makes it possible to send data to the initial stage of establishing a connection. By default, TCP Fast Open mode was disabled and required a change in about:config to activate (network.tcp.tcp_fastopen_enable).
- In accordance with the changes made to the specifications, the entry of the element has been stopped into checks using the pseudo-classes “:link”, “:visited” and “:any-link”.
- Removed non-standard values for the caption-side CSS parameter - left, right, top-outside and bottom-outside (the setting layout.css.caption-side-non-standard.enabled is provided to return).
- The "beforeinput" event and the getTargetRanges() method are enabled by default, allowing web applications to override text editing behavior before the browser changes the DOM tree and gain greater control over input events. The "beforeinput" event is sent to the handler or another element with the "contenteditable" attribute set before the element's value is changed. The getTargetRanges() method provided by the inputEvent object returns an array with values that indicate how much of the DOM will be changed if the input event is not canceled.
- For web developers, in the page inspection mode, the ability to simulate “prefers-color-scheme” media queries has been implemented to test dark and light designs without switching themes in the operating system. To enable the simulation of dark and light themes, buttons with the image of the sun and moon have been added in the upper right corner of the toolbar for web developers.
- In the inspection mode, the ability to activate the “:target” pseudo-class for the selected element has been added, similar to the previously supported pseudo-classes “:hover”, “:active”, “:focus”, “:focus-within”, “:focus- visible" and ":visited".
- Improved handling of inactive CSS rules in CSS inspection mode. Specifically, the "table-layout" property is now made inactive for non-table elements, and the "scroll-padding-*" properties are marked inactive for non-scrollable elements. Removed erroneous property flag "text-overflow" for some values.
In addition to innovations and bug fixes, Firefox 87 fixes 12 vulnerabilities, of which 7 are marked as dangerous. 6 vulnerabilities (collected under CVE-2021-23988 and CVE-2021-23987) are caused by memory problems such as buffer overflows and access to already freed memory areas. These issues can potentially lead to malicious code being executed when specially designed pages are opened.
The Firefox 88 branch, which has entered beta testing, is notable for its support for pinch scaling on touchpads in Linux with graphical environments based on the Wayland protocol and the inclusion by default of support for the AVIF image format (AV1 Image Format), which uses intra-frame compression technologies from the AV1 video encoding format.
Source: opennet.ru