Firefox's New Tab Page Will Get Widgets - Including an AI-Powered Daily Crossword (omgubuntu.co.uk) 60
In a sign of the times, Firefox's New Tab page could soon include a crossword puzzle from AI-powered news platform Particle. The blog OMG Ubuntu reports:
The mini crossword game is updated daily, with puzzles based around recent content Particle's AI has ingested and summarised that day. [After solving the crossword, links appear to related news articles...] If you just want to try the crossword, you access it in any browser via a direct link.
While it may look like Mozilla is trying to capitalise on the Wordle craze several years too late, it's part of its strategy to make the Firefox new tab page a discover destination in itself, not just a springboard for new searches. The 'Daily Grind' crossword widget (name subject to change) is just one of several widgets Firefox has (or will get). You'll also find a to-do list, timer, stock checker, world clock, picture of the day, privacy report and new-look weather widget (bigger than the existing one). During the World Cup 2026, Firefox offered real-time match scores and fixture information too...
[T]hey aren't mandatory. You can disable the ones you don't want to use, or, if you don't want any at all, turn them all off to hide the widget area itself. A button to 'show fewer widgets' frees up room to allow other distractions (sponsored stories) on the new tab page to show... [Presumably you can also still open new tabs to a blank page...]
They're rolling out to users in certain region and locales already. Plus, Mozilla routinely tests new features with a small set of users before they hit stable builds (i.e., the "Allow Firefox to run feature studies" setting). If you don't have widgets in your Firefox build, but you want them, you can manually enable them in Firefox 153 and later from the about:config page. Search for the following master switch and set it to true to enable the widget area:
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.widgets.system.enabled
Then, enable the widgets you want to use by searching:
activity-stream.widgets.*.enabled
However, the usual caveats about "trying things not enabled by default" still apply. Mozilla hasn't set a firm rollout date, though the feature is already documented on its support site. With fortnightly Firefox releases about to start, and a big Nova redesign, chances are we'll all be puzzling over these widgets sooner rather than later.
While it may look like Mozilla is trying to capitalise on the Wordle craze several years too late, it's part of its strategy to make the Firefox new tab page a discover destination in itself, not just a springboard for new searches. The 'Daily Grind' crossword widget (name subject to change) is just one of several widgets Firefox has (or will get). You'll also find a to-do list, timer, stock checker, world clock, picture of the day, privacy report and new-look weather widget (bigger than the existing one). During the World Cup 2026, Firefox offered real-time match scores and fixture information too...
[T]hey aren't mandatory. You can disable the ones you don't want to use, or, if you don't want any at all, turn them all off to hide the widget area itself. A button to 'show fewer widgets' frees up room to allow other distractions (sponsored stories) on the new tab page to show... [Presumably you can also still open new tabs to a blank page...]
They're rolling out to users in certain region and locales already. Plus, Mozilla routinely tests new features with a small set of users before they hit stable builds (i.e., the "Allow Firefox to run feature studies" setting). If you don't have widgets in your Firefox build, but you want them, you can manually enable them in Firefox 153 and later from the about:config page. Search for the following master switch and set it to true to enable the widget area:
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.widgets.system.enabled
Then, enable the widgets you want to use by searching:
activity-stream.widgets.*.enabled
However, the usual caveats about "trying things not enabled by default" still apply. Mozilla hasn't set a firm rollout date, though the feature is already documented on its support site. With fortnightly Firefox releases about to start, and a big Nova redesign, chances are we'll all be puzzling over these widgets sooner rather than later.
Re: (Score:1)
Crossword puzzles are woke now?
Changes are not always improvements (Score:2)
So my main question in reaction to every Firefox upgrade remains: "Would I have paid for any change described here?"
Unable to remember the last time I answered "Yes". Perhaps never, though there are some changes that I have adapted my usage of Firefox to use after those changes were rammed down my throat. The vast majority of the changes remain ignored and simply add to the bunch of stuff that makes the browser more annoying and cumbersome. So Mozilla wonders why I don't send money?
However recently there is
priorities (Score:5, Insightful)
"were going to have laser focus on the browser and will be dropping pocket and fakeSpot as they are distrations"
months later..
"nah fuck that lets do crossword puzzles"
the mozilla roller-coaster continues I see.
Re: (Score:3)
It feels like they will try absolutely anything to reverse the falling user numbers, except improving the core browser.
New UI skin, crap on the new tab page, AI... Meanwhile tab management on Android still sucks and there is no passkey/TOTP handling in the password manager. Great job, Mozilla.
They could easily win back market share (Score:2)
The threat of using DRM to counteract such a m
Re: (Score:3)
They probably think that an ad blocker isn't original enough, because many other browsers have them. Not a unique selling point, and to be fair they are probably right.
Unfortunately there aren't any other good options for running uBO. Brave is shady, nothing else both supports full uBO and a reasonable set of other features. Firefox is the only choice.
Re: (Score:2)
the mozilla roller-coaster continues I see.
Do you think it's likely that the people who work on memory optimization and the high-performance Javascript JIT compiler are the same people who put together a fun little time-wasting homepage puzzle?
Firefox and Mozilla have definitely suffered from whiplash over the years when it comes to priorities, but when I get annoyed I try to remember that Firefox is still an open-source project that accepts contributions from everyone. Sometimes there will be features added just because it was an itch someone wante
Parasites (Score:5, Insightful)
Mozilla has too much money which attracts manager types who latch onto the host and eventually kill it.
This turned up in Firefox on CachyOS last week (Score:5, Interesting)
Over the last few weeks started getting increasing numbers of shortcut icons underneath my search bar on my default page - Amazon, Temu, etc,(with tiny "sponsored" text) and a couple of my most visited sites.
Then I started to get the mini-apps exhorting me to play this or look at that.
And then I went to FireFox's settings and set my new tab option to "blank".
There was a feedback popup when the tab loaded and I spent a little time telling them not to repeat the mistakes of other browsers cluttering up their landing pages. One of the few times I recommended taking a cue for Google, home page is clean, you hit it and jump off somewhere else, job done.
It's a tool and not a destination (Score:2)
Firefox and web browsers are a tool to do other things and not a destination.
Mozilla should have a once every 5 years a conclave and list the large advances in the web stack they have contributed or gotten adopted as ratified ECMA/W3C/ANSI standards.
Mindlessly pattering along adding micro-features is just adding complexity upon complexity yielding decay.
Re:It's a tool and not a destination (Score:5, Insightful)
There were a few different questions in the feedback popup before I finally answered.
One of them was "How delightful do you find the new home page layout?"
Oh yeah, DELIGHTFUL.
Look Mozilla, I don't get any delight out of opening a browser tab. Maybe, about 1994 or so, I had some delight in just getting NCSA Mosaic to open, so that I could connect via Trumpet Winsock to this crazy new thing called the World Wide Web, and look at some page that some guy at CERN built, and check out how full a coffee pot was with Netscape Navigator 0.9. Nowadays, it's a very small step in my task of "get out on the internet and find something", or "Open browser so I can click on a bookmark in the bookmark bar". Get out of my way and stop wasting CPU and bandwidth on stuff that I don't look at,
Re: (Score:2)
Right, but there's also capitalism.
make it stop (Score:5, Insightful)
HEY FIREFOX. Stop making your product worse. We don't need useless slop.
fixed (Score:5, Informative)
Settings > Home > New windows > Custom > about:blank
Settings > Home > New tabs > Blank Page
fixed
Re:fixed (Score:4, Insightful)
None of these "improvements" interest me in the least. All I want from Firefox is to support uBlock Origin, render web pages, and otherwise stay the fuck out of my way.
Re:fixed (Score:5, Interesting)
Thankfully, Firefox is extremely configurable, unlike most browsers. That which you can't do through settings, you can use about:config, policies, and UserChrome.css.
I don't mind them adding features that some users might want, as long as they can be turned off. And, so far, that has always been the case.
Re: (Score:2)
One shouldn't have to turn off yet another new, useless and unwanted setting or feature every couple of weeks.
It's acceptable, even if only just, with Vivaldi, where I also do get new features every couple of weeks – which, though, in 99% of cases are at least potentially useful and not just completely browser-unrelated gimmicks or even malware.
Re: (Score:2)
>"One shouldn't have to turn off yet another new, useless and unwanted setting or feature every couple of weeks."
It isn't every couple of weeks. More like couple of months. Of course, that is exactly why they also make Firefox ESR. Then you only deal with feature changes once a year. It is the version that most distros use.
Re: fixed (Score:2)
about:config does not exist in FireFox Android 153.0. it's been gone for several versions.
New Tab Override (Score:3)
I have the "New Tab Override" extension installed, it allows me to load my own local .html file for the new tab page.
My personal page has a 4x3 grid of links to my most often needed pages, and I like this a lot.
I hope they haven't removed this functionality, it might be the last straw that pushes me away from Firefox. I'm really starting to hate their "do it our way and no other" mentality.
Re:New Tab Override (Score:4, Informative)
You don't need an extension. You can put any local html file path in as your home page(s).
Settings> Home> Homepage> Choose a specific > /home/myloginname/mypage.html > Add address
done.
Oh, and you can even have more than one file. Or mix local files with web addresses. Or just click on "Bookmarks" button and then your bookmarks will fill your home page. Firefox is very configurable.
Re: (Score:2)
>"that's the home page, which most uses almost never see.
Ah, that is a good point. You can make your home page whatever you like. But new tab can only be Firefox Home or blank. To change that will require using an extension like "Custom New Tab Page" or "New Tab Override." I never noticed because I always just use blank.
Thanks for the clarification!
Re: New Tab Override (Score:2)
that settings path does not exist in FireFox for Android 153.0
Re: (Score:3)
There may still be a chance to override the new tab page behaviour in about:config. I also have the Override extension so I haven't looked into config fixes. But I do have lots of about:config entries which I have either modified or added to fix Mozilla stupidity.
But if I do lose that ability, then I'll look for other options. Part of the problem with that is that alternatives might not allow for some modifications that I really need, such as scrollbars. Mine behave the way God intended: they're always visi
Re: (Score:2)
>"There may still be a chance to override the new tab page behaviour in about:config."
There is. You don't even need to use about:config. It is right there is settings:
Settings > Home > New tabs > Blank Page
And for new windows it is:
Settings > Home > New windows > Custom > about:blank
You can, of course, do this in about:config as well, if desired.
>"One of the reasons I'm still on XFCE is because I have been able to configure sane scrollbars there as well"
TELL ME ABOUT IT!!! I abs
Re: New Tab Override (Score:2)
there is no blank page option in Firefox for Android 153.0
Re: (Score:2)
>"there is no blank page option in Firefox for Android 153.0"
Thankfully, 99.9% of my browsing is on desktops and laptops (using Linux and Firefox, of course). But you are right, Firefox on Android is different (as are most browsers). Probably shouldn't be, though.
Re: (Score:2)
I've made so many about:config mods to Firefox - and Thunderbird as well - that I no longer remember how I did what. But I did finally gather it all into a text file so I can replicate. I also did the same for XFCE. Those files are in a directory named "00_Fix_UI_Fuckery". 24 kilobytes of text files just to describe how to get back to a UI paradigm that was as good as it was ever going to be 15 or 20 years ago and has only gotten worse since.
I have my share of "get off my lawn" moments, but I don't think th
Re: (Score:2)
I have the "New Tab Override" extension installed, it allows me to load my own local .html file for the new tab page.
That's pretty much what a widget is.
Re: (Score:1)
The whole idea of a new tab page is about as stupid as a desktop wallpaper.
When you're working, your desktop is covered by the windows you're working with; the only time you see the wallpaper is a few seconds after the boot.
It is possible to configure Firefox so that it opens new tabs when you enter a URL or a search query in the address bar, or when you click a bookmark or a history entry. After that, you *never* see the new tab page. (Not even after booting, because session restore.)
Re: fixed (Score:2)
neither of those settings paths exist in my copy of ff Android 153.0
Firefox, please stop (Score:3)
I'm nearly done with you.
Right now I'm at the end - you have constantly shoveled shit into a browser that was famous for being lean.
Now I think I'm going to move to Brave if this doesn't get reversed shortly.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
>"I'm nearly done with you. Right now I'm at the end - you have constantly shoveled shit into a browser that was famous for being lean."
Firefox can't be all things to all people. But any of these things can easily be turned off or customized. And customization is one of the major advantages of Firefox. In addition, although I think this "amusement" they added is silly, it is just a link it goes to. Probably not even 1KB in the compiled code.
>"Now I think I'm going to move to Brave if this doesn't
Re: (Score:2)
"Firefox can't be all things to all people. But any of these things can easily be turned off or customized."
As long as it's all things to you.
Re: (Score:2)
Before moving to the Dark Side you might want to give Zen a try. I've had a quick look at it, and it has potential. It's also based on Firefox.
If I ever have to move to a Chrome-based browser I may just give up on the web altogether. I have Chromium installed for those rare occasions when FF, with all my extensions, security, and about:config mods, breaks a site. I HATE Chrome's feature set and UI and lack of configurability with a burning passion.
IMO as low as Firefox has sunk, it still has a good long fal
Re: (Score:2)
I couldn't agree more with your posting.
Oh, and "+1 Informative" about "Zen", never even heard of it. Currently not interested in that, but it is nice to see it exists.
please stop (Score:2)
Also, please ask the PM who approved this to resign, and stop accepting updates from the devs involved, and I'd suggest: their organisations.
And falling into the negative feature bandwagon (Score:2)
"Hello, We're Firefox, The Only Browser That Hasn't Hit Itself In The Dick With A Hammer. For years now, folks use us because of our un-hammered dick. Now, you may be wondering why today we've brought this hammer and pulled out our dick. Well I'm glad you asked--"
Source: https://mastodon.social/@TheZe... [mastodon.social]
In the meantime, I already have at least one alternate browser (e.g. Vivaldi, Pale Moon, Librewolf, Servo). Although it feels like running more than one at a time increases the chance of a surprise memory le
Useless Bloat-Trash! (Score:1)
It's not going to help Firefox start any faster (Score:3)
Re:It's not going to help Firefox start any faster (Score:4, Insightful)
(*sigh*) (Score:2)
More useless code for them to debug/maintain, more useless stuff for us to disable.
If only Mozilla made a web browser ...
Microsoft already did this (Score:2)
This is the same: A software developer deciding what information users should download (and be used to decorate the page), before downloading the information the users actually want.
Firefox new tab page a discover destination in its (Score:2)
Huh???? No the fuck thanks. Please mozilla concentrate on trying to remove the suck from Firefox and make it a better browser. Adding this shite on does not do that
Is the browser working fine? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
let's fuck with it.. mozilla management
Not defending Mozilla but that's the mentality of most software companies these days. For years Firefox has been a wananbe Chrome and this is just them following the Google playbook "if it ain't broke, then let's fuck with it".
I don't really get the disconnect (Score:2)
Wow! (Score:2)
Yes, please (Score:2)
Yes, this is exactly the kind of useless bloatware bullshit that I want in a browser- an AI-powered crossword puzzle.
How did I manage to live this long without such a useful and relevant feature?
But hey, Mozilla, do carry on with more utterly pointless add-ons that no one wants, accelerating your slide into complete irrelevance.
Did they fix the exceptions issue? (Score:2)
Right now, if you want to have cookies preserved for one specific site so you don't have to repeatedly log in, you have to add the site to the Exceptions list, then uncheck delete all cookies and settings when you close Firefox. Which defeats the entire purpose of having an exception. If everything is deleted, then nothing's an exception.
This is just as bad as removing the ability to never be notified of updates without having to jump through hoops, something the average user won't do. There used to be a
One word (Score:2)
Deleted!