— In the literal sense of the word “schmaltz,” meaning “chicken fat.” I got really tired really quickly of piddling with Feedbro and RSSOwl, neither of which was as easy to use as NewsFox (which Firefox “Quantum” broke). Finally, I just said (among other unrepeatable scatalogical and blasphemous utterances) the heck with it and rolled back Firefox to version 56.02.
I also left a comment on Mozilla’s Facebook page to the effect that I was really pissed off that they broke NewsFox while they were putzing around trying to soup up FireFox and that I was not going to upgrade to Quantum until they fixed it so that it would work with NewsFox.
I just now reinstalled Firefox version 56.02, which is the version before they broke it and have it set to ask me before it updates. That means I can go back to NewsFox, which is the most useful and efficient feed reader I’ve been able to find.
Call me weird, but updates are supposed to make software better, and I cannot see how changing Firefox so that the best feed reader out there no longer works with it, makes it better.
I probably follow about 50 different blogs, 15 Tumblr sites, and about 30 different webcomics, and NewsFox organizes, tracks and updates them very efficiently. When I open the update, it displays the actual webpage, not just the content, which means I can easily sign into those blogs that require it for commenting. There were several blogs that neither RSSOwl, nor Feedbro would display in any form that would allow me to sign in so there was no way I could comment. Also some of the blogs and Tumblr sites are artists’ sites and neither RSSOwl nor Feedbro would display their artwork or the webcomics except as thumbnails you had to click on to go to the website to view — which in Feedbro’s case meant opening another browser tab. Neither RSSOwl nor Feedbro can hold a candle to the overall performance and user friendliness of NewsFox for viewing textual content, artwork, and photography easily without making you jump through a bunch of hoops to do it.
I don’t have the time or patience for that. I’ll stick with NewsFox and the old Firefox version 56.02 until Firefox comes up with something that works with NewsFox, or until someone comes up with a better product than either RSSOwl or Feedbro, thank you very much.
Hope they’re just teething problems and will get resolved soon. It’s hard when things remain broken, and because we’re on a downgraded version, we end up missing out on security updates and the like…
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There are several changes to Firefox which I deprecate, especially those for which there doesn’t seem to be any good reason other than an urge to make it different from previous versions, but I am sticking with it as I think it important to keep up with changes affecting security. Most of the add-ons I use have been updated and I have been able to find alternatives or work-arounds for the others.
Though many Firefox add-ons have been updated to work with v57, I doubt whether Newsfox will ever be updated and suppose that you will have to learn to live without it. When a favourite application ceases to work, it can be disheartening but I don’t think that stubbornly remaining stuck in the past with an increasingly insecure version of Firefox is the best solution. I believe that someone with your computing abilities and determination will be able to find an alternative way of doing things. It just calls for a little persistence and ingenuity.
One should also bear in mind that Firefox is not the only game in town. Google Chrome is by far the world’s favourite browser and Opera is also very popular. I have Firefox installed but regularly run portable versions of those two browsers. So far, upgrades to Google Chrome have not caused any problems with the add-ons I use with it. I started using Firefox when it first appeared and it was simple, lean and fast. Over the years it has become increasingly inflated and slow. The publicity for v57 describes it as “blazingly fast” which is laughably untrue. I often give up on it and switch to Google Chrome which is like switching from a lazy obese poodle to a greyhound. I think everybody should have Google Chrome, whether as their first- or second-string browser.
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Dear Owl Underground, I love your little tantrum videos!
Ditto.
This new Firefox upgrade is a hot mess for Blogger users. I’m trying out Google Chrome, but none of my bookmarks are there, etc. etc. Old dogs don’t like new tricks. They should keep those Firefox geniuses busy doing something other than torturing people with upgrades.
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Feedbro has nowadays view mode 6 that embeds the original article as an iframe.
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