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Firefox supports smooth and precise scrolling as well as kinetic scrolling, but this feature is inexplicably disabled by default. The only way to enable it is to set the environment variable
MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1, but since a browser can be launched in a great many ways, the only way to guarantee it is to set that environment variable by default for the entire machine - e,g. in /etc/environment. This is bonkers. Why should the user pollute their environment with this hack? Why isn't this feature just enabled by default? A crapton of users are definitely just not aware that it exists. -
Firefox displays tooltips on top of other windows, when the mouse isn't even over it:
This is after the mouse moved this way (red arrow):
Firefox thinks the mouse is still in the position marked with a yellow cross, and is standing stil. In reality the mouse is over another window, can be in a completely different location, and the tooltip is hiding content that may be important to the user. Windows may have moved, and Firefox might even be completely behind other windows - making interaction with it (to dismiss the tooltip) difficult. Firefox doesn't care. The only way to dismiss the tooltip is to carefully move the mouse in such a way that, when it leaves Firefox, it's not over anything that has a tooltip.
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Side View, the closest answer Firefox has for Vivaldi's web panels (which are amazingly convenient and useful, unlike Side View) can be found here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/side-view/ ; it is made by Mozilla themselves, and yet the website states: "This add-on is not actively monitored for security by Mozilla. Make sure you trust it before installing."
This is of course absurd, how could Mozilla not monitor their own addons? The same thing applies to some more of Mozilla's addons, but most of them have a "By Firefox" badge.
Further regarding Side View, the default screen in Side View looks like this:
The link "Firefox Test Pilot" leads to https://fpn.firefox.com/ which has nothing to do with Side View or Test Pilot. The tutorial linked is fine, but a lot of the comments have legitimate criticisms that apply generally to Firefox and Mozilla. Some selected quotes:
Load bookmarks in sidebar was implemented on Firefox years ago. Due to not being able to solve the problems that this functionality brought, Mozilla decided to abandon it. Due to many people complaining because we're actually using it, they decided to make it an experiment so development engagement is not necessary. I'm a Linux Firefox user and enthusiast and I actively support the browser, but this is just a mockery to the load-in-sidebar users. You are supposed to be testing this the last 2 years. What is taking you so long to actually (re-)create what you put down so people can use your product more efficiently than before? Firefox is supposed to be a user-focused product. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no6D_B4wgo8&lc=Ugwi82mnZ4nufYSrPv94AaABAg
Why not just go all the way and introduce true split-screen so users can actually be done with having two separate windows open side by side? Instead we have to settle for this half-arsed implementation that doesn't extend all the way out and will therefore only be useful to users who need just a quarter of the second site to be visible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no6D_B4wgo8&lc=UgwBMCvaxGe53a4ma8V4AaABAg
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PWAs aren't available natively on desktop: https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/bring-back-pwa-progressive-web-apps/idi-p/35
- Linux Mint's Web Apps manager is a fantastic attempt to bang Firefox (and Chromium-based browsers) into PWA shape, but Firefox doesn't play nice. The readme is mostly instructions on how to navigate Firefox web apps and work around its shortcomings. Worth noting that web apps on Chromium browsers aren't perfect either - they get the browser's main icon in the taskbar if they're launched while a browser window is open.
- There is no way to enable a desktop-like tab bar for tablets and desktop Android environments (Samsung DeX, Motorola Ready For, Huawei Easy Projection). Users are begging for this feature WHICH USED TO EXIST, and many have switched browsers because of it:
- This list will be expanded in the future.
- On Linux, Firefox correctly detects dark desktop themes and makes detection available through prefers-color-scheme, while Chromium-based browsers do not: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1378061/dark-mode-does-not-set-prefers-color-scheme-to-dark / https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=998903