Waterfox G5.0 out with lots of changes
Waterfox G5.0, the latest version of the Firefox ESR-based web browser, is now available. The latest version of the web browser includes a large number of improvements and new features.
The developer notes that the new version will roll out via automatic updates starting next week. Waterfox users who want to upgrade right away may download the latest version from the official project website to install it over the existing copy of the browser.
Waterfox users may check the installed version by selecting Menu > Help > About Waterfox in the menu.
Waterfox G5.0
The official release notes list all major changes of the new release. Most changes are made to the underlying platform. Waterfox G5.0 is based on Firefox ESR 102, which means that it supports the features of that release next to Waterfox-specific features.
The release notes group most platform changes in the three groups security, media and operating systems.
Security
Waterfox G5.0 includes improved referrer tracking protection in Strict tracking protection mode and in private browsing mode. Developers have improved web compatibilities as well. Next to that, Waterfox's sandbox on Linux prevents access to the X Window System on Linux for web content.
Additionally, "less restricted referrer policies" are now ignored to prevent privacy leaks, and the browser now supports the automatic updating "to HTTPS using HTTPS RR as Alt-Svc headers".
Media
Lots of media related changes. Waterfox supports the AVIF format and hardware accelerated AV1 video decoding, the latter only on certain Windows systems with supported graphics processing units.
The browser's built-in PDF viewer supports form filling in the new version, and Picture-in-Picture mode supports video captions and subtitles now for select sites.
On Mac devices, support for images containing ICC v4 profiles is now enabled. Share options are now found under the file menu in the browser, and HDR video is also supported on Macs. For now, support is limited to YouTube on macOS 11 and newer with HGR compatible screens.
Waterfox will crash less often due to low-memory on the system, thanks to improvements integrated in to the Firefox code by Mozilla. Noise suppression and auto-gain have improved significantly as well in the release.
Operating System Specific
Waterfox supports the Snap Layout and new scrollbar styles features of Microsoft's Windows 11 operating system. Scrollbars do not take up space on Linux and Windows anymore by default. The browser follows the system settings on Windows 11, which are found under Settings > Accessibility > Visual Effects > Always show scrollbars. On Linux, users may change the behavior in the browser's settings.
Waterfox has the video overlay feature enabled for Intel GPUs on Windows to reduce power usage during video playback.
Linux users benefit from improved WebGL performance and reduced power consumption.
Waterfox for macOS uses the low power mode for fullscreen videos on YouTube, Twitch and other sites, which reduces power consumption. Users may also notice reduced CPU utilization when software decoding is used.
Closing Words
Waterfox G5.0 is a major new release of the Firefox-based browser that introduces several new features and improvements.
Now You: do you use Waterfox?
Doesn’t Windows 8 know that www. or http:// are passe ?
Well it is a bit difficulty to distinguish between name.com domains and files for instance.
I know a service made by google that is similar to Google bookmarks.
http://www.google.com/saved
@Ashwin–Thankful you delighted my comment; who knows how many “gamers” would have disagreed!
@Martin
The comments section under this very article (3 comments) is identical to the comments section found under the following article:
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/15/netflix-is-testing-game-streaming-on-tvs-and-computers/
Not sure what the issue is, but have seen this issue under some other articles recently but did not report it back then.
Omg a badge!!!
Some tangible reward lmao.
It sucks that redditors are going to love the fuck out of it too.
With the cloud, there is no such thing as unlimited storage or privacy. Stop relying on these tech scums. Purchase your own hardware and develop your own solutions.
This is a certified reddit cringe moment. Hilarious how the article’s author tries to dress it up like it’s anything more than a png for doing the reddit corporation’s moderation work for free (or for bribes from companies and political groups)
Almost al unlmited services have a real limit.
And this comment is written on the dropbox article from August 25, 2023.
First comment > @ilev said on August 4, 2012 at 7:53 pm
For the God’s sake, fix the comments soon please! :[
Yes. Please. Fix the comments.
With Google Chrome, it’s only been 1,500 for some time now.
Anyone who wants to force me in such a way into buying something that I can get elsewhere for free will certainly never see a single dime from my side. I don’t even know how stupid their marketing department is to impose these limits on users instead of offering a valuable product to the paying faction. But they don’t. Even if you pay, you get something that is also available for free elsewhere.
The algorithm has also become less and less savvy in terms of e.g. English/German translations. It used to be that the bot could sort of sense what you were trying to say and put it into different colloquialisms, which was even fun because it was like, “I know what you’re trying to say here, how about…” Now it’s in parts too stupid to translate the simplest sentences correctly, and the suggestions it makes are at times as moronic as those made by Google Translations.
If this is a deep-learning AI that learns from users’ translations and the phrases they choose most often – which, by the way, is a valuable, moneys worthwhile contribution of every free user to this project: They invest their time and texts, thereby providing the necessary data for the AI to do the thing as nicely as they brag about it in the first place – alas, the more unprofessional users discovered the translator, the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, the greater the aggregate of linguistically illiterate users has become, and the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, as it now learns the drivel of every Tom, Dick and Harry out there, which is why I now get their Mickey Mouse language as suggestions: the inane language of people who can barely spell the alphabet, it seems.
And as a thank you for our time and effort in helping them and their AI learn, they’ve lowered the limit from what was once 5,000 to now 1,500…? A big “fuck off” from here for that! Not a brass farthing from me for this attitude and behaviour, not in a hundred years.