Firefox 71: new about:config interface lands

[harlan4096]

Mozilla plans to launch the redesigned about:config interface in Firefox 71, the next stable version of the web browser.

The internal page about:config provides Firefox users with access to an advanced set of configuration parameters. The regular options, accessible via Firefox Menu > Options, list only a small fraction of available configuration options.

Tip: check out the Ghacks user.js project to find out more about many of the advanced parameters.

The pre-Firefox 71 about:config interface is based on XUL, a language that Mozilla deprecated some time ago in favor of web standards such as HMTL5 and JavaScript. The new interface is based on JavaScript and HTML, and will be launched in Firefox 71 Stable if the schedule holds.

We looked at the first version of the new interface back in January 2019 and noticed back then that some functionality was missing when compared to the classic about:config interface. To name a few: no deep linking, no sorting, no listing of all preferences, no double-click actions, and less items per page than previously.

The final version addresses some of the issues but not all. The final version of the interface supports double-click actions and the display of all preferences that are visible (use * in the search field). Users may also discard changes with a tap on the Esc-key.

Some issues, including the removal of deep links and sorting, remain, and Mozilla announced previously that it won't fix those. A quick scan of the Ghacks database returned 48 articles with deep links to Firefox preferences. The instructions won't work anymore when the changed interface lands. While users may look at the filter url to search for the preference name manually, it is far from ideal considering that we are just one website that used the deep linking option to point to about:config preferences directly.

Mozilla's initial plan was to release the redesigned interface in Firefox 67 but things got delayed along the way. The organization plans to launch the redesigned interface in Firefox 71. The web browser is scheduled for a release on December 3, 2019 according to the release schedule.
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