Firefox 123 is out with broken site reporting tool

Mozilla Firefox 123.0 is the new Stable version of the open source web browser. The official release date is February 20, 2024. Mozilla releases Firefox 115.8 ESR on the same day.

Firefox 123 includes just a few changes and features. The major feature in the release is a new tool to report broken websites directly to Mozilla.

All development builds of Firefox are updated around the same time as well. Firefox Beta and Development builds move to version 124 and Firefox Nightly makes the jump to version 125. Firefox for Android follows the versioning scheme of the Stable desktop version; it too gets the update to version 123.0.

I have installed Firefox 123.0 on a test system to review all of its changes and features.

Executive Summary

• Mozilla introduces a new website compatibility report tool in Firefox that Firefox users may use to report broken sites to the organization.
• Tooltips and form controls text is now also translated by Firefox's integrated translation feature.
• Firefox View information may now be searched.
• Known Issue: Firefox on machines with older AMD processors may render thumbnails as "all black" in file dialogs. Mozilla suggests updating the graphics driver to address the issue.

Firefox 123.0 download and update

Most Firefox installations receive updates automatically thanks to the built-in updating.

Note: our review is published before the official release. The updates will become later on the day of publication.

Firefox users who do not want to wait for the update to roll out to their system may speed up the installation. This is done through manual update checks.

Select Firefox Menu > Help > About Firefox to run a manual update check. Firefox should pick up the update and install it on the device.

Here are the official download locations:

• Firefox Stable download
• Firefox Beta download
• Nightly download
• Firefox ESR download
• Firefox for Android on Google Play

Firefox 123.0 major changes

Report broken site

The main new feature that Mozilla introduces in Firefox 123.0 is a report tool. Users of the Firefox web browser may report broken sites to Mozilla. The main idea behind the feature is to help Mozilla address compatibility issues in Firefox.

Firefox has a much smaller userbase than the Chromium-based browsers. Multiple companies, including Google and Microsoft, find and deal with compatibility issues in the Chromium source.

The new reporting tool involves the Firefox community. Select Firefox Menu > Report broken site to open the reporting tool. Select a reason, e.g., site slow or not working, ad blockers, or sign-in or sign-out and hit the send button. You may add text to the report, which you should do to provide additional details that describe the issue that you experience on the site.

Mozilla announces the new website compatibility reporter in the following way: "Having any issues with a website on Firefox, yet the site seems to be working as expected on another browser? You can now let us know via the Web Compatibility Reporting Tool! By filing a web compatibility issue, you’re directly helping us detect, target, and fix the most impacted sites to make your browsing experience on Firefox smoother."

Other changes and fixes

• Firefox translates website tooltips, e.g., when hovering over images, and text displayed in form controls now as well. Mozilla launched Firefox's native translate feature in Firefox 117.
• Firefox View, accessible via the dedicated button in the top left corner of the browser's interface, supports search now. This allows you to find open, closed, or tabs from other devices quickly.
• Address bar settings are now fond in the Search section in Firefox's Settings.

Developer changes

• The <template> element now supports a shadowrootmode attribute that allows declarative creation of a shadow DOM subtree.
• The <linearGradient> and <radialGradient> SVG elements now support changing the color space.
• Firefox supports the 103 Early Hints HTTP information response status code for preloading resources now.
• The Web Authentication API now supports cross-origin credential creation.
• Addition of fhe contextualIdentities.move function enables items to be moved in the list of contextual identities.
• The new Save Response As option of the Network Monitor allows saving a response body to the local system. It replaces the "Save Image" context menu option, as it only supported saving images.

Enterprise changes

Firefox 123 includes just three Enterprise changes:

• Mozilla addressed an issue with the background updater on systems with multiple user accounts. The tool updates "now properly" according to Mozilla. The bug report provides additional information. According to the report, the background update task did not run if the user who installed Firefox on the machine was not logged in.
• The Preferences policy allows setting the type of a preference using Type. This addresses the issue that Integer preferences with values 0 or 1 were set as Boolean previously.
• The UserMessaging policy has been updated to also control whether the translation feature is advertised to users in a popup.

Security updates / fixes

Not yet published, come back later for the information.

Outlook

Firefox 124 and Firefox ESR 115.9 will be released on March 19, 2024

Recent Firefox news and tips

• Mozilla has a new CEO.
• After taking over the reigns, Mozilla's new CEO switched the organization's business strategy. Core focus is now Firefox and AI.

Additional information / resources

• Firefox 123 release notes
• Firefox 123 for Developers
• Firefox 123 for Enterprise
• Firefox Security Advisories
• Firefox Release Schedule

Closing Words

The introduction of the web compatibility reporter tool could help improves Firefox's overall web compatibility. It may help Mozilla prioritize development and may point at issues that the developers and engineers were not aware of.

There is a chance that Mozilla may get flooded with generic reports though.

Source