Mastodawn

Dear @mozilla
Please, please, please put the RSS indicator back in Firefox.

People need to know about this technology which empowers users over greedy, controlling corporations.

Update: As many have pointed out, you *can* use @thunderbird as an RSS feed reader, and there are many #firefox add-ons to restore the RSS indicator (one of which I'm already using). But my point is that Firefox needs to lean into RSS as an answer to all the crap that is the modern web, and help educate users about it

Whoa, I haven't had a post blow up like this in a long time. 😄

Amin Hollon 🏳Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane
I figure if/when you migrate the 1.5k followers on this account to Polymaths it'd happen more often again. ;)

✨buff dog himbo✨Feb 14, 2024

@RL_Dane re: your edit:
Instead they're like "We're developing 'trustworthy AI'! Also we just laid of 5% of our developers and are putting less resources into our mastodon instance among other projects. UwU" 🙃

Topher 🌱Feb 12, 2024

And also @mozilla please add RSS to your security advisories page!

Scott Williams 🐧Feb 13, 2024

@topher @mozilla @RL_Dane Not only showing it, but being able to subscribe to it in Thunderbird would be amazing!

@vwbusguy @topher @mozilla

Yeah i can be something like a url handler

m0xEE Feb 26, 2024

@RL_Dane @vwbusguy @topher @mozilla
Thunderbird has to become a good RSS reader first, currently it's a pretty awful one — there is no way to make it display article images next to summary, which turns navigation into scrolling endless characterless lines. Reader mode that is present in FF is somehow not in TB — where it would be most useful.
And I won't even mention endless bugs: frequent crashes when you have lots of feed sources and DB corruption of RSS account when you attempt to sort them.

Scott Williams 🐧Feb 26, 2024

@m0xee @RL_Dane @topher @mozilla I'm using it for RSS and it works for what I'm using it for, personally. I subscribe to a number of software release and security errata feeds with it.

m0xEE Feb 28, 2024

@vwbusguy
Well, it certainly can act as an RSS reader, I'm not denying that and I'm using it myself — for RSS too. But how does it fare compared to what you expect from a modern RSS reader?
Here is a side-by-side comparison of the same blog, what is easier to navigate in your opinion?
And I'm not some GUI freak, but if I wanted just lines of text, I'd pick some lightweight TUI program, not this juggernaut that can eat 1,5 gigs of RAM easily.
@RL_Dane @topher @mozilla

m0xEE Feb 28, 2024

@vwbusguy
And this is "Cards View" — thing that was added relatively recently, it was even worse before it.
To read the articles themselves right now I have to resort to uBO and dozens of CSS hacks to make them readable — yep, it sure isn't Thunderbird's fault that websites do not give you article's content right in RSS feed and you have to open the website, but — Firefox already has "Reader mode" adding it to TB shouldn't be rocket surgery 🤷
@RL_Dane @topher @mozilla

@m0xee @vwbusguy @topher @mozilla

At this point, I'd be happy if they just restored the CSS indicator and provided a helpful onboarding screen so users can rediscover it. But bundling a (more) kick-arse RSS reader into Thunderbird is a solid nice-to-have.

m0xEE Feb 28, 2024

@RL_Dane
Oh, yes, that I completely agree with — just a button so that URL with RSS scheme could be opened in a reader of your choice and added to the list of subscriptions in a more straightforward way would already be helpful.
I have no idea why this was removed — looks like a minimal maintenance feature to me.
It always surprises me when I open e.g. Safari in Mac OS X 10.4 — and RSS is everywhere, it used to be pretty big. Should definitely be brought back!

@vwbusguy @topher @mozilla

@RL_Dane @mozilla on mobile as well.

Kill cars for climate!Feb 12, 2024

@RL_Dane @mozilla I agree. Miss this daily.

@andrej @mozilla

This really helps, but it should be standard ;)

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/awesome-rss/

Awesome RSS – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

Download Awesome RSS for Firefox. Puts an RSS/Atom subscribe button back in URL bar. Supports "Live Bookmarks" (built-in), Feedly, & Inoreader

分 Bifurkatus Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane @andrej @mozilla If many install it, it will be built-in someday.

Amin Girasol Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane @andrej @mozilla Jayzuz, it even works on #Mull!

Jevon Wright 💙💛Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane I fully agree! For now though, I'm using this and it seems pretty good https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/want-my-rss/

Want My RSS – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

Download Want My RSS for Firefox. RSS featutes for Firefox

L-)Feb 13, 2024

@soundasleep ahm?

Firefox says I need firefox...

Yaksh Bariya Feb 13, 2024

@dosch @soundasleep @RL_Dane Something's likely wrong with your Firefox installation. Check for any unwanted addons

Parienve Feb 13, 2024

@dosch
Do you have a user-agent switcher? If so, set it back to Firefox temporarily or set it to disable automatically on https://addons.mozilla.org/
@soundasleep @RL_Dane

Add-ons for Firefox (en-US)

Download Firefox extensions and themes. They’re like apps for your browser. They can block annoying ads, protect passwords, change browser appearance, and more.

L-)Feb 13, 2024

@Parienve bah, indeed; the bug sits behind the keyboard: I changed user agent some weeks ago for a website testing. And forgot about that 😣 @soundasleep @RL_Dane

Francis 🏴‍☠️ Gulotta Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane @mozilla co-signed

CubeOfCheese Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane @mozilla does firefox have a built in rss feed reader?

@cubeofcheese @mozilla

It never had one. It just displays the feed as a generic XML file. But the RSS button let you know the feed was available, and you could copy the URL and paste it into your reader/aggregator.

𝕵𝖔𝖍𝖆𝖓 ⛧Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane @cubeofcheese @mozilla I use Inoreader and don’t actually need that icon…. On the one hand, reminder is good; but on the other hand - unnecessary overloading of the interface (said the person with 100500 addons). RSS needs to be promoted in a more obvious way.

@johan @RL_Dane @cubeofcheese @mozilla I don’t know, I can relate to this but I wondered for so much time where did the RSS icon end up

In the end if we don’t find space for such an icon on the UI we are condemned to look for the same icon in websites. I know Inoreader for example can scrape the page and grab the feed, but it always felt a little bit arcane to me

clacke: exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane Firefox did have dynamic bookmarks, which could be used as a primitive RSS reader. But that's long gone, along with the RSS indicator.

@cubeofcheese @mozilla

halfa Feb 13, 2024

@clacke @RL_Dane @cubeofcheese @mozilla you can use https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/rsspreview/

RSSPreview – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

Download RSSPreview for Firefox. Preview RSS feeds in-browser

Nik | Klampfradler 🎸🚲Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane @cubeofcheese @mozilla

Not true. It had a UI for RSS, and it could subscribe to feeds as bookmark folders.

alex Feb 13, 2024

@nik @RL_Dane @cubeofcheese @mozilla This was an Add-On, wasn't it? It just can not recall the name anymore.

Nik | Klampfradler 🎸🚲Feb 13, 2024

@lespocky @RL_Dane @cubeofcheese @mozilla

No, it was built-in until Firefox 64:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/live-bookmarks-migration

What happened to my Live Bookmarks? | Firefox Help

Firefox no longer supports built-in Live Bookmarks, but we’ve made it easy to continue using your feeds.

helle 🐈 (stray cat girl(s))Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane @cubeofcheese @mozilla live bookmarks, Mozilla Firefox had live bookmarks for years and I used them quite a bit

🔜 Anthrocon Feb 13, 2024

@cubeofcheese they used to in the form of Live Bookmarks, but it was removed in v64. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/live-bookmarks

The Livemarks extension seems to replicate this functionality. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/livemarks/

I prefer more of an inbox style for RSS feeds that can also pull in the text, and I really like FeedBro. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/feedbroreader/

Live Bookmarks - Subscribe to a web page for news and updates | Firefox Help

Use the "Subscribe to This Page" feature to add Live Bookmarks to Firefox and receive recent news and updates without visiting the website.

amba azaad Feb 13, 2024

@cubeofcheese @RL_Dane @mozilla@mozilla.social Thunderbird does.

Site Reliability Enby🏳️‍⚧️🏁🔦📈🐺👗😷Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane @mozilla

@mozilla seriously, yeah, why even *did* you take this out? Was it due to money from Google? IIRC they don't pay you any more.

@SiteRelEnby @RL_Dane @mozilla This is also when they killed Live Bookmarks. The support page they launched, linking to RSS add-ons as an alternative… at first just pointed to incredibly unrelated extensions. It's like they *did not understand what RSS is*, which is frankly worrying for a project fighting for an open web.

@RL_Dane @mozilla +9001%

Espechally since #RSS can be used in several good applications like @thunderbird and is way more useful than #Notifications...

https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/111922164752894190

Seriously, #Mozilla needs to get their shite together - not just on #Firefox tho...
https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/111922048181175168

Kevin Karhan (@kkarhan@infosec.space)

@khm@hj.9fs.net @dalias@hachyderm.io @wxcafe@social.wxcafe.net @landley@mstdn.jp Also @mozilla@mozilla.social did cancel their #CommunityStore I guess... https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/111922048181175168

Infosec.Space

@RL_Dane
It's almost like cloning the Chrome UI was a terrible idea or something
@mozilla

Paul Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane @mozilla Hello! The best place to head to for this is the Mozilla feedback platform at:

https://connect.mozilla.org/

Feedback provided there gets collected by a team of people who read it and gather data about the most common issues.

Mozilla Connect

Share product feedback, submit ideas for new features, and help shape future releases.

CassandraVert Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane @mozilla
The Firefox RSS plug in? I just installed it.

neogettie_floof

neocat_flag_ace

@RL_Dane fuck mozilla, use Pale Moon instead.

@getimiskon @RL_Dane is it yet another #Chromium fork?

neogettie_floof

neocat_flag_ace

@kkarhan are you fucking serious? Hell no.

@getimiskon @RL_Dane I sincerely asked because I don't know!

neogettie_floof

neocat_flag_ace

@kkarhan it's a fork of Firefox, before it drops support for a bunch of stuff like XUL, that RSS feature etc.
@RL_Dane

@getimiskon @RL_Dane nice...

neogettie_floof

neocat_flag_ace

@kkarhan by the way, it's the one I actually use
@RL_Dane

nicolas ⁂Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane @mozilla@mozilla.social Yes!! I had opened this once: http://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/subscribe-to-a-website/idc-p/39707 – The idea was to re-instaure the button (with a label that makes it clear what it does for discoverability, for instance by calling it “Subscribe” or “Follow this website”, and having a minimal feed reader within Firefox itself.

Re: Subscribe to a website

Yesss to this

Kevin + Drupal + Beard Feb 13, 2024

@nclm @RL_Dane @mozilla with WordPress adding federated ActivityPub support to all sites hosted on werdpress.com and 42K authors already using it to publish 4.5mil posts, I'd like to suggest adding an option to follow a site via Mastodon at the browser level instead of adding an increasing number of social icons to the page. Add the additional follow options like AtivityPub to the existing RSS link to the page metadata.

https://fedidb.org/current-events/wordpress

FediDB, Fediverse Network Statistics

FediDB is a cutting-edge service providing detailed statistics and insights into the Fediverse network.

matzipan Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane they are busy working on tab previews 🙈

Paul Sutton Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane @mozilla

Would be really good for fediverse posts too.

vilibald Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane @mozilla I am using https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/want-my-rss/ addon to the rescue but native support would be better.

Want My RSS – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

Download Want My RSS for Firefox. RSS featutes for Firefox

Incident Creator ❎Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane Using Feedbro here, but that's not available on Android which is muchly annoying. @mozilla

Lehti Juoksija Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane @mozilla IMO alternatively could do a similar thing as with container tabs or Firefox translate where it's a super well supported extension, as that might be an easier pill to swallow for their leadership

guenther Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane @mozilla

yeah but then who'd need pocket anymore

BarryP Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane @mozilla One of our sons used to offer the rss aggregator “Shrook” for Macs/iPhones. I think he stopped (2016) updating it when dedicated news feeds became more widespread. Though:
I used Google News for a while, and it was awful (I’m being polite here).

anbarso Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane @mozilla

Fabio Manganiello Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane I made an extension a while ago that does exactly that - it puts the feed icon back in the URL bar.

Plus, it renders application/rss+xml, application/atom+xml and friends in a readable way when you open a feed URL in your browser - there was a time when browsers used to handle these content types, nowadays they just return the raw XML.

It’d be interesting if the folks at @mozilla have more insights on why they decided to drop the feed icon indicator in the URL bar as well as the support for rendering feed mimetypes - and why the timing of these decisions approximately matched the timing when Chrome dropped their support for those features.

RSS Viewer – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

Download RSS Viewer for Firefox. An easy way to render RSS feeds directly in your browser

Ignacio Torres Feb 13, 2024

@RL_Dane @mozilla including a RSS reader functionality which syncs read status through the Mozilla Account would be totally amazing.