Everything you need to know about the latest Firefox comes out next week

In less than a week, Mozilla will move to a completely new browser, Firefox 57, with a new engine, new interface, redesigned settings panel and new add-on API.

Firefox 57 is the final destination for some of Mozilla's internal projects, aimed at overcoming the six most important problems on their browsers, such as frequent speed and crash, which make users switch to other browsers.

See also: Firefox Quantum beta offer, new interface, new engine, 2 times faster

But these changes will also bring new problems. Before updating, Firefox users also need to know about the problems that the browser has fixed, and their causes.

Problems with add-ons

The biggest problem is the new add-on system - WebExtensions API, compatible with standard WebExtensions supported by other Chromium browsers (like Chrome, Vivaldi, Opera) and the Edge browser. This means that developers of some Chrome utilities can soon bring their add-ons to Firefox.

Mozilla has announced it will support the WebExtensions API in mid-2015, bringing the new API into production from Firefox 48 released on 8/2016. From Firefox 57, Firefox only supports add-ons made from new APIs and does not support add-ons using XUL from the Netscape project anymore.

That means that over weeks Firefox users will have to find alternatives to old add-ons, built on the SDK add-on. To make it easy to choose, the Mozilla Add-ons page will only have the default add-ons compatible with WebExtensions.

Currently only about 6,000 of about 20,000 Firefox add-ons use the new API, so perhaps many users will be in big trouble if nothing is replaced. Either run Firefox without the add-on you like, or find another browser that supports that add-on. You can find WebExtensions add-on list here.https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/tag/firefox57

See also: What extensions are no longer working on FireFox 'fire fox'?

When updating to Firefox 57, you will only see the WebExtensions add-on in the utilities section, the rest will be transferred to Legacy Extensions.

Everything you need to know about the latest Firefox comes out next week Picture 1
This is what you will see when updating to Firefox 57

New browser engine

Firefox 57 was the first version of Firefox to use the Quantum engine, replacing the old Gecko engine with components written in Rust combined with C ++. The replacement took place slowly, starting last year, which Mozilla described as "replacing aircraft engines while still flying".

See also: Is this the time to give Firefox another chance?

Firefox 57 will have a lot of Project Quantum code like Quantum Render - a new optimized pipeline for the GPU based on the Servo WebRender project, and Quantum DOM Scheduler - the technology that keeps tabs in the background without slowing down the tabs .

Mozilla said that these changes will significantly increase Firefox's speed, although it's really hard to say since which browser when launching the new version doesn't say so.

New browser interface

Besides the new engine, Firefox 57 also brings the new browser interface, a product of the Photon project, starting at the same time as the project Quantum. Photon UI brings browser UI, New Tab page and new dashboard.

Everything you need to know about the latest Firefox comes out next week Picture 2
Install Firefox Nightly to preview the new look of the browser

Firefox 57 also disables the search widget that often appears in the right corner, if you want you can turn it back from the control panel. New UI changes may also make users dislike because the add-on Classic Theme Restorer Firefox is no longer usable, meaning they cannot control the browser UI.

To preview the Firefox 57 interface, you can install Firefox Nightly (scroll down to download it). If you don't like it, you should find a different browser.

Besides big changes, there are some small changes such as turning on Tracking Protection at all times, security helps prevent malicious applications from monitoring users.

Mozilla Firefox 57 called Firefox Quantum will be released on November 14 next week.

See also: Goodbye Chrome, we switch to Firefox only