Need a new browser

[Aotrs Commander]

Okay.

Now that it's work time again, I have to properly address the browser issue caused by Firefox (as v57 is basically crap for me and useless for Nanny (who has to be on the same browser as me so I can tech support her) because she won't be able to fracking see the interface.

(Apparently, the thought that people in their 90s with poor eyesight might use the internet was something that Mozilla apparently never considered. Actually, considering the fact that their among if not the most popular add-ons were UI customisation, the one feature the explicitly did anyway in v57, I don't think mozilla thinks at ALL.)

I would prefer not to have to test every single browser (though if I have to...)

(I am aware of the valiant rearguard effort being made by the chap who made Classic Theme Restorer to use custom CSS, but it does not appear it can solve the button issue, nor history button issue (since FF's only native history button opens the unsorted mess of history and the main sidebar is another menu/click away).)



So my requirements are fairly specific but - you would have thought - not unreasonable.

Basically, in short, I want a browser that basically does this:

Spoiler: Current Setup

Show

I.e. a history sidebar (NOT a bookmark sidebar, I basically never use bookmarks; I browse pretty much entirely from history (and I WAS using Firefox pre-v57 plentiful new tab set-up (which of course in v57 they have ALSO dropped down). The sidebar should be accessble from a menu button on the main tool bar (as above) and must be able to be sorted by date and site as a default (basically like this one). (When I say "by default," I mean, you can set it to that.)

UI would need to be customisable or set at default to at least be able to make the buttons the same size (ideally with text) like the FF one (with classicthemerestorer) so that Nanny doesn't struggle to see them.

An alternative bookmark sdebar would be useful (since we have it set-up for Nanny for her emails) on top.

Ideally, it needs to be able to be set-up as close as my current set-up in v56 as possible, if for no other reason that it's less faff for Nanny to relearn to use.



Minor bonuses which would be nice:

New tab button on right

Restore previon session option (anywhere, FF's in a menu)

Favoured sites on new tab screen (ala FF v56)



I have already looked at Seamonkey (which two people suggested) but it does not have a history/button sidebar (history accessed through the menu).


If anyone can suggest a browser that will meet those requirements I (and Nanny!) would be very grateful.




(If it really, really comes down to it and there is no other option, I guess I'll have to stay on v56 (I almost instantly re-installed v56 and disabled updates) for a while until hopefully FF pull their finger out or someone else does.)

[factotum]

As I suggested when you brought this up in the other thread, have you looked at Seamonkey or Waterfox? They're both based on the Firefox source code so ought to be pretty similar, but I believe both still support the sort of extensions that Firefox 57 has dropped support for.

[Aotrs Commander]

As I suggested when you brought this up in the other thread, have you looked at Seamonkey or Waterfox? They're both based on the Firefox source code so ought to be pretty similar, but I believe both still support the sort of extensions that Firefox 57 has dropped support for.

Tried Seamonkey before I made the thread (I did mention it in the OP) - it doesn't appear to support Classic Theme Restorer itself, and I couldn't find a similar interface add-on, nor does it have the history sidebar (or even, really, much of a history at all; it doesn't even have a history menu on the drop down.)

It is maybe a very last ditch option, but it is far from ideal, unfortunately.



Waterfox I will add to my list to things to check to see if it's any better.

[Domochevsky]

Late here, but another option is Pale Moon, which deliberately never made the update to the new GUI. It is also Firefox-based, supporting the addons.

[137beth]

Late here, but another option is Pale Moon, which deliberately never made the update to the new GUI. It is also Firefox-based, supporting the addons.

I use Pale Moon for a lot of websites (there's one I use for work that only works in Chromium browsers, though). I just want to issue a minor correction: Pale Moon is no longer Firefox based. It uses its own rendering engine, Goanna, and as far as I know it is the only independent browser which doesn't use the same back-end as one of the big four browsers (Safari's Webkit, Mozilla's Gecko/Spidermonkey, Chromium's Blink/V8, or Edge's EdgeHTML/Chakra).

Note, the default GUI on Pale Moon is closer to what was used in Firefox from versions 4-28. Some people prefer the Firefox 2 or 3 GUI, which you can get on Pale Moon using a complete theme.