Firefox 153 Released (firefox.com)
(Tuesday July 21, 2026 @05:00PM (BeauHD)
from the new-and-improved dept.)
- Reference: 0184567400
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/07/21/2022247/firefox-153-released
- Source link: https://www.firefox.com/en-US/firefox/153.0/releasenotes/
Longtime Slashdot reader [1]williamyf writes:
> FireFox 153 was [2]released today. The most important user-facing changes are improvements to PDF handling (you can now merge PDFs and add images to them), and HDR video playback (on Windows, provided HDR is active systemwide). Other under-the-hood changes include browser-wide containers and QWAC support. The full list is in the [3]change notes .
>
> But the most important feature is that this version is an ESR and, therefore, defines the ESR feature set for the next year. Why is being an ESR so important, you ask?
>
> 1.) ESR, rather than "normal" (a.k.a. Rapid Release), Firefox is the out-of-the-box browser for many important distros, including Debian, RHEL, Kali, Tails, SUSE Linux Enterprise, Slackware, and others.
>
> 2.) Many organizations, large and small, standardize on Firefox ESR as their default browser, regardless of the default browser included with their OS.
>
> 3.) Firefox ESR is the basis for many downstream projects, such as Waterfox and KaiOS. All these projects will inherit, for a year, whatever ESR brings to the table today.
>
> 4.) Many ISVs and SaaS providers, if they certify their wares for Firefox at all, certify for the ESR version only.
>
> Please note that ESR 153 will not be offered as an automatic update until two months from now (ESR 140 will still be supported). If you want it now, you will need to download and install it manually.
>
> Also of note, ESR 115 will be supported until March 2027. If you use an unsupported version of macOS or Windows (like Windows 7 or 8.x), this is the version to get. However, even Mozilla cautions against running a supported browser on an unsupported OS: "Note that Microsoft ended official support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 in January 2023. Unsupported operating systems receive no security updates and have known vulnerabilities. Without official support from Microsoft, maintaining Firefox for outdated operating systems becomes costly for Mozilla and risky for users."
[1] https://slashdot.org/~williamyf
[2] https://www.firefox.com/en-US/firefox/153.0/releasenotes/
[3] https://support.mozilla.org/kb/firefox-enterprise-153-release-notes
> FireFox 153 was [2]released today. The most important user-facing changes are improvements to PDF handling (you can now merge PDFs and add images to them), and HDR video playback (on Windows, provided HDR is active systemwide). Other under-the-hood changes include browser-wide containers and QWAC support. The full list is in the [3]change notes .
>
> But the most important feature is that this version is an ESR and, therefore, defines the ESR feature set for the next year. Why is being an ESR so important, you ask?
>
> 1.) ESR, rather than "normal" (a.k.a. Rapid Release), Firefox is the out-of-the-box browser for many important distros, including Debian, RHEL, Kali, Tails, SUSE Linux Enterprise, Slackware, and others.
>
> 2.) Many organizations, large and small, standardize on Firefox ESR as their default browser, regardless of the default browser included with their OS.
>
> 3.) Firefox ESR is the basis for many downstream projects, such as Waterfox and KaiOS. All these projects will inherit, for a year, whatever ESR brings to the table today.
>
> 4.) Many ISVs and SaaS providers, if they certify their wares for Firefox at all, certify for the ESR version only.
>
> Please note that ESR 153 will not be offered as an automatic update until two months from now (ESR 140 will still be supported). If you want it now, you will need to download and install it manually.
>
> Also of note, ESR 115 will be supported until March 2027. If you use an unsupported version of macOS or Windows (like Windows 7 or 8.x), this is the version to get. However, even Mozilla cautions against running a supported browser on an unsupported OS: "Note that Microsoft ended official support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 in January 2023. Unsupported operating systems receive no security updates and have known vulnerabilities. Without official support from Microsoft, maintaining Firefox for outdated operating systems becomes costly for Mozilla and risky for users."
[1] https://slashdot.org/~williamyf
[2] https://www.firefox.com/en-US/firefox/153.0/releasenotes/
[3] https://support.mozilla.org/kb/firefox-enterprise-153-release-notes
ESR (Score:2)
by markdavis ( 642305 )
> "Why is being an ESR so important, you ask?"
I don't need to ask :)
We use Firefox ESR at work as the most stable/predictable version for production use. It means we can focus on policies/config/testing on our machines (several hundred, all Linux) and sites, then roll it out and not have to worry about new "features" popping up that cause confusion for users, require additional training/support, or cause unexpected issues for a reasonable period of time (1 year). It is a good release model. Point updat
Wow! (Score:1)
> you can now merge PDFs and add images to them
That's quite amazing... ...and not something that I've ever needed nor considered doing in a browser. I wonder if I'll use it much.
Re: (Score:2)
>> you can now merge PDFs and add images to them
> That's quite amazing... ...and not something that I've ever needed nor considered doing in a browser. I wonder if I'll use it much.
You and me, not much.
But considering the ammount of PDFs you find on the web nowadays, coupled with the ammount of people that use only a browser and no other SW, the venn diagram of that is a pretty large user base.
Throw into that people who have machines so underpowered that they can not run two apps at the same time if one of the Apps is a browser and another App is something as heavy as a full suite of PDF editing (I see plenty of these here in Venezuela), and this may be welcome by those as wel
Re: (Score:2)
PDF is not primarily a web function, that is true. But as you said, there is a HUGE overlap between PDF and interacting with web sites. The ability to fully handle PDF, including filling forms and editing them in the browser, is majorly convenient. So much so that I welcome all efforts for that in Firefox. Especially under Linux, where the FOSS options for simple PDF editing are not quite as numerous.
I, too, wouldn't mind if it were a separate addon that was included/enabled by default and users could c
Re: (Score:2)
It would be amazing for me at work where we don't have a license for Acrobat which allows us to do that, except they install Chrome and not Firefox on our PCs (because they like having us spied on I guess) so I still won't be able to do this.