Firefox' New Tab Page Will Get Widgets - Including an AI-Powered Daily Crossword (omgubuntu.co.uk)
- Reference: 0184686298
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/07/25/1944229/firefox-new-tab-page-will-get-widgets---including-an-ai-powered-daily-crossword
- Source link: https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/07/firefox-new-widgets-crossword
> The mini crossword game is updated daily, with puzzles based around recent content Particle's AI has ingested and summarised that day. [After solving the crossword, links appear to related news articles...] If you just want to try the crossword, you access it [2]in any browser via a direct link .
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> While it may look like Mozilla is trying to capitalise on the Wordle craze several years too late, it's part of its strategy to make the Firefox new tab page a discover destination in itself, not just a springboard for new searches. The 'Daily Grind' crossword widget (name subject to change) is just [3]one of several widgets Firefox has (or will get). You'll also find a to-do list, timer, stock checker, world clock, picture of the day, privacy report and new-look weather widget (bigger than the existing one). During the World Cup 2026, Firefox [4]offered real-time match scores and fixture information too...
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> [T]hey aren't mandatory. You can disable the ones you don't want to use, or, if you don't want any at all, turn them all off to hide the widget area itself. A button to 'show fewer widgets' frees up room to allow other distractions (sponsored stories) on the new tab page to show... [Presumably you can also still open new tabs to a blank page...]
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> They're rolling out to users in certain region and locales already. Plus, Mozilla routinely tests new features with a small set of users before they hit stable builds (i.e., the "Allow Firefox to run feature studies" setting). If you don't have widgets in your Firefox build, but you want them, you can manually enable them in Firefox 153 and later from the about:config page. Search for the following master switch and set it to true to enable the widget area:
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> browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.widgets.system.enabled
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> Then, enable the widgets you want to use by searching:
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> activity-stream.widgets.*.enabled
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> However, the usual caveats about "trying things not enabled by default" still apply. Mozilla hasn't set a firm rollout date, though the feature is [5]already documented on its support site . With fortnightly Firefox releases about to start, and a big Nova redesign, chances are we'll all be puzzling over these widgets sooner rather than later.
[1] https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/07/firefox-new-widgets-crossword
[2] https://prod-games-particle.merino.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net/index.html
[3] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-new-tab-widgets
[4] https://www.firefox.com/en-GB/landing/kick/
[5] https://support.mozilla.org/en-GB/kb/firefox-new-tab-widgets
priorities (Score:2, Informative)
"were going to have laser focus on the browser and will be dropping pocket and fakeSpot as they are distrations"
months later..
"nah fuck that lets do crossword puzzles"
the mozilla roller-coaster continues I see.
Parasites (Score:3)
Mozilla has too much money which attracts manager types who latch onto the host and eventually kill it.
This turned up in Firefox on CachyOS last week (Score:4, Interesting)
Over the last few weeks started getting increasing numbers of shortcut icons underneath my search bar on my default page - Amazon, Temu, etc,(with tiny "sponsored" text) and a couple of my most visited sites.
Then I started to get the mini-apps exhorting me to play this or look at that.
And then I went to FireFox's settings and set my new tab option to "blank".
There was a feedback popup when the tab loaded and I spent a little time telling them not to repeat the mistakes of other browsers cluttering up their landing pages. One of the few times I recommended taking a cue for Google, home page is clean, you hit it and jump off somewhere else, job done.
make it stop (Score:3)
HEY FIREFOX. Stop making your product worse. We don't need useless slop.
fixed (Score:3)
Settings > Home > New windows > Custom > about:blank
Settings > Home > New tabs > Blank Page
fixed
Re: (Score:2)
Done and done. Thank you.
None of these "improvements" interest me in the least. All I want from Firefox is to support uBlock Origin, render web pages, and otherwise stay the fuck out of my way.
Re: (Score:2)
Thankfully, Firefox is extremely configurable, unlike most browsers. That which you can't do through settings, you can use about:config, policies, and UserChrome.css.
I don't mind them adding features that some users might want, as long as they can be turned off. And, so far, that has always been the case.
New Tab Override (Score:2)
I have the "New Tab Override" extension installed, it allows me to load my own local .html file for the new tab page.
My personal page has a 4x3 grid of links to my most often needed pages, and I like this a lot.
I hope they haven't removed this functionality, it might be the last straw that pushes me away from Firefox. I'm really starting to hate their "do it our way and no other" mentality.
Re: (Score:2)
You don't need an extension. You can put any local html file path in as your home page(s).
Settings> Home> Homepage> Choose a specific > /home/myloginname/mypage.html > Add address
done.
Oh, and you can even have more than one file. Or mix local files with web addresses. Or just click on "Bookmarks" button and then your bookmarks will fill your home page. Firefox is very configurable.
Firefox, please stop (Score:2)
I'm nearly done with you.
Right now I'm at the end - you have constantly shoveled shit into a browser that was famous for being lean.
Now I think I'm going to move to Brave if this doesn't get reversed shortly.
Re: (Score:2)
> "I'm nearly done with you. Right now I'm at the end - you have constantly shoveled shit into a browser that was famous for being lean."
Firefox can't be all things to all people. But any of these things can easily be turned off or customized. And customization is one of the major advantages of Firefox. In addition, although I think this "amusement" they added is silly, it is just a link it goes to. Probably not even 1KB in the compiled code.
> "Now I think I'm going to move to Brave if this doesn't
please stop (Score:2)
Also, please ask the PM who approved this to resign, and stop accepting updates from the devs involved, and I'd suggest: their organisations.
And falling into the negative feature bandwagon (Score:2)
"Hello, We're Firefox, The Only Browser That Hasn't Hit Itself In The Dick With A Hammer. For years now, folks use us because of our un-hammered dick. Now, you may be wondering why today we've brought this hammer and pulled out our dick. Well I'm glad you asked--"
Source: [1]https://mastodon.social/@TheZe... [mastodon.social]
In the meantime, I already have at least one alternate browser (e.g. Vivaldi, Pale Moon, Librewolf, Servo). Although it feels like running more than one at a time increases the chance of a surprise memory le
[1] https://mastodon.social/@TheZeldaZone/114082180124431864
Useless Bloat-Trash! (Score:2)
So much for Firefox offering any kind of oasis from the searing firestorm of bile-rising AI.
It's not going to help Firefox start any faster (Score:2)
Firefox 1.0 was about 5MB. No, not the installer, the whole thing. [1]https://archive.org/details/fi... [archive.org]
[1] https://archive.org/details/firefox10
Re: (Score:1)
Crossword puzzles are woke now?