• "Move or resize existing windows" <dom.disable_window_open_feature.resizable>
• "Raise or lower windows" <dom.disable_window_flip>
• "Disable or replace context menus" <dom.event.contextmenu.enabled>

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Prevent_websites_from_disabling_new_window_features
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/JavaScript#Advanced_JavaScript_settings

There was a concern that people were accidentally disabling JavaScript, causing them to encounter problems on most websites. I'm not aware of any way to know how serious a problem that was. I don't think it took any serious amount of time away from fixing other bugs. Basically the layout file for the dialog lost a couple of controls.

Please explain the values for each of the settings, Cor-El.

Frankly, I don't want some dev newbie configuring Firefox in ways that Microsoft might prefer but I do not, especially since so often these devs do not seem to have the qualifications to be making the decisions that they make.

At the least, make the information available so that we can do it ourselves, and please don't hide it in some obscure jargon-ridden "reference" somewhere.

@jscher200: Why is my bullshift meter reading 99%?

Whether JavaScript was enabled was not a problem. It was enabled by default and anyone who disabled it should have had no problem finding it again. The three actions which were blocked unless the user also enabled them respectively were what mattered. Cor-El's answer does not give enough info as to how to prevent those "features" of JavaScript from being used.

For what it is worth, I'm not looking forward to another change:

"Simplified interface for notifications of plugin installation"

My guess is that whoever decided to "simplify" the interface sacrificed security for convenience -- as if the Internet is safer now than it was when that interface was created. If that interface was too complicated for you -- or just too slow for your Red Bull brain -- then you have neither the wit nor the wisdom to be using the Internet, regardless of the "simplicity" of the browser.

Regarding the meaning of the settings, see: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/967108#answer-464407

Did you previously make changes to those JavaScript settings?

If prefs are the default then they show as such on the about:config page.
If they have been changed from the default then they show as user set (bold).

In second mozillaZine knowledge base article you can read which setting could be changed previously via options and now need to be changed via their prefs that I posted above.

The first article describes other settings that web pages might be changing or that you can modify yourself if you do not like their default value.

I'm not making this up -- feel free to disagree, but someone thought it was broken: http://limi.net/checkboxes-that-kill/

As for what users should have no problem doing, please spend a few hours here helping out. ;-)

@Cor-El:

Until this matter came up, I had not altered any about:config entries that pertain to JavaScript. (I've done it previously for other issues, such as the implementation of DPI Scaling.)

The Mozillazine articles which I bookmarked are:

● http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config

● http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_entries

● http://kb.mozillazine.org/Prevent_websites_from_disabling_new_window_features

●http://kb.mozillazine.org/JavaScript#Advanced_JavaScript_settings

The last one is more for general information about JavaScript in general that helps to understand the settings explained in the third article.

Thank-you for the links.

@jscher2000:

Alex Limi's "Checkboxes that kill" article is interesting and it makes some valid points.

Disabling the Navigation bar is a good example. Limi did not mention that you might need to re-install Firefox after you disable the Menu Bar. Perhaps one can get-by if add-ons that supplant its components are installed. Regardless, the Menu Bar allows access to all Firefox features and functions and to the configuration thereof.

Limi also did not mention "hiding" the Tab Bar "Always". Not that I have tried it, but maybe doing that just eliminates "tabbed browsing" altogether? :-/

Nonetheless, the ability to customize toolbars and other features is one Firefox attribute that encourages me to continue using it. Alex Limi states "We’re trying to design software that can be used by everyone  -- ..." but the original Mozilla goal for Firefox was to enable the user to customize it as much as they desire or need (primarily via add-ons and themes).

The out-of-the-box unvarnished Firefox was quite usable by "everyone". I have not seen it recently, but I should hope that it still is. But hardly anyone who uses Firefox wants to leave it at that. If you have used Interet Explorer, especially its early versions, then probably you understand why a browser that can be used by "everyone" is not one that many people would choose if a browser that is better is available.

Also, I disagree with some of Alex Limi's polemic:

Options are 'the cheap way out,' and they usually speak to an inability to agree on what to do in a given situation.

In my experience with Firefox and Thunderbird, often an option has been implemented to allow users to readily disable a feature perchance that enabling it breaks something. That can be essential when a feature is new to the software and/or it is new to Internet technology. It is easy to forget that Intel CPUs run on a huge variety of platforms, and that there are always various versions of Windows in use (whether updated). Neither is the Internet so globally uniform, even today.

Frankly, I believe that I have used every Firefox "option" at some time or another. Although, options have come and gone or been revised. Some I've used many times. The biggest problem, in my experience, is the lack of "how to use" instructions in the Firefox Help for many of them.

Design by committee often looks like a row of checkboxes.

That may be true, but the converse is not. As a systems analyst, I developed specifications and designed many programs, and sometimes coded them too. Even when I participated on a "development team", most design decisions were my responsibility, and often they were made by prospective end-users. Basically, a row of checkboxes is often the best way to allow users to configure the software to do what they want it to do, and to configure the UI to appear as they want it to appear. If you do it right, then using them should not break the software or make the output irreparably unusable.

Quote: Limi did not mention that you might need to re-install Firefox after you disable the Menu Bar

There shouldn't be any need to reinstall Firefox if you hide toolbars or otherwise make customization changes to the user interface.

You can press the F10 key or tap the Alt key to bring up the hidden "Menu Bar" temporarily.

You can delete the localstore.rdf file to remove all customizations and restore the default appearance.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Corrupt_localstore.rdf

In case of modifies prefs, you can either reset them on the about:config page or delete or edit the prefs.js file to undo changes.