The people that disable javascript either do it by accident and then stop using the browser or are nerdy enough to figure out how to turn off javascript in the configs. Javascript will also be configurable using plugins.

Yeah, they're trying to remove the settings that people set to goof up their browsers from the look of this. There's this one, too:

"Load images automatically" and Always show the tab bar" checkboxes removed from preferences and reset to defaults

Let this day go down in history as the day we declared our independence from the tyrannical Mozilla organization and their corporate-interest driven and oppressive removal of our freedoms and ability to customize our browser. We shall not be stricken down by their restrictive and non-representational releases of firefox... instead we choose to be empowered by the option to disable things such as javascript, and tabbed browsing because we understand these options to be self-evident truths for all browser users.

I am tired of having my freedoms stripped from my browser without any representation into the process. As a user of the browser I was not adequately informed of the upcoming changes nor was I given an opportunity to choose not to upgrade.

THIS MUST END

Contact me for further information, the revolution begins today.

If you don't like the direction the Mozilla Corporation is taking Firefox, you're free to disable automatic updates, revert to a previous version of the browser, or even fork your own version of Firefox. It's not tyrannical to want new versions of Firefox to present a better user experience and be less confusing to everyday users.

... and not receive security patches.

Version 17 is the Extended Support Release and still gets security patches. Or, "I had those security holes right where I wanted them! Quit breaking my browser grr!"

there's bugs for each of these (which are open to the world and anyone can comment) all you have to do is to take a stance during the process. harder to do so after a bunch of various people (employed or not by mozilla) decided something.

pretty sure those options went off because enough people decided that the preferences/option panel was too complicated and these were the ones that telemetry indicated were the least used.

I would not be at all surprised if there was a high correlation between "People who turned off Javascript" and "People who declined to provide telemetry", so there could be some selection bias in those results.

People who understand what that setting did can still disable by going to about:config!

This is not a conspiracy, just making browser hard to break for people who check boxes and forget about these. For those, browser is broken!

Those who know what disabling JavaScript actually does still have a way to disable! Where does all the privacy talk come in between?

NoScript is a much better option all around. I know I've been using it since forever.

When I got my last company laptop without all these things set, I was surprised how painful it was to try and download anything without a proper adblocker and noscript. I don't know how people do it.

that's a good point

Bugzilla is not your personal soapbox. The revolution is a damp squib.

Surely he was kidding?

This is no joke brother... We will not rest until this issue is heard in the highest of courts. First they came for our <blink> tags and we laughed... then they came for our options to disable tabbed browser, and they said nothing... then they came for our option to not be tracked by online advertising agencies (javascript) and everyone was too busy sharing kitten photos on facebook to say a damned thing.

Yeah. It's satire about overreactions that are so prevalent on many tech sites (including this one). Colbert would be proud.

We have already begun to gather near Mozilla HQ in San Francisco...

https://socialcam.com/v/39HPvZde

Protesters can be heard chanting:

"WHAT DO WE WANT?"

"The ability to disable tabbed browsing"

"WHEN DO WE WANT IT"

"Possibly in the next point release, but the next major is cool too"

Are you being serious or is this supposed to be a joke?

Exactly, and if you're so inclined to have those options set in a certain (and don't want to do so through some other addon like NoScript) you can set it in about:config.

The primary problem is that the about:config flag for hiding tabs is ineffective so there is more to the solution than just looking deeper into the config menus.

I agree that these options are for power users, but my fear is that soon after they relegate the ability to disable javascript to the bowels of the application, they will soon remove it entirely. And that this decision is in fact not driven just by the fact that it is seldom used, but driven more-so by the corporate interests they hold with advertising and other online entities that serve not for the browser users, but their own corporate interests. This fundamentally collides with the intent of the Mozilla foundations purpose and this behavior must stop.

The ability to disable javascript has been on the main screen of the options panel because it serves a very important purpose.

Also the ability to not show tabs when browsing a single web page because for that use case, it is more optimal to not show a tab and waste the screen real estate on dead space.

They have fundamentally altered the Firefox browser in a fundamental way that is not configurable and have not provided reasonable alternative.

I refuse to accept any so called "Add-On". These features are not to be pushed off into to the extremities of the community and be forgot about. I firmly believe that any such browser serving only the interests of the user would see these features as being non-optional options and should exist in perpetuity for the life of that software.

> Always show the tab bar

Which way I'd this one going to go? On or of? And the fact that I have to ask tells me that maybe they should not have removed the option.

Tab bar will be always visible. The fact that you have to ask means nothing, because you are one person. Decisions get made based on data, not anecdotes.

The fact that I have to ask means I have no way to predict which they consider "better". It could have just as easily gone the other way.

Personally I'm glad it's in the visible direction though.

An option should only be removed if the "better" way is obvious.

Any ideas where the data is that showed this move was positive? Is all the browser usage data open?

NoScript continues to work fine and is much more functional than globally turning off JS. Anyone who intentionally turned off JS via the Firefox options will probably benefit from being forced to use NoScript instead anyway.

Personally I've set - for as long as I recall - the javascript options in the submenu all off. I don't see why a page should be able to move windows or change default menus. I'm assuming these options are being removed from the GUI too. What are the defaults (they're not mentioned on the OP's page).

NoScript doesn't appear to have these fine tuning options?