Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Motown is Joe-Town!

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

American History and Black History can not be separated.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Donald Trump, welcome to your everything, everywhere, all at once.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Be a traveling stable for those who can’t find room at the inn.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

You are here: Home / z-Retired Categories / Previous Site Maintenance / Firefox 86.0 – Asking for Info and 5 Volunteers

Firefox 86.0 – Asking for Info and 5 Volunteers

by | 75 Comments

This post is in: ,

Firefox 86.0 is out, and it appears that the comment issue in Visual mode is, well, still an issue.

I believe the following to be true, please chime in to agree or disagree:

This is a problem with Firefox on Windows computers.

This is NOT a problem with Firefox on Mac computers.

This is NOT a problem with Firefox on iPads or iPhones.

This is NOT a problem with Firefox on Kindle.

Question:  Does the Firefox work properly in Visual mode on mobile devices?

*****

Volunteers

Steeplejack and Wolvesvalley have both done some testing on Windows, and it behaves differently for the two of them.

I am looking for 5 more volunteers who use Firefox with Windows, and are willing to do some serious testing.

Any volunteers?

 

Reader Interactions

75Comments

  6. 6.

    Ken

    Windows, Firefox 86.0 here. Visual tab is working for “Leave a Comment.”  Problem was intermittent before, so I’ll try again, and try through Reply and Edit.​​​​

  7. 7.

    Ken

    Did not work on the second try through “Leave a Comment”, nor on Reply or Edit.

    I’m adding this with Reply, using the Text tab. When I switched to that, it had the tags with mce:


    <p data-mce-fragment="1"><a href="#comment-8093482" data-mce-fragment="1">@Ken</a>: ​</p>

    Switching back to Visual, that tab’s still not responsive and blank, but my comment is still in the Text tab.

  8. 8.

    WaterGirl

    Testing participants:  We will start with just commenting, as opposed to Replying or Editing.

    Please update to Firefox 86.0

    Quit Firefox.

    Open Firefox again.

    Let’s test using Albatrossity’s Yucatan post

    Hit COMENT in the white bar, or scroll down to the Comment Box at the bottom

    Do you see a flashing cursor?  (yes or no)

    If you did not have a flashing cursor, click anywhere inside the comment box.  Now do you see a flashing cursor?  (yes or no)

    Post a comment that says something like “first comment after opening Firefox and opening BJ”.

    Now head to the comment box again.

    Do you see a flashing cursor?  (yes or no)

    If you did not have a flashing cursor, click anywhere inside the comment box.  Now do you see a flashing cursor?  (yes or no)

    I’d like to get that baseline info from all the testers before we go on to the next step.

    *****

    After going through that process the first time, please close all Balloon Juice tabs or windows and quit firefox.

    Then go back to the same OTR thread and do the same thing again, except that your comment should indicate that this is the second time you have opened Firefox and BJ fresh for the same process.

    Please report back in this thread to tell me the results of the first basic test of cursor/no cursor.

    Thanks.

  9. 9.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl:

    Windows, FF 86.0

    Do you see a flashing cursor?  NO

    If you did not have a flashing cursor, click anywhere inside the comment box.  Now do you see a flashing cursor?  YES

    Post a comment IT WORKED

    Now head to the comment box again.

    Do you see a flashing cursor?  NO

    If you did not have a flashing cursor, click anywhere inside the comment box.  Now do you see a flashing cursor?  NO

  14. 14.

    WaterGirl

    Status Report, Windows, Step 1:

    Consistently get the flashing cursor by clicking in the comment box, but ONLY the first time they comment after Firefox is open.

    Wolvesvalley

    Consistently get the flashing cursor by clicking in the comment box, whenever they comment after Firefox is open.  

    Steeplejack

    Inconsistent results – sometimes gets the flashing cursor by clicking in the comment box the first time they comment after Firefox is open, and sometimes doesn’t get the flashing cursor even on the first comment after closing Firefox and BJ and then re-opening Firefox and BJ fresh.

    Ken

    Waiting for results of the first testing step.

    Just Some Fuckhead
    Gus

  15. 15.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    I’m going to have to bow out. I didn’t realize we’d be starting now and I have other stuff going at the moment. Sorry! :)

  16. 16.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl: Tried again, and it’s not consistent.  This time on first opening FF, I did not get the cursor after clicking.  So for that run my answers to the Four Questions are NO, NO, NO, NO.

    Pity, I was going to say that you could close the ticket since we have a workaround.

  20. 20.

    trollhattan

    Firefox 86.0 64-bit Win 10.

    Visual tab doesn’t exist under Leave a Comment and I have to click in comment field to get the blinky cursor.

    No code in response window as when replying to a comment. Now let me try a reply….

  21. 21.

    trollhattan

    @WaterGirl:

    Now I get the visual tab and have to click inside to get the cursor.

    I am using AdBlock.

    Will note that at other times today the visual tab was non-responsive when replying, and I needed to switch to text to populate the reply.

  22. 22.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl: I closed Firefox, and no tabs were open when I started it. My home page is an empty tab, I don’t preserve tabs across sessions.

    I just repeated the experiment, this time closing the BJ tab before closing FF.  Still getting NO, NO, NO, NO.

    I do not use an ad blocker.

  23. 23.

    WaterGirl

    @trollhattan: If you don’t even see the Visual tab, that’s a different bug that we have had all the time.  Clicking on “click here to refresh” above the comment box brings back the Visual tab when that happens.

    Can you try that, and then close BJ and Firefox, and then re-open Firefox and BJ?  I need you to have the Visual tab AND a fresh open of Firefox in order to do the test.

    Are you willing to try again?

  24. 24.

    trollhattan

    @trollhattan: ​
    Inconsistent with my comment above, I reply to my own comment and cannot use the Visual tab.

    Editing my comment, the Visual tab is not functional.

  26. 26.

    trollhattan

    Hi WaterGirl #23

    After refresh I get both tabs and can comment in the Visual tab, after clicking inside the field to get the blinky cursor.

    [Practice edit] I have to switch to Text tab for this.

  27. 27.

    Dopey-o

    Firefox for Amazon Fire? Doesn’t appear to be available fron their app store! Currently using the Silk browser on my my Fire, and hating it.

  28. 28.

    dmsilev

    Here’s what I saw:

    Firefox 86.0 on Mac. On first loading page, only the Text option was available. Clicking the “click here to refresh” gave the Visual tab. No cursor, could not click in field (posting this in Text mode).

    Second comment. Visual mode is available, but no flashing cursor, either before or after clicking in the text box.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    @trollhattan: Refresh nearly always lets you get the blinking cursor when you click in the comment box.

    But for the initial test, I am trying to see what happens for each person WITHOUT hitting refresh.  That’s why it would help if you close BJ and close Firefox and then open it again.  IF you have the Visual tab at that point, I need you to run through there steps outlined in comment #8.

    Once i establish the baseline for each tester – do you get the flashing cursor if you click in the box the first time, and subsequent times – and then I will take everyone through a round where we try the 4 different ways to refresh and see what works and what doesn’t work.

  31. 31.

    mvr

    I’m now using the visual tab and do seem to be able to post without switching to the text tab. So that is improvement and firefox told me it updated earlier today.  It is now 86.0 on a Windows 10 machine.

  34. 34.

    WaterGirl

    @mvr: Are you willing to run through the steps at #8, exactly as outlined?  And let me know what your results are?

    Also, do you run an ad blocker, and if so, which one?

  40. 40.

    dmsilev

    Given the conversation, the other thing I should note about the Mac test was that the page never came up with the Visual tab enabled; I always had to hit the “click here to refresh” link. Tried it several times; it was very consistent. This is an almost entirely bare Firefox configuration, no ad-blockers or anything like that (only extension is for an application called Zotero, for downloading & managing academic journal articles).

  41. 41.

    trollhattan

    Do you see a flashing cursor?  NO
    If you did not have a flashing cursor, click anywhere inside the comment box.  Now do you see a flashing cursor?  YES
    Post a comment IT WORKED​
    NB results here and below with AdBlock paused, FF closed and reopened.​​
     
    ETA carriage returns vanished when editing comment.

  42. 42.

    trollhattan

    Now head to the comment box again.

    Do you see a flashing cursor?  NO

    If you did not have a flashing cursor, click anywhere inside the comment box.  Now do you see a flashing cursor?  YES

  43. 43.

    WaterGirl

    @trollhattan: Okay, tell me if this is a correct summary.

    WITH YOUR AD BLOCKER PAUSED

    Once you closed BJ and closed Firefox and opened them again AND had the visual tab present…

    You get the flashing cursor for your first comment when you click in the comment box, AND you get it for the second comment when you click in the box.

    Without any kind of refresh in between comment 1 and comment 2.

    Is that correct?

  45. 45.

    WaterGirl

    @trollhattan: Okay, so you behave like Steeplejack, at least on this first test.

    Are you willing to close out of everything and try the whole thing at #8 one more time?

    With you ad blocker paused, correct?

  46. 46.

    trollhattan

    @WaterGirl: 
    Can I be the arm-waving, annoying student and tell you that when I try to post in the thread below this one I can’t get the Visual tab to work even with refreshes?
    –That Guy

    Okay, I’ll try your request in this one, now.

  49. 49.

    trollhattan

    My #2 full try.
    Comment 1
    No flashing cursor initially
    No flashing cursor after clicking inside field, comment using Text tab.
    Comment 2, staying inside thread
    No flashing cursor initially
    No flashing cursor after clicking inside field, comment using Text tab.
    Restart FF, leave AdBlock on OFF
    No flashing cursor.
    Cursor appears after clicking in field, able to comment.
    Restarting FF restored the ability to use Visual tab,​

  50. 50.

    Rob

    Hit COMENT in the white bar, or scroll down to the Comment Box at the bottom
    I scrolled down

    Do you see a flashing cursor? (yes or no)
    No

    If you did not have a flashing cursor, click anywhere inside the comment box. Now do you see a flashing cursor? (yes or no)
    Yes

    Post a comment that says something like “first comment after opening Firefox and opening BJ”.
    Done

    Now head to the comment box again.

    Do you see a flashing cursor? (yes or no)
    No

    If you did not have a flashing cursor, click anywhere inside the comment box. Now do you see a flashing cursor? (yes or no)
    Yes

    ETA: macOS Catalina Version 10.15.7, and Firefox automatically deletes all cookies upon closing

  52. 52.

    WaterGirl

    @Rob: Interesting.  Yours works as it should.  so far.

    Are you willing to close all BJ tabs, quit Firefox, and go through the entire #8 again to see if that is repeatable?

    If you don’t see the visual tab, you need to click on “click here to refresh”, then quit BJ and Firefox and don’t start the process at #8 until you open BJ and the Visual and Text tabs are both there.

  54. 54.

    Rob

    Second time as per instructions and before I saw Watergirl’s post #52:

    Do you see a flashing cursor? (yes or no)
    No

    If you did not have a flashing cursor, click anywhere inside the comment box. Now do you see a flashing cursor? (yes or no)
    No (Had been yes the first time)

    Post a comment that says something like ‘second comment after opening Firefox and opening BJ’.
    Done

    Now head to the comment box again.

    Do you see a flashing cursor? (yes or no)
    No

    If you did not have a flashing cursor, click anywhere inside the comment box. Now do you see a flashing cursor? (yes or no)
    Yes

  55. 55.

    Rob

    @WaterGirl: I just went through the process as outlined in post #8 in this thread, and before I saw this post (#52). One of the four steps was different.

    FWIW I have AdBlock Plus and UBlock Origin going on every tab all the time

    ETA this is the second time I’ve edited this post and the Visual box was blank when I hit edit, so I clicked on Text.

  57. 57.

    WaterGirl

    @Rob: Okay.  I think maybe next time we should all test with all ad blockers off and see if we can get something consistent then.

    I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have had enough fun for tonight.

  58. 58.

    Rob

    @WaterGirl: So we test without ad blockers on another night?

    Also, I have the same three tabs open every time I open Firefox. I don’t know if that affects results. All other sites I go to I open manually.

  59. 59.

    Rob

    WaterGirl, one last thing (which maybe I missed upstream because I haven’t read every comment): I went up to comment #8, clicked on the link to Albatrossity’s thread, went to the comment box, and this time did not see the tabs labeled “Visual” or “Text”. The color of the other tabs above the comment box told me I was in Text.
    Thank you for doing this.​

  61. 61.

    WaterGirl

    @Rob: That is an occasional bug that has been there since the beginning.  I addressed how to deal with that so it won’t affect our testing – in comment #52 above.

  62. 62.

    mvr

    @WaterGirl: ​ Sorry missed the bit about coming back here:
    No flashing cursor after I hit comment in the white bar at the top.No flashing cursor when I click in the boxNo ability to type until I change over to the test box.
    Same result when I scroll down to the comment box after doing that.
    I tried to edit a typo in my first comment and could not do it.
    But then I was able to post just fine when I went back to report that in the other thread.​
     
    All with adblock off.

  63. 63.

    sherparick

    This is a problem with Firefox on Windows computers. Yes. At least on my computer using Firefox.

    This is NOT a problem with Firefox on Mac computers. I don’t know.

    This is NOT a problem with Firefox on iPads or iPhones. I don’t know

    This is NOT a problem with Firefox on Kindle. I don’t know.

    I just click on “Text” and all is well.

  65. 65.

    trollhattan

    Hey, let’s try Chrome (88.0) in Win 10.

    No initial cursor in Visual tab comment window.

    Cursor appears when clicking in window, comment commences.

    Apologies for the off-topic post. Carry on.

  67. 67.

    There go two miscreants

    In the OTR post, I did NOT get a flashing cursor or the I-beam cursor in the Visual tab in any case. I was able to comment using the Text tab. Clicking in the Visual tab did not make any difference.

    However, for this comment right here, the Visual tab worked just fine!

  68. 68.

    There go two miscreants

    But now it does not! (posted from Text tab)

    ETA: No “mce” when editing. Win10 Home 64bit, FF86.0 64bit.

  69. 69.

    PJ

    I didn’t read the comments, but I have a Mac and use Firefox, and I can only enter comments in text mode.

  70. 70.

    Gvg

    At work on a Mac in Firefox 75 I have the tab problem recently. I didn’t used to, just this week I think. I don’t upgrade at work because so many work programs are optimized for certain versions and things get wonky if I am in the newest version. They tell us to upgrade when they have things ready. I don’t know if this is useful information and I am not at work now.

  71. 71.

    Wolvesvalley

    Using Firefox 86.0 in Windows 10 64-bit. I just tried turning off my ad blocker (uBlock Origin). I did not get the flashing cursor in visual mode when I clicked in the comment box, even though it was the first time after I restarted Firefox and came to Balloon Juice. I had to hit Refresh to get the cursor.

  72. 72.

    Wolvesvalley

    I exited Balloon Juice but not Firefox (I opened another site on a new tab and closed the BJ tab), then came back to Balloon Juice on a another new tab. This time I got a flashing cursor as soon as I clicked in the comment box. uBlock Origin is still turned off.

    This is the opposite of what has happened with uBlock Origin turned on.

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