Where is the basic user manual/guide?

Users and developers helping users with generic and technical Pale Moon issues on all operating systems.

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ArtKoc
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Where is the basic user manual/guide?

Unread post by ArtKoc » 2023-01-27, 16:28

I have just spent an hour looking for basic user info for PM and come up dry.

Simple info, such as command line options and UI functions/actions is totally missing. The RC / Customize only opens the optional toolbar icon window without much guidance on what is possible. (Speaking of which, why are the icons in this window not sorted? Scanning a couple hundred randomly displayed icons/icon titles is unnecessary, error prone and just a PITA.) Clicking on the lock next to the URL window yields a popup for site settings. What other UI functionality is available? User guidance for site vs global settings? Some guidance on availability and implications on security and performance for the various preference options would be very useful.

Beyond the basics, an update on about:config settings would be appreciated. Assuming that, like FF, there are more about:config settings than are in the default config, a complete list of available options would be nice.

Also, is there anything like Mozilla's bug tracking on PM for bugs and feature requests? Adding to a forum that already has 3000 posts almost guarantees any such post would soon be lost among the crowd.

Blacklab
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Re: Where is the basic user manual/guide?

Unread post by Blacklab » 2023-01-28, 04:09

In his 1st post ArtKoc wrote:Returning PM user here. I have been using Basilisk and Vivaldi for the past few years...
Welcome back! :) Like many others on this forum you seem to have been round the browser block a few times over the years... and evidently you know your way around browser functionality, UIs, Prefs hidden or not, and howto make it all run and look the way you like. :think:

Regrettably, there isn't a handy 'all-in-one' user guide to Pale Moon... unless you'd like to write one of course? Staff shortages! :shock:

AFAIAA there isn't a handy 'all-in-one' user guide for any of the big, fancy, over-staffed (over-stuffed?) browsers either? Perhaps it's just me, but I find I still have to do just as much research and digging to make Firefox, LibreWolf, Vivaldi, et al work how I like too? (FWIW - I wouldn't know anything about Chrome itself as I don't touch anything Google unless there's absolutely, definitely, no alternative... sigh :twisted: ).

However, that said, you should be able to find all the info you want in various places... you just have to do a bit of serious self-help, lateral thinking, research, more digging, and if absolutely no joy ask on the forum. Always remember Pale Moon started life as a recompilation of Firefox, and in stages became a full fork as the introduction of Firefox 57 and WebExtensions came closer... and thereafter Pale Moon's development separated from Firefox... see Project History: https://www.palemoon.org/history.shtml
  • The first place to start on any query is the Forum's 'Search Box' (RH top every page)... but I'm sure you've found that already. :wave:
  • Next... just try a few well specified internet searches... after years of page indexing and ranking that works surprisingly well! :o
  • Then, personally, I'm a big fan of searching older Mozillazine Q&A topics (using the two Search boxes on each Mozillazine page) e.g. http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... &t=2664773... and older Mozillazine Knowledge Base articles e.g. https://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Manager. Much of the older Mozillazine info on the working of the UI and other technical matters (i.e. before Firefox 57 Quantum with its Photon UI and WebExtensions arrived in November 2017) is still accurate... or pretty accurate... or at least gives you a good starter for 10 about the workings of much of Pale Moon's UI.
  • Likewise, older Firefox Support Q&A threads can often provide useful info... and older Reddit Firefox/Firefox CSS threads too... just ignore the more recent flamewars bores on Reddit and the ignorant hostile auto-moderator bot posts. :thumbdown:
  • There's an FAQ about Pale Moon's additional preferences: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=3357&p=19126... but, it hasn't been updated in good while and isn't complete, so searching the forum is the best you can do for discovering more recent about:config changes.
  • Re: Your "Clicking on the lock next to the URL window yields a popup for site settings" comment... try this recent forum thread where the OP is asking about the 'Padlock' and the 'Identity Panel': viewtopic.php?f=3&t=29051&p=233796
  • Re: bug tracking... if you follow forum posts you will see Moonchild and other developers referring to the various bugs and known issues by repo number e.g. in this recent post by Moonchild: viewtopic.php?f=70&t=29387&p=236099#p236099
  • For in depth coding info you can find many now deleted Mozilla Developer Network (MDN) web docs about UXL compiled and preserved by Reality Ripple as a 'UDN' resource here: https://udn.realityripple.com/docs

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moonbat
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Re: Where is the basic user manual/guide?

Unread post by moonbat » 2023-01-29, 01:55

One more thing, a reminder even granted you've been using PM in the past - Pale Moon is NOT Firefox and any guides for customization or improving performance younger than a decade old will not apply. Especially all the talk of 'hardening' Firefox to get rid of Mozilla's privacy ruining features - none of those are applicable here because features like telemetry and baked in analytics simply don't exist. The various about:config tweaks for Firefox are not applicable to Pale Moon, both browsers having considerably diverged over the years, and you will end up damaging your profile if you try to blanket apply third party user.js tweaks like Arkenfox.
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back2themoon
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Re: Where is the basic user manual/guide?

Unread post by back2themoon » 2023-01-29, 11:06

The closest to a basic user manual/guide can already be found in: Preferences/Help. Every Preferences section is covered by the online guide, available by clicking Help (or pressing the usual F1, on Windows).

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