New Social Media Widget Blocking and Firefox Proxy Features in Firefox

Mozilla developers have released mockups of upcoming improvements to Firefox’s interface elements, focusing on enhancing privacy and blocking tracking. One of the key new features is an option to block social media widgets that track users across third-party websites, such as Facebook Like buttons and embedded Twitter posts. For authentication forms that use social media accounts, there will be an option to temporarily disable this blocking.

Other Interface Improvements

Other changes include an updated panel for managing blocking settings, which appears when you click the (i) icon in the address bar. In addition to a redesigned look and new options, several new indicators are proposed to replace the (i) icon, allowing users to quickly see which blocking modes are active.

The panel will also display informational banners with tips and notifications when blocking is disabled because a site is on the whitelist (for example, when blocking trackers causes issues with displaying information on certain pages).

A link to a detailed report on blocked items has been added to the panel, allowing users to track the number of blocks by day of the week and by type.

Introducing Firefox Proxy

The mockups also reveal a new, yet-to-be-announced product called Firefox Proxy. So far, it is only known that this will be a new add-on designed to enhance protection when using public wireless networks.