aminomancer
privateWindowHomepage.uc.js isn't working
Describe the bug
A Private window is not displaying my home page.
To Reproduce Steps to reproduce the behavior:
Open a private window.
Expected behavior
My home page is displayed.
Desktop (please complete the following information):
privateWindowHomepage.uc.js v1.1.0
OS: Win11 Pro 24H2 Build 26100.4061
Firefox update channel: Nightly
Version: 141.0a1 (2025-05-28) (64-bit)
Build ID: 20250528092647
Additional context Add any other context about the problem here.
I have no idea when this started not to work, as I don't use Private Browsing regularly. Similar bug filed before (#88).
This should now be fixed by using
security.allow_unsafe_dangerous_privileged_evil_eval= true.
Originally posted by @aminomancer in #110
I wish this script would also open about:home instead of about:privatebrowsing when opening a new tab to completely match the behavior of normal windows.
This should now be fixed by using
security.allow_unsafe_dangerous_privileged_evil_eval= true.
Thanks, yes this script requires that pref. It's in the required prefs file now: https://github.com/aminomancer/uc.css.js/blob/5892e02f5e4157995797ee50833649e800b72535/prefs/required.js#L4
I added it to the readme too.
I wish this script would also open about:home instead of about:privatebrowsing when opening a new tab to completely match the behavior of normal windows.
Hmm... New tab is separate from homepage. Firefox opens about:newtab for new tabs, not about:home. But PBM windows open about:privatebrowsing for both home and newtab.
It does this because about:home and about:newtab aren't private. If you open the base new tab page in private mode, it will save data to your profile and Firefox account. Whereas about:privatebrowsing is totally inert.
If you use an extension to set your new tab page, it should override about:privatebrowsing in PBM windows. Like, about:privatebrowsing only replaces the vanilla newtab page. So this script makes sure it shows your custom home page, and Firefox already shows your newtab page if it's set by an addon. And you can override your homepage to your new tab page URL. In about:preferences search for "new tab" and at the bottom you can set homepage and new tab. Set it to the name of the addon for both dropdowns.
I use a custom version of the Tab Notes addon: here's mine.
I find a notebook more useful than the vanilla newtab page. There are other addons that can show bookmarks and feeds and stuff though. But if you really want to use the vanilla newtab page and not an addon, I can look into it.
There are other addons that can show bookmarks and feeds and stuff though.
I understand, but I really need most visited sites on my start page, and although I don't really like the vanilla start page, the extensions I found were of poor quality . That's why I stick to the default settings, specifically Firefox Home for the home page and new tabs (presumably like most users).
The problem is that extensions like New Tab Override (which can work in PBM) can't redirect to "about:newtab" because it's some kind of “privileged”. No doubt you know this
But nevermind, I've already found a script that does the job, so no further action is needed. I think it works well with your script for vanilla newtab users who want to get rid of about:privatebrowsing. They just need to change the url in that script to about:home.
Okay that's good to hear.
It seems like another way to do this is to just set your new tab URL with AboutNewTab.newTabURL = "https://example.com;". That might work more reliably, considering there are other ways to open tabs besides BrowserCommands.openTab.
FYI, extensions can show top sites too. The most popular one is Tabliss. That's what I meant when I said "feeds." It's the same feed about:newtab is drawing from. The extension API is here, and it's calling the same method that about:newtab calls to request the top sites. So it's the same feed.