Mozilla plans to integrate kiosk mode functionality in version 71 of the Firefox web browser that users of the browser may launch from the command line.

First requested more than 17 years ago, work on integrating a kiosk mode in the Firefox web browser started five months ago. Current Firefox Nightly versions support the new mode already.

Kiosk mode refers to a special display mode that launches the browser without interface elements in fullscreen. It is different from the browser's fullscreen mode that users can activate with a tap on the F11-key on the keyboard. F11 switches the browser to fullscreen and removes interface elements by default, but these can be displayed by moving the mouse to the top; additionally, another tap on F11 exits fullscreen mode again and restores the default browsing mode.

Kiosk mode can be useful to maximize the screen space that a site or service is displayed in, or on presentation, demonstration, or customer-facing devices.

Firefox users had to rely on browser extensions up until now to integrate a kiosk mode in the browser. Google implemented kiosk mode functionality in Chrome and users may run Chrome in kiosk mode by starting the browser with the --kiosk parameter.

Mozilla Firefox accepts the same parameter as Google Chrome to launch kiosk mode. Just load Firefox with --kiosk as a parameter to launch the browser in that mode. You may also append a site URL to the command, e.g. --kiosk "https://www.ghacks.net/", to have it loaded by the browser directly.

Create a Firefox Kiosk Mode shortcut

Note that you need to use Firefox 71 at the very least for kiosk mode functionality. Select Menu > Help > About Firefox to display the version of the web browser. The instructions are for Windows.

Open Start, search for Firefox, right-click on Firefox and select create shortcut. It may be a good idea to create a shortcut even if you have one on the desktop already unless you always want the browser to start in kiosk mode. Right-click on the new shortcut and select Properties from the context menu. In the target field, append --kiosk and make sure there is a space between the path and the parameter, e.g. "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" --kiosk. To launch a specific site, add the site address to the parameter, e.g. "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" --kiosk "https://www.ghacks.net/". Click ok.

Launch the shortcut to test the functionality. Note that you cannot use window controls, Esc or F11 to exit kiosk mode. The only valid option at the time is to press Alt-F4 to close the entire window.

Closing Words

Kiosk mode is a specialized mode that works well for presentations, demos and for customer facing devices. I tried the -printing parameter but it did not work at the time of writing.

Now You: have you ever used kiosk mode? What is your take on the change (via Techdows)

Summary Article Name Firefox 71: new kiosk mode for the browser Description Mozilla plans to integrate kiosk mode functionality in version 71 of the Firefox web browser that users of the browser may launch from the command line. Author Martin Brinkmann Publisher Ghacks Technology News Logo

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