Safari 8.0.6 and proxies

Seems like a return to the bad old days with using OS X 10.10.3/Safari 8.0.6 behind a proxy. Just really doesn't work very well for me at all. In fact, today it's not working at all, whilst Firefox asks for the saved password and carries on as usual. I don't know what it is with Safari and proxies. Never been good. I'd be looking for a new approach completely, rather than just hoping firewalls will go away.