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The Firefox Dilemma

blog.tawhidhannan.co.uk

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Re: The Firefox Dilemma

#151

Post by mcny »

Yoric wrote: post #130
mcny wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe Chrome can compete with itself by swapping out the rendering and Javascript vms. Not that I have any insider information but from the complaints I've read about how the committees that handle promotion requests at Google, I'd be surprised if there aren't Google engineers already trying their hand at this. What I'd like to know is how much does Chrome cost Google? I've read that Mozilla spends just under half…

I remember estimates (so, take them with a laaaaarge pinch of salt) on ads promoting Chrome, which were expected to be ~4x the total budget of Mozilla. I would be surprised if (without counting ads), the Chrome paid devs were not at least 3x the number of Firefox paid devs.

> without counting ads

Oh, good point. I didn't think of that. I think the fact that Google promotes Chrome on Google Search and so on is worth more than the ads I see all over the web as well.

Re: The Firefox Dilemma

#152

Post by sohkamyung »

olejorgenb wrote: post #45

1. I like firefox's omnibar/awesomebar more than chrome's. It seems to read my mind better [1]. It also have some features [2] I think most people are unaware of. 2. Firefox have bookmark tags. 3. Firefox scroll the tabs instead of compressing the width until they're unusable. (It's also possible to set the minimum tab-width) 4. It's much simpler to get ctrl-tab MRU behavior [3] in Firefox last time I checked. 5. Fir…

Firefox is also more touch friendly on Windows 10. If I touch the menu button or touch-and-hold to bring up the menu, the menu items are spaced wider to make it easier to touch the required option.

Chrome on Windows 10 doesn't appear to differentiate between tapping and mouse clicking on a menu item. The spacing between items remains the same narrow spacing, making it somewhat harder to select the correct item using touch.

Re: The Firefox Dilemma

#153

Post by faitswulff »

politelemon wrote: post #64
olejorgenb wrote: post #45

1. I like firefox's omnibar/awesomebar more than chrome's. It seems to read my mind better [1]. It also have some features [2] I think most people are unaware of. 2. Firefox have bookmark tags. 3. Firefox scroll the tabs instead of compressing the width until they're unusable. (It's also possible to set the minimum tab-width) 4. It's much simpler to get ctrl-tab MRU behavior [3] in Firefox last time I checked. 5. Fir…

I like that Firefox Test Pilots often produce interesting, visible experiments. I'm a fan of Firefox Color: https://color.firefox.com - which allows you to express the UI color scheme in a shareable/saveable URL. There's also Side View: https://testpilot.firefox.com/experiments/side-view - which allows a persistent column to the side regardless of which tab you're in. Useful on widescreens.

I've been using Email Tabs to share my browsing research: https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/email-tabs/

For instance, I'll queue up a bunch of infant related tabs to email to my wife. If I'm unsure whether the site will stand the test of time, I can send the entire article (with an index) to her in the email as a kind of archive. I've also been sending myself my programming-related tabs when I go down a particularly deep rabbit hole.

Re: The Firefox Dilemma

#154

Post by nallerooth »

bugmen0t wrote: post #145
soniman wrote: post #125

The best thing about Firefox is that the browser is separate from your Google account so you don't have to worry about your bookmarks/extensions getting synced behind your back by Google and messing everything up. Google requiring browser/Google account to be the same is a nuisance that you don't have to worry about with Firefox.

What's also amazing, is that if you sign up for a Firefox Account you get privacy preserving sync: The data is encrypted & decrypted on your devices. Mozilla doesn't get to see your data.

This.

I get the whole "You are the product" thing when using Google services for free, but it still bugs me that anything I bookmark might/will end up in a profile somewhere.

Re: The Firefox Dilemma

#155

Post by davidgrenier »

mouldysammich wrote: post #54
olejorgenb wrote: post #45

1. I like firefox's omnibar/awesomebar more than chrome's. It seems to read my mind better [1]. It also have some features [2] I think most people are unaware of. 2. Firefox have bookmark tags. 3. Firefox scroll the tabs instead of compressing the width until they're unusable. (It's also possible to set the minimum tab-width) 4. It's much simpler to get ctrl-tab MRU behavior [3] in Firefox last time I checked. 5. Fir…

Firefoxs omnibar history search is significantly better than chromes; although i imagine that is down to them having no stake in sending google searches which google obviously does

Recently switched to firefox and am quite happy to see it has lots of feature I didn't think it had.

Chrome allows me to do use the built-in search engine of any website supporting it by pressing tab and then typing my search query. In firefox, it seems what I have to do is type my search query than use my mouse to click on the wikipedia icon (or amazon/etc). This also requires me to setup said search engine in firefox preferences. Ain't there anyway I can get that search experience using only the keyboard?

Re: The Firefox Dilemma

#156

Post by megous »

davidgrenier wrote: post #155
mouldysammich wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefoxs omnibar history search is significantly better than chromes; although i imagine that is down to them having no stake in sending google searches which google obviously does

Recently switched to firefox and am quite happy to see it has lots of feature I didn't think it had. Chrome allows me to do use the built-in search engine of any website supporting it by pressing tab and then typing my search query. In firefox, it seems what I have to do is type my search query than use my mouse to click on the wikipedia icon (or amazon/etc). This also requires me to setup said search engine in firef…

Ctrl + k, type search query, press tab, select search engine or add the one on the current page if it has any.

Re: The Firefox Dilemma

#157

Post by newscracker »

davidgrenier wrote: post #155
mouldysammich wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefoxs omnibar history search is significantly better than chromes; although i imagine that is down to them having no stake in sending google searches which google obviously does

Recently switched to firefox and am quite happy to see it has lots of feature I didn't think it had. Chrome allows me to do use the built-in search engine of any website supporting it by pressing tab and then typing my search query. In firefox, it seems what I have to do is type my search query than use my mouse to click on the wikipedia icon (or amazon/etc). This also requires me to setup said search engine in firef…

The search box is separate in Firefox (next to the address bar). You can get to it by typing Ctrl+K (Cmd+K on Mac). Once you type your query, you can use the Down Arrow or Tab key to navigate to the site/engine you want to use and then hit Enter. You can also rearrange the order of those search engines to make the frequently used ones easier to reach.

If you don't mind a network round trip, you can also setup DuckDuckGo as your default search engine and use bang commands [1] to do different kinds of searches on many sites.

[1]: https://duckduckgo.com/bang

Re: The Firefox Dilemma

#158

Post by webwanderings »

jcbrand wrote: post #113
toyg wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, and Chrome did that in one simple way: marketing and monopoly power. They leveraged their position in search and webmail to push people to switch, and hammered the message in mainstream advertising (on buses and newspapers, even in Europe). If they had pushed FF instead of building their own browser, now FF would be in that position - regardless of technical merits (which were minor, and basically boiled dow…

> I agree, and Chrome did that in one simple way: marketing and monopoly power. When Chrome came out, it was much faster than Firefox. IIRC, it was also an evergreen browser from the start and you could install plugins without restarting. It was in many ways a superior product.

You would have been down voted to hell for saying this here when Chrome came out. But I bet you know this already.

Google did to Firefox what it did to Yahoo, Altavista, Excite etc. When you can sell ‘6 minutes Abs’ who would buy ‘7 minutes Abs’?

Chrome was faster when it came out. I was on Win7 back in the days and I was being down voted. The proof is in the pudding.

Re: The Firefox Dilemma

#159

Post by theandrewbailey »

olejorgenb wrote: post #45

1. I like firefox's omnibar/awesomebar more than chrome's. It seems to read my mind better [1]. It also have some features [2] I think most people are unaware of. 2. Firefox have bookmark tags. 3. Firefox scroll the tabs instead of compressing the width until they're unusable. (It's also possible to set the minimum tab-width) 4. It's much simpler to get ctrl-tab MRU behavior [3] in Firefox last time I checked. 5. Fir…

I've noticed that Firefox's awesomebar does a full text search, and will find the text you've entered in the middle of words, but Chrome doesn't.

For example, I have bookmarked my blog (theandrewbailey.com) in both. Typing "rew" into Firefox suggests my blog. Chrome doesn't, and I need to type it out from the beginning in order for it to get the clue.

Re: The Firefox Dilemma

#160

Post by vthriller »

Jonnax wrote: post #49
Konryan wrote: post #41

I think there's another factor at play that isn't often mentioned: Google uses the dominant position of its services, as well as the strength of their brands, to promote Chrome as the better browser, in not-so-subtle ways. One is often repeatedly prompted to install Chrome when visiting Google on other browsers[1][2]. Most normal users would just give up and install just to get rid of the pop up. Microsoft has been d…

Also Firefox for Android gets a shit version of Google search. But if you spoof your user agent it works perfectly. That definitely is using their dominance in search to make people.use their web browser.

Those rare folks who prefer older Google interfaces might actually consider this a feature, a nice additional reason to ditch modern Chrome.
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