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Switch from Chrome to Firefox

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Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#781

Post by crummy »

inferiorhuman wrote: post #704
grimgrin wrote: post #700

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone is understanding what you're saying, as evident by the downvotes you're getting I'm fulltime FF but I won't pretend that the in-site (site specific) search works as smoothly as it did (does?) in Chrome In Chrome you would go to foo.com and you would use their search input and from then on, in your address bar you can type foo (or maybe just f, depending on how often you use foo.com), and press to search…

Not everyone is understanding what you're saying, as evident by the downvotes you're getting Well also I'd like the address bar to be a fucking address bar and not an address-but-sometimes-search bar.

How does the tab-to-search feature in Chrome negatively affect how you use the address bar? Are you entering URLs with tabs in them?

Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#782

Post by roca »

zanny wrote: post #469
vbezhenar wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One benefit would be to reduce dependency on Google. Huawei used Android that was owned by enemy country, it backfired.

They aren't really dependent on Google with Blink, though. They have developer resources that can maintain a fork of it. If Google does something Microsoft doesn't like they can just remove it form their tree or implement an alternative of their own design.

They can diverge from Chromium around the edges but they are dependent on Google for long-term Blink evolution. That includes not just the internals but also APIs. E.g. if/when Google removes powerful content-blocking APIs from Chromium, Microsoft is would struggle to maintain their own different API. Especially for APIs that have architectural implications ... converting something from sync to async or vice versa. Significant architectural divergence would get expensive pretty fast.

Then again, they would face the same issues had they adopted Gecko. Maybe less so because Mozilla could be more easily influenced than Google (in some ways). The main argument for adopting Gecko would have been that giving Google complete control over Web evolution is a threat to Microsoft and that adopting Gecko would reduce that threat. I'm a big Mozilla fan but I think it would have been a weak argument.

Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#783

Post by bogidon »

disordinary wrote: post #769
jb1991 wrote: post #724

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, unfortunately, Mozilla has consistently demonstrated over recent years that it doesn't care about Mac users. It's weird, to be honest. The widespread issues for many, though not all, Mac users, will not make it a ubiquituous browser.

I use a mac and firefox is my main browser, I don't remember having any problems.

So do I. There are things like text replacement, download progress indication on file icons, and other Cocoa-esque things that don't work on Firefox, but outside a probably very small segment of users who would even notice these things, and a smaller yet segment who would actually care, Firefox feels at home enough in macOS.

What I think damages Firefox's user-friendliness more is how easy it is to get to setting screens that look scary to the average user. For example Firefox recently started recommending an extension called "Enhancer for YouTube" when a user visits YouTube after upgrading to some new version of Firefox. Upon installing the extension, you get taken to the extension's settings screen which has a design that would definitely throw off my non-techie family members [1]. Also, take a look at the Firefox release notes for iOS [2] – sure it's "nice" for us devs to have access to raw GitHub issue labels or whatever those are – but for non-techie users they might be interpreted as conveying a certain messaging that Firefox is not really designed for them.

[1] https://i.imgur.com/8TIetRA.png [2] https://i.imgur.com/QoUG1ZF.png

Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#784

Post by qrbLPHiKpiux »

hodder wrote: post #562
codedokode wrote: post #547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is already happening. Web version of Skype refuses to work in Firefox, but if you change user-agent to Edge, it works.

This is risky behaviour though when dealing with other megacorps. Legal ramifications and antitrust suits come out of actions like that.

I am very surprised that Alphabet Inc. has gotten away with what they have so far today when I look back at the history of Big Bell being broken up.

Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#786

Post by trehalose »

r3bl wrote: post #621
kumarharsh wrote: post #527

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know what's horrifying about the idea of "just fork Chrome"? Google can still hurt you by blocking your browser's access to their prime properties (YouTube, Gmail, Maps, etc). Just look at YouTube denying Chromium-based Edge the new redesigned experience for absolutely zero reason.

> Just look at YouTube denying Chromium-based Edge the new redesigned experience for absolutely zero reason. The reason is almost certainly a new user agent (compared to non-Chromium Edge) that YouTube didn't expect. Chromium-based Edge is still not stable, and therefore, not properly supported by YouTube. I don't have time to test this, but I'm willing to bet that you'd get the same result by using any indie browser…

Somebody over on reddit tested different user agents: https://www.reddit.com/r/google/comments/btysl9/google_have_...

It seems pretty clear from the fact that nonsense user agents like "TotallyNotMicrosoft" and "IE6" worked, that there is a blacklist, not a whitelist.

Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#787

Post by nineteen999 »

KingFelix wrote: post #697
alpaca128 wrote: post #689

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Switched a long time ago from IE and no matter what other browser I try I always come back to Firefox after a while. It just behaves as I expect it to and the UI customization feature is awesome. The only browser that I think could make me switch is qutebrowser, though the lack of an adblocker is an obstacle for me.

Agree, I've been using FF forever. If I work on other peoples computers I install it and tell them to try it out. It's the best.

I go one step further and uninstall all their other browsers so that they have no choice.

Just kidding. I do not do this.

Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#788

Post by greyfourth »

disordinary wrote: post #769
jb1991 wrote: post #724

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, unfortunately, Mozilla has consistently demonstrated over recent years that it doesn't care about Mac users. It's weird, to be honest. The widespread issues for many, though not all, Mac users, will not make it a ubiquituous browser.

I use a mac and firefox is my main browser, I don't remember having any problems.

I think it's crazy how everyone has such different experiences with Firefox on Mac.

I want to love it, but even after a fresh install of MacOS every time I go to use it on my 2015 MBP it grinds to a halt.

I'm sticking to ungoogled-chromium for now. I really hope it's resolved down the line!

Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#789

Post by daniel_iversen »

I've switched from Chrome to Brave.. It's fast, clean, "seems" more minimalist, it's got good default privacy features (blocks tracking and stuff), It's based on Chromium and you can use all your Chrome extensions etc. The only thing I had to do to make sure I stuck with it was delete Chrome so I don't accidentally out of habit or muscle memory start Chrome.. it's worked beautifully and it's the best browser I've ever used I think. (bonus: they also have a cool way that you can pay your favorite websites - it's not super now because it's mostly crypto currency but soon if you can subscribe via credit card that would be nice).

Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#790

Post by the_jeremy »

I will say I love firefox containers, they are surprisingly simple to set and forget and have it "just work".

My least favorite parts of firefox (switched last weekend) are:

Dark mode. Dark Reader from Chrome is dead slow on Firefox, and none of the 5 others I've tried from Reddit/HN recommendations come close to its usability on Chrome.

Extension / config syncing. I want the same settings and extensions on my mobile device as my desktop, but it seems like only some configuration settings are able to sync, and add-ons/extensions don't sync between mobile and desktop. I know it's on purpose, but I'd like the option to choose.

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