Switch from Chrome to Firefox • Hacker News Board

Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#881

Post by rhaksw » Fri, May 31, 2019, 5:29 AM UTC

Is it okay for Firefox to maintain a manually curated list of sites it deems to be trackers [1]? Why is reddit on this list and not, say, Gab?

This breaks a site I built called reVddit [2], and after discussing with Mozilla devs [3], I'm unable to come up with a solution that doesn't significantly alter user experience and maintenance costs.

I find it ironic because the intent of reVddit is to increase transparency, one of Firefox's key principles. I'd love to hear ideas if anyone has any insight into any of this.

[1] https://github.com/disconnectme/disconnect-tracking-protecti...

[2] https://revddit.com

[3] https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mozilla.dev.privacy/XO84Ezrw...

Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#882

Post by truth_seeker » Fri, May 31, 2019, 5:30 AM UTC

techntoke wrote: post #736

truth_seeker wrote: post #398

I switched to Brave browser last year and I never regretted my decision.

Brave is based on Chromium.

So what ? It gives me optimum performance Desktop and Mobile.

On my Mac its upto 2 times faster and in my android phone it's upto 4 times faster.

Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#883

Post by topmonk » Fri, May 31, 2019, 5:30 AM UTC

nine_k wrote: post #518

On top of uBlock Origin / uMatrix, some of the other Firefox's trump cards to me are: * Tree Style Tab: makes tabs much more manageable, no parallel in Chrome. If you open dozens of tabs, after using this, you can only pity the traditional tab management [1]. * Containers and container tabs: it's a bit like having separate Chrome profiles for separate contexts, but you can also have them as tabs in the same window. *…

I always loved using the ' key to open a find box that only searched links. great for mouseless browsing. (Although I switched off from firefox a long time ago due to their political ideology.)

Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#884

Post by saagarjha » Fri, May 31, 2019, 5:32 AM UTC

magduf wrote: post #416

Eldt wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure it could, but who would implement it?

Apparently someone has, because I was using Chromium on Linux to watch Netflix several years ago without any trouble (this was before Firefox got it working).

Are you sure it wasn't using Chrome's implementation?

Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#885

Post by saagarjha » Fri, May 31, 2019, 5:36 AM UTC

reaperducer wrote: post #816

mikedilger wrote: post #732

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here are a few firefox settings to make your URL field behave only as a URL field: user_pref("keyword.enabled", false); user_pref("browser.fixup.alternate.enabled", false); user_pref("browser.urlbar.suggest.searches", false); user_pref("browser.urlbar.filter.javascript", true); You can put these in a "user.js" file in your profile directory if you don't have one already, or just set them in about:config

Thank you for perfectly illustrating why Firefox will not find the mainstream acceptance of other browsers.

Almost nobody will enable this, though.

Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#886

Post by _vk_ » Fri, May 31, 2019, 5:38 AM UTC

saidajigumi wrote: post #640

hodder wrote: post #562

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It's like Google found developer goodwill burdensome, and decided to pack it all up into container trucks and ship it all to Microsoft.

>It's like Google found developer goodwill burdensome, and decided to pack it all up into container trucks and ship it all to Microsoft.

Funny how that changes. If anyone told me in 1999 that Microsoft would eventually become one of the Good Guys...

Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#887

Post by saagarjha » Fri, May 31, 2019, 5:40 AM UTC

latexr wrote: post #740

cmplxconjugate wrote: post #521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually you can get uBO for Safari: https://github.com/el1t/uBlock-Safari/blob/safari/README.md

That extension has been dead for over a year. For it to work on future macOS versions, the developers would need to convert it to a Safari App Extension and cough up $99/year. They’re not interested.

I don't think you need to pay to develop a Safari App Extension.

Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#888

Post by innocentoldguy » Fri, May 31, 2019, 5:40 AM UTC

I don't really like Mozilla as an organization. I don't like Google either. Recently, I've started using the Brave browser (https://brave.com). So far, I like it quite well.

I like Brave's concept of Shields, which block ad-trackers. I also think one of the more interesting concepts in Brave is the Rewards ad-revenue-sharing program. I haven't turned it on yet, so I don't know how well it works (if at all) but I find the idea interesting and outside the box when considering the major browser players.

The developer tools in Brave are exactly what you would expect.

Brave has worked well for me so far, so I'll continue with it for the time being.

Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#889

Post by saagarjha » Fri, May 31, 2019, 5:41 AM UTC

robin_reala wrote: post #797

TheKarateKid wrote: post #551

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3rd party browsers are not able to make use of the Content Blocking supported by iOS, which is a major sacrifice to use Chrome.

That was originally the case, but I believe it was opened up in iOS 11? I certainly use Firefox iOS primarily and don’t see many if any tracking ads.

Firefox may be doing their own thing, since they own the webview, but they cannot use the content blocking API.

Re: Switch from Chrome to Firefox

#890

Post by JohnBooty » Fri, May 31, 2019, 5:43 AM UTC

JohnBooty wrote: post #844

latexr wrote: post #719

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Doesn't hurt that Firefox is actually a great product. Arguably. On these threads there is always a handful of complaints about the state of Firefox, mostly on macOS. On my machine, I can’t even launch Firefox in headless mode without the fans turning on, which never happened on Chrome. While I haven’t benchmarked it, for normal browsing it does feel slower than Crome. But what kills it for me is their crippled App…

On my machine, I can’t even launch Firefox in headless mode without the fans turning on, which never happened on Chrome. While I haven’t benchmarked it, for normal browsing it does feel slower than Crome. I believe you, but I'm always so confused by hearing this. I use my Mac (2015 MBP) 10+ hours a day, evenly split between FF and Chrome. Truly is close to an even 50/50 split -- FF is my personal browser and I use Ch…

Too late to edit my post, but "where Google has clearly invested time and money into optimizing things for FF" should read "where Google has clearly invested time and money into optimizing things for Chrome."

Sorry.