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I've started using Firefox and can never go back to Chrome

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Re: I've started using Firefox and can never go back to Chrome

#451
post #287

I used Firefox in the early-mid 00s, switched to Chrome not long after launch, after my colleagues showed me how much slicker is was than a now fairly heavy Firefox (at the time.) Then evil Google emerges, Chrome got fat, FF trimmed up and went privacy-as-a-default, and I'm back on FF again for the better part of the last decade. Opera had a look-in around 2008 but it didn't last long, although some of the features w…

I never switched to Chrome, always used Firefox. But it increasingly got more config-involving to make FF do what I wanted and maybe I overdid some settings/plugins and websites started to show incorrectly. Also the imho (much) too high salary for the CEO annoyed me (Mozilla is supposed to be "Internet for people, not profit"). Tried Brave and it was a nice experience after some initial cost to e.g. disable crypto. S…

Given that Brave is a for-profit business backed by VC money[1], sooner or later it'll become what you hate and you will find yourself wishing there was a browser ran by a strong non-profit like Mozilla.

That being said, perhaps they should just piggyback off WebKit/Blink and save themselves a ton of resources.

[1] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/brave-software

Re: I've started using Firefox and can never go back to Chrome

#452

Agreed, and I would add that I have been keeping my bookmarks & tags synced on all devices using Firefox Sync for several years now without any issues. It's just great. Same for passwords. There is a in-depth article about the privacy features of their design [1]. If you add containers[2], then there is really no reason to use Chrome. [1] https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/11/firefox-sync-privacy/ [2] https://addons.mozi…

multi-account container is *chef's kiss If only it synced with my vpn so each container got its own ip.

Not exactly the same, but there is FoxyProxy extension which allows to use different proxies based on URI (domain). So you can point your uris to go to outside world via different proxies (say `ssh -D ...` to vps or your vpn gateway or ..)

Technically as it's possible to use multiple profiles you may even be able to configure different sets for the same URLs.

Re: I've started using Firefox and can never go back to Chrome

#453

Along with obvious ones like uBlock Origin working perfectly, etc., I have 2 other favorites: - Native reader mode - Native PiP mode for videos Yes, you can get extensions for this in Chrom(e/ium) but having these as a native feature is really nice. Things I want to see in Firefox: - Good/extensible keybindings - Tab groups - Tab search EDIT: How do I break sentences to newline in HN without really making a new parag…

> Native reader mode

This fixes most of the links on HN for me - I'm one of those people who doesn't like the browser to save anything, so every time I visit a site it's for the first time - so anyway reader mode just cuts right through all the shit in one click, no cookie banners, no subscribe banners, no interruption banners, it gets straight to the content if it's there (sometimes even cuts through shallow front end paywalls) - honestly if the site looks horrible and reader mode doesn't work, close tab - can't be arsed.

It also makes far better use of screen space than most site designs, e.g those common yet horrible headers with css position: sticky. Pretty much every big news site is made better by pulling any content into reader mode.

Re: I've started using Firefox and can never go back to Chrome

#454
post #415

Firefox was good a few years ago. Somehow they managed to get on-par with Chrome performance. So, I switched back to FF after being a Chrome user for years. But they couldn't keep up, so I was forced to leave them again. I went for Brave, because I wanted to reduce my use of Google products and I couldn't be happier. Chrome performance, good adblock integrated, Tor, IPFS, and crypto wallet out of the box. Awesome pie…

I've been on brave for years now. Two vital extensions though: uBlock Origin Sponsorblock - skips sponsored segments/outros/self promotion etc that has spread like a plague across YouTube

Thanks for these suggestions

Re: I've started using Firefox and can never go back to Chrome

#455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds of "You say you want to improve society and yet you live in one, how interesting"

I still don't understand why that's a bad argument. In context, it's generally used to oppose hard leftist ideas (Marxism, etc). It's rarely a criticism leveled at reasonable reform or change; more when it nears outright revolution. In that case, it's not an unreasonable criticism.

It's a bad argument, it's a tu quoque logical fallacy.

You can be a serial killer and admit that murdering innocents is immoral.

The identity and the actions of the person making the argument have no bearing on the validity of the argument itself, it should be judged purely on its own merits.

Is that statement that "murdering innocents is immoral" actually correct or not, regardless of who makes the statement?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque

Re: I've started using Firefox and can never go back to Chrome

#456
post #291

Is there really a killer feature of Chrome that justifies its use over FF? I've been using Firefox and have never been disappointed with it. I always just assumed that if you wanted privacy, it's better to use Firefox over Chrome, Safari, or Brave.

Start typing a Web address, hit tab and search that website.

In Chrome it works reliably for me; in Firefox it works for a small subset of the sites that work in Chrome.

Re: I've started using Firefox and can never go back to Chrome

#457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tree Style Tabs solved the tab grouping problem for me. I like to put it on the right and I'm looking for a way to have the tab bar hidden. Tab search exists: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/search-open-tabs-firefo... , also you type % into the address bar to start searching over tabs. Not sure if this covers your needs, though.

also check out "sidebery" as a modern alternative that does a bit more

Am I doing something wrong? Every time I try to move something into a group, it just gets deselected and I have to select them again and then sometimes it works to move into a group.

Re: I've started using Firefox and can never go back to Chrome

#458
post #287

I used Firefox in the early-mid 00s, switched to Chrome not long after launch, after my colleagues showed me how much slicker is was than a now fairly heavy Firefox (at the time.) Then evil Google emerges, Chrome got fat, FF trimmed up and went privacy-as-a-default, and I'm back on FF again for the better part of the last decade. Opera had a look-in around 2008 but it didn't last long, although some of the features w…

Around 2012 my 6GB Ram laptop was struggling with Chrome, I switched to FF and got much better experience there. Then with FF Quantum release I adopted it definitely.

Re: I've started using Firefox and can never go back to Chrome

#459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yikes. What if they ban your Google account? They have no customer support to speak of.

You get account support with Google One or a Google Workspace subscription. There are other support avenues as well. Account bans do happen but for the most part it appears that when it does, that the person who got banned doesn't share the full story and people are more than happy to jump on the Google hate train. Google is a successful company and it annoys a lot of people that others don't have the same hate that…

If someone gets banned from google, they probably deserve it even though I have no idea why it happened.

Re: I've started using Firefox and can never go back to Chrome

#460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure this will resonate with everyone, but Edge has both of these features built-in :).

It definitely does with me. I used Edge when I was using Windows and I liked it! I went back to Windows after almost 2 years for work and MS has managed to bloat it too. Don't understand why I need a Math solver. Edge bar is annoying. Favorites and bookmarks are 2 separate things? I turned them all off obviously but defaults matter.

I went from disliking Edge, to liking it, and then slowly disliking it again as they added bloat to it.

What turned me off from it was when I lost a year's worth of (unimportant) bookmarks and history. One day I opened it up and it decided to kindly sign me in automatically (probably detected I was signed into an MS site in-browser), and it wanted to automatically sync all my history, auto-fill info and passwords to Microsoft's sync servers. I immediately disconnected my account to stop this, and then it deleted my Edge profile afterwards as a further courtesy.

I understand that these two behaviors are probably Features, but I don't like the feeling of losing control of my software. And now these features like MSFT Rewards, coupon services, credit card services, and the "Bing Bar" (or whatever you call it) are just too much for me. Not to mention every PC I use Edge on tends to assault my eyes with political propaganda since Edge's New Tab page defaults to biased news outlets.

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