Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tell HN: Firefox Is an awesome browser right now

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 619 posts

Re: Tell HN: Firefox Is an awesome browser right now

#71

Post by LamaOfRuin »

nodar86 wrote: post #27
wsgeorge wrote: post #3

Firefox was my go-to 3 years ago because it was just lighter than Chrome (and easier on my battery). I still hate the fact that different browser profiles and profile switching aren't surfaced like they are in Chrome. I think it's such a major use case for modern web browsing, I find it hard to believe they aren't prioritizing it. (FWIW this isn't even supported in Safari, which I would have preferred using) I still…

I use Firefox as my daily driver but I really miss user profiles and tab groups from Chrome. None of the tab related extensions for Firefox give quite the same ease of use as the built in tab groups do in Chrome.

As noted by others in this thread, you want the -ProfileManager flag when you start it. You should be able to either have it remember you always want the profile manager on startup, or change the application shortcut to always use the flag.

It would be great if they made this more easily available though. It was the default once upon a time.

Re: Tell HN: Firefox Is an awesome browser right now

#72

Post by mejutoco »

jmartrican wrote: post #42

It doesn't support the webkit scrollbar variables. -webkit-scrollbar -webkit-scrollbar-track -webkit-scrollbar-thumb

To be fair, vendor prefixes are there while standards are adopted. I do not expect Chrome to support the -moz prefix either.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Vendor_Pre...

Re: Tell HN: Firefox Is an awesome browser right now

#73

Post by onion2k »

The_Colonel wrote: post #50
onion2k wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love Firefox but some JS heavy demos etc. just don't work fast enough.

Have you read the last sentence as well? > It's because they were only ever tested on Chrome during development.

That only means the developers didn't care if it was fast, or even works, in other browsers. It says nothing about Firefox. The first sentence, where the author complains that JS heavy apps are too slow in Firefox, is the part that's about Firefox.

Re: Tell HN: Firefox Is an awesome browser right now

#74

Post by montroser »

seren wrote: post #2

Firefox on Mobile supports uBlock origin, and is very nice as well. edit: on Android

Yes, Firefox on Android is really fantastic now.

I've been impressed to find literally zero compatibility issues in the last year with it being my primary browser on mobile. Works perfectly with my bank, works with heavy WebRTC apps, etc. It's quite a feat, especially given its market share is so low, and so there are relatively so few users to report feedback.

Re: Tell HN: Firefox Is an awesome browser right now

#75

Post by Vinnl »

Vinnl wrote: post #49

> I'd be glad to learn of any other cool features and extensions that y'all might want to share. I'm sure others will be sharing it as I type this comment as well, but for many HN readers, Multi-Account Containers [1] are bound to be a godsend. Easily log in to different accounts for any website, in different tabs. Great feature that's not available in other browsers. [1] https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/mult…

And some more tips:

- Translate web pages locally, without sending any data to remote servers: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/firefox-translation...

- Vertical/tree-style tabs: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/sidebery/

- If you're in the EU: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/consent-o-matic/

- If you use RSS: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/feed-preview/

And I assume you've already got uBlock Origin. And as others mentioned, try also using Firefox as your mobile browser, so you can send tabs from one to the other, which is pretty neat.

Re: Tell HN: Firefox Is an awesome browser right now

#76

Post by wrldos »

loa_in_ wrote: post #13

I love Firefox but some JS heavy demos etc. just don't work fast enough. I hate that I know exactly why. It's because they were only ever tested on Chrome during development.

Lets be clear here. They were only tested on some developer's fast machine on Chrome. All the users are going to be using it on some bag of shit $300 laptop running crapware infested Edge so they will be suffering like your Firefox users are.

The problem is the left hand side of the chain. Stop pulling in thousand layer garbage abstractions and making the user pay the penalty for it.

Re: Tell HN: Firefox Is an awesome browser right now

#78

Post by matsemann »

ttctciyf wrote: post #19
chaosite wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Multi-Account Containers are like profiles, but in tabs instead of other windows. They're pretty great. It's an official Mozilla Firefox extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account...

If I understand correctly, these only compartmentalise cookies and browsing history, whereas full profiles (via the -ProfileManager switch in Firefox) compartmentalise the whole browser config (add-ons, permissions, etc.) as well, which I think is much more useful.

To me it's the opposite. I'd like the same browser config, use the same window, keep my bookmarks, history etc., just want different logins and website contexts. I love Firefox's implementation of containers, and find Chrome's way of doing profiles useless.

But Firefox supports profiles as well if that's what you want, as you say. So best of both worlds.

Re: Tell HN: Firefox Is an awesome browser right now

#79

Post by Someone »

xattt wrote: post #10

Portability of saved passwords is a hassle that might get regulated in the next decade or two. I have 15 years of saved Keychain credentials that I’ve been very slowly porting over to Firefox Sync since switching to Windows. The fact that I let Apple generate complex passwords makes entry by hand even more slower. Apple’s Chrome iCloud plug-in for Windows is just paying lip service.

> I have 15 years of saved Keychain credentials that I’ve been very slowly porting over to Firefox Sync since switching to Windows. The fact that I let Apple generate complex passwords makes entry by hand even more slower.

Do you know you can export all Safari passwords to an unencrypted .csv from the Safari Preferences page? (Preferences Passwords, click the “circle with 3 dots” pop-up, choose “Export All Passwords”)

Re: Tell HN: Firefox Is an awesome browser right now

#80

Post by causi »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #54
kuxv wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately Firefox on Android is noticeably slower than Chrome / Kiwi browser. But on desktop it is great!

It's a mixed bag. Ad blocking speeds up some websites substantially. IMO that makes Firefox mobile faster overall.

Vivaldi puts Firefox Mobile to shame when it comes to speed.
Post reply on HN