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Tell HN: Firefox Is an awesome browser right now

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

#181

I love Firefox too but this is a really weird post. The OP is clearly having performance issues with Chrome presumably due to extensions interfering or something else. I can guarantee you that Google makes sure Gmail loads at least as fast in Chrome as in Firefox. Chrome is customizable too (panes you can open/close), Chrome extensions are also thriving, and Chrome was the one who invented the "clean look", same as F…

Chrome also has objectively better performance (https://www.phoronix.com/news/Firefox-Chrome-109-Benchmarks), especially for 3D performance. I'm sure on modern machines both browsers are more than fast enough, but I'm not quite sure why everyone seems to think firefox is faster.

On the other hand, I feel like the nyxt browser (https://nyxt.atlas.engineer) has a spot on HN, its very much like emacs in the sense everything is just Common Lisp you can redefine. Its definitely still considerably slower than chrome and firefox, webkit doesn't perform all too well.

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

#183
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.

Kiwi browser also has ublock (and supports adding any desktop add-on) and still does not crash or slow down like firefox does. I'd really like to use firefox in mobile too but with Kiwi being an option, there's almost 0 reason to use firefox.

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

#184
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…

Caveat: there is still no first-party support for resetting the cache or the cookies in a per-container fashion. https://github.com/mozilla/multi-account-containers/issues/3...

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

#185

For my new job, I've switched to using the Orion Browser [1] from Kagi since I was noticing some weird typing lag on my MacBook in Firefox. I still use Firefox at home on Windows, but native vertical tabs in Orion are enough for me to use it full time. It's also handy that it supports both Firefox and Chrome extensions, albeit some features don't fully work (e.g. "Block element" of uBlock Origin doesn't let me choose…

I've found Orion wonderful as well. It fixes all my extension gripes with safari while still keeping the performance and battery life.

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

#187

I use Firefox sort of begrudgingly. It's marginally less bad than the other options, but it's still an awful browser. I vehemently disagree with almost all of its design decisions, and with every new release they seem to stray even farther from sane UX. It has hamburger menus on desktop and a lot of weird space-saving design that makes no sense on a modern high resolution display. Buttons are small, have cryptic flat…

> Buttons are small... I don't understand this criticism. How often do you actually have to use those buttons? At best, once in a long while. So given that, why not make the buttons unobtrusive.

If the buttons are small, they are harder to click. It's also harder to understand what they do, which is important when they have icons that are just cryptic monochrome squiggles.

What's the merit in making the buttons unobtrusive? What are you going to do with all those saved pixels? There is no pixel shortage on desktop! That's a mobile design consideration.

When the browser is covering a sixth of my screen it's already uncomfortably large. There is no reason to save hundreds of pixels when there are literally millions to spare.

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

#188

I love Firefox too but this is a really weird post. The OP is clearly having performance issues with Chrome presumably due to extensions interfering or something else. I can guarantee you that Google makes sure Gmail loads at least as fast in Chrome as in Firefox. Chrome is customizable too (panes you can open/close), Chrome extensions are also thriving, and Chrome was the one who invented the "clean look", same as F…

> Chrome extensions are also thriving Yeah, especially with Manifest v3 :) https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/chrome-users-beware-ma...

This post is over a year old. Requiring Manifest v3 has been indefinitely postponed. There are arguments for using Firefox, but if people keep crying wolf about Manifest v3 before it hits and has a negative impact, especially over such a long timespan, it loses its impact.

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

#189
post #119
post #70

I now use Brave on everything: Linux, Mac, iOS, iPadOS. Mozilla has some really weird stuff going on in their financials that bother me, and as a result, I just can’t use their products anymore. This is similar to my feelings about Google, Microsoft, and so on. I prefer tech companies to just be tech companies and not branch into other fields. I understand that Brave’s stance on certain things bleeds into politics wi…

Sure, Mozilla seems to have quite severe organizational issues, but to me, the deep integration of a crypto wallet into Brave is what's keeping me away from it. A Crypto pivot didn't end well for Opera, it ruined one of my favorite OSM apps for iOS (maps.me; fortunately there's an open source spin-off available now, i.e. Organic Maps), it left a bad taste in my mouth when Signal did it... I use Firefox as my main bro…

Opera was ruined by many other things. The new owners (since 2016) have been running it into the ground basically.

The ads, tracking, dark UX patterns, performance regression, and social media integrations are things that together made it for me, even before I heard how even OG ex-Opera employees won't touch it out of mistrust anymore...

The crypto wallet you can take or leave, it's not like they shove it in your face.

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

#190

I love Firefox too but this is a really weird post. The OP is clearly having performance issues with Chrome presumably due to extensions interfering or something else. I can guarantee you that Google makes sure Gmail loads at least as fast in Chrome as in Firefox. Chrome is customizable too (panes you can open/close), Chrome extensions are also thriving, and Chrome was the one who invented the "clean look", same as F…

In these discussions, I am always mindful that the two browsers have shared developer DNA (not to say code) from the inception of Google's offering: "Messrs. Brin and Page hired some Firefox developers who built a demonstration of Chrome. “It was so good that it essentially forced me to change my mind,” Mr. Schmidt said..." [0]

[0]: https://web.archive.org/web/20200805000248/https://blogs.wsj...

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