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Why do people seem to prefer Chrome's devtools over Firefox's?

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Re: Why do people seem to prefer Chrome's devtools over Firefox's?

#11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you comfortable handing Google the power to dictate the future of the Internet?

It's the customers handing power to google, not the devs.

It’s both, however, developers have a disproportional amount of power to tip the balance.

Re: Why do people seem to prefer Chrome's devtools over Firefox's?

#12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you comfortable handing Google the power to dictate the future of the Internet?

It's the customers handing power to google, not the devs.

It's both, as in a vicious circle.

Sometimes "customers" don't really hold that much power. For example, I have to use my YubiKey with AzureAD at work. This is broken on Firefox on Linux, but works on Chrome. I can't just not log on to my work email and such. I would have chosen something else than AzureAD, but here we are.

I hate having to use multiple browsers, but I still want to support Firefox and only use chrome whenever I depend on AzureAD and make it a point to complain about it. What good did that do? MS sure doesn't care about it. "Just use windows". Right.

I'd argue many "customers" could possibly be convinced to drop Chrome in favor of Firefox, I don't think they care as much as HN posters do about this subject. They just want a thing that works. But if half the sites don't work, for whatever reason, they won't be wrangling two browsers like me. They'll just use Chrome and call it a day.

So whose fault is it that sites don't support Firefox? 90% of my colleagues couldn't code to save their lives (it's not their job, granted). And the other 10% will just go for what's quicker / easiest to implement. "Everyone uses chrome? Testing on chrome, it is.".

Re: Why do people seem to prefer Chrome's devtools over Firefox's?

#13

I develop, test, and debug on browsers that my users are using, and that ain't Firefox.

This is the correct answer. You look at your stats and put your time where it is needed.

I like Firefox but it just not popular. And getting a few more devs to use it will not help.

Re: Why do people seem to prefer Chrome's devtools over Firefox's?

#14

I develop, test, and debug on browsers that my users are using, and that ain't Firefox.

Browsers are so similar these days, web standards are so well defined, I see little reason to code Chrome-only sites.

Having been through the IEs of the 90s/00s, I feel proud that we managed to scape what seemed an irreversible fate and a sense of responsibility to do whatever I can to help prevent it from happening again.

Re: Why do people seem to prefer Chrome's devtools over Firefox's?

#15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the customers handing power to google, not the devs.

It’s both, however, developers have a disproportional amount of power to tip the balance.

Yep. The only reason why Firefox, Safari, and eventually Chrome were able topple IE is because devs started writing predominantly for those browsers. Without that push IE would’ve lived on, because users don’t switch that kind of thing unless they really have to.

Devs often also have disproportionate sway over the technical choices of friends and family, which is where Firefox got much of its footing earlier on.

Re: Why do people seem to prefer Chrome's devtools over Firefox's?

#16

For some reason, new Firefox windows can only be launched from the same environment from which the first window has been started. Even the same user who started FF cannot launch a new window from a new shell. That constantly interferes with my workflow. Example: Say firefox has been started from the Destop already and now I want to start a new Firefox window from a root terminal: su desktopuser firefox It does not wo…

Yeah, same here. Worked fine in the past.

https://megous.com/dl/tmp/b82a40ffb92bb11b.png

Console says:

    [GFX1-]: glxtest: ManageChildProcess failed
    [GFX1-]: glxtest: libEGL initialize failed
    [GFX1-]: glxtest: X error, error_code=2, request_code=152, minor_code=3

Re: Why do people seem to prefer Chrome's devtools over Firefox's?

#17
RIP Firebug. Didn't keep a journal to remember the exact features or reasons but I switched after Firebug went away.

Also performance mostly. My site is slow, running in debug mode is slow, and using dev tools is slow. Combine all 3 and it makes a difference. Prob some little features to that are in different places. Firefox when I need to edit and resend a request though.

Re: Why do people seem to prefer Chrome's devtools over Firefox's?

#18

I develop, test, and debug on browsers that my users are using, and that ain't Firefox.

Browsers are so similar these days, web standards are so well defined, I see little reason to code Chrome-only sites. Having been through the IEs of the 90s/00s, I feel proud that we managed to scape what seemed an irreversible fate and a sense of responsibility to do whatever I can to help prevent it from happening again.

Try to use WebUSB or WebGPU on Firefox.

Re: Why do people seem to prefer Chrome's devtools over Firefox's?

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s both, however, developers have a disproportional amount of power to tip the balance.

Yep. The only reason why Firefox, Safari, and eventually Chrome were able topple IE is because devs started writing predominantly for those browsers. Without that push IE would’ve lived on, because users don’t switch that kind of thing unless they really have to. Devs often also have disproportionate sway over the technical choices of friends and family, which is where Firefox got much of its footing earlier on.

That’s because Firefox was better then IE. It felt better to use. It was faster.

Firefox has no compelling reason to exist for the average user unless privacy is a really high priority for you.

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