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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

#11
post #5
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…

Out of curiosity, what do you need different profiles for? Kids/SO?

I have separate profiles for personal/work.

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

#12
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've been using a multi-profile setup in firefox for years, just by launching it with

    firefox --new-instance -ProfileManager %u
which lets me pick a profile at startup, each with its own settings, cookies, history, and add-ons, etc.. This works fine for me, I don't really feel the need to launch into a different profile from the browser's own menu, if that's what you're referring to?

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

#16
post #5
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…

Out of curiosity, what do you need different profiles for? Kids/SO?

Work. I count 5 profiles on my current laptop. I like to compartmentalize my work/external projects, so I don't mix things like search histories, multiple Google accounts, etc.

These are the profiles I currently have:

1. Default, personal. My personal Gmail and other sites.

2. Non-profit that I run, signed in to its Gmail and other email account, etc

3. 3 profiles for different volunteer/contract roles, each signed in to their Gmail and other accounts.

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

#17
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 think Container Tabs are a better fit for the way most people use multiple accounts online.

Plus it enables the Facebook Container extension, which sandboxes all facebook-directed network requests so they can't track you across the web.

And the third party Container Proxy extension lets you set different proxy setting for different containers. So your work tabs can use a different network route.

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

#19
post #7
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…

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.

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

#20
post #5
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…

Out of curiosity, what do you need different profiles for? Kids/SO?

I use it when I need to log into multiple AWS accounts.
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