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Switching from Chrome to Firefox

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Re: Switching from Chrome to Firefox

#311

Post by m463 »

thibran wrote: post #175

Firefox is nice. But over time there are more and more things I need to configure to get a "good" browser experience. Things I do: - about:preferences#general > Startup > restore previous session - about:preferences#general > Tabs > uncheck Ctrl+Tab cycle ... - about:preferences#general > Downloads > always ask where to save - about:preferences#home > Firefox Home Content > disable all except Top Sites - about:prefer…

I tried blocking the telemetry but stuff kept coming back with updates.

In the end, using Little Snitch (on mac), I ended up blocking firefox communicating with mozilla.org. I update firefox via safari.

Re: Switching from Chrome to Firefox

#312

Post by floatingatoll »

soulofmischief wrote: post #308
floatingatoll wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Power users often make it a priority to shut off in-product metrics that would represent their needs statistically. Since ‘power users’ as described are probably 0.01% or less of the world’s population, that’s probably less of a big deal for decision making than it sounds, but it’s always interesting to me to watch a subgroup dedicate itself to not being counted and then complain about the outcomes as if they didn’t…

This is a false dichotomy and a strawman. The only two options are not either participating in often misused, grossly overreaching, non-configurable telemetry programs or disabling them completely. And power users are not dedicating themselves to not helping the product getting better. You've gotten the argument twisted. We love to make software better by offering up information about how we use a product. However, i…

The assumption by framing that telemetry programs are “often” anything notably weakens your argument. A collection of examples of different entities misusing telemetry over time would strengthen your argument.

Re: Switching from Chrome to Firefox

#313

Post by Izkata »

jonny383 wrote: post #167

Firefox has indeed come a huge way in the last two years. - It's multi-process architecture redesign _really_ improved performance (it's like using a whole new browser, honestly. If you haven't at least tried it, it's worth a shot). - Mozilla's commitment to privacy (I know in the eyes of some, their current commitment isn't enough) is the best option you have outside of Safari / macOS. - In version 71, battery drain…

> - The devtools section has seen a lot of attention that easily brings the experience on par with Chrome (in my experience).

I regularly encounter things Firefox's devtools do that Chrome's don't, when trying to show something or other to a co-worker. Two I remember offhand:

* Showing a specific log level in the console, such as "info" and not any of the others. This was years ago, but at least at the time Chrome had you pick from a dropdown and it would always also display the more important levels - for example, "info" included "warning" and "error" with no way to hide those.

* A few weeks ago, with CSS Grid overlay, Chrome appeared to only show it when mousing over the element in the inspector. Firefox lets you click on the "grid" tag in the inspector to toggle the view, keeping it visible while manipulating the CSS.

Note that I'm a full-time Firefox user so it is possible these things exist in Chrome, but like 3 or 4 full-time Chrome users also couldn't find such options.

Re: Switching from Chrome to Firefox

#314

Post by _Microft »

lioeters wrote: post #274
_Microft wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are some ways to refine the results in the Firefox adress bar, in case you already know what you are looking for. I mainly use * + and % : Add ^ to search for matches in your browsing history. Add * to search for matches in your bookmarks. Add + to search for matches in pages you've tagged. Add % to search for matches in your currently open tabs. Add ~ to search for matches in pages you've typed. Add # to searc…

Wow I didn't know about these, thanks for the info! I found the complete list documented here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/address-bar-autocomplet...

Yes, this must be the source that I got the list from. I have not memorised the more obscure filters and have this list sitting on my desktop for easy access.

Re: Switching from Chrome to Firefox

#315

Post by soulofmischief »

floatingatoll wrote: post #312
soulofmischief wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a false dichotomy and a strawman. The only two options are not either participating in often misused, grossly overreaching, non-configurable telemetry programs or disabling them completely. And power users are not dedicating themselves to not helping the product getting better. You've gotten the argument twisted. We love to make software better by offering up information about how we use a product. However, i…

The assumption by framing that telemetry programs are “often” anything notably weakens your argument. A collection of examples of different entities misusing telemetry over time would strengthen your argument.

I don't need to provide evidence of misuse. The terms of the telemetry programs of the most popular mobile apps and modern destkop apps are far too broad. Just like I don't allow my government more power than it needs, not waiting around for proof of misusing unlimited power, I don't need to wait for a dozen major scandals related to telemetry. But certainly, there are dozens upon dozens of cases of people getting damaged by data leaks from other companies (see Equifax), which is a directly related problem.

The overreaching abuse of telemetry and ToS is a known thing, it's public consensus among those who actually read these things, and so the onus of proof is on you to prove otherwise, not me.

Otherwise I would have to provide a collection of different examples every time I explain to someone that an object in motion remains in motion until acted upon by an outside force. At some point, you have to accept consensus as fact unless you can prove otherwise.

Re: Switching from Chrome to Firefox

#316

Post by feanaro »

clement_b wrote: post #302
feanaro wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does Brave have a more compelling sell? What does it offer that could be sold to users as a feature they need? I wouldn't know how to explain Brave compellingly, unless I'm using some of the same arguments I use for Firefox (which are weakened in Brave's case due to using the same engine as Chrome). On the other hand, explaining Firefox seems easy. People around me seem receptive to both privacy and closed garden…

When I read your comment, the main thing that came to my mind to explain my point about Brave was their Shield and Rewards features. That's what's top of mind for me. I checked my Firefox window and realized that they have a Shield-like feature too. Oops. To me, Firefox's main features are the underlying foundation, and the fact they are the main Chrome contender — the rest are nuances addressed to power-users. Conta…

> Frankly, it's too complex for a regular user [0] who, as you say, just click on what they have been used to clicking onto.

Yes, but it's at least possible to configure it for them so that it will be out of their way but still work as intended. What remains is to package these presets into installable add-ons, which is already happening to some extent in the form of "S container" add-ons where S is a popular web service. For instance, Facebook Container (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/facebook-cont...) from Mozilla.

I think it would be even better if there was a generic add-on in style of uBlock Origin which allowed downloading such container presets from some kind of repository.

⁂

On your other point, I agree that the message on Brave's website is more effective, in the sense of being more visceral and producing stronger emotions.

Re: Switching from Chrome to Firefox

#317

Post by paulcarroty »

Zren wrote: post #276
paulcarroty wrote: post #168

Stop sending my data to Google ( https://twitter.com/jonathansampson/status/11658588961766604... ) and make Firefox fast on Linux (minimum as Chrome) - reasons why I'm not use Fox anymore.

What does firefox say in the "decision log" for your pc in `about:support`? Is hardware acceleration enabled?

Yeah.

Re: Switching from Chrome to Firefox

#318

Post by juliend2 »

frettchen wrote: post #307
juliend2 wrote: post #230

Not sure why, or if i'm the only one, but sometimes I have this problem with Firefox (latest) on Win10: When I open a new tab, there is a ~50% chance that the URL i'm querying won't ever connect. As if there was no internet. I tried to remove some open tabs (I have ~20 open tabs all the time) and it worked again. When it happens, opening a new tab on Chrome always works, though. I wasn't using a proxy and my internet…

I have the same issue on openSUSE Leap 15 - it's not Windows specific. I've found that the number of tabs doesn't matter too much - if I copy the URL of the non-loading tab, close the tab, open a new one and paste the URL there, it will load around 9/10 times (if it doesn't, third time is always the charm). Drove me nuts enough that I switched to Brave for a bit as my main driver, but I've been experiencing some cras…

Thanks for sharing this. I will give other browsers a try as well.
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