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In 2024, please switch to Firefox

roytanck.com

341–350 of 850 posts

Re: In 2024, please switch to Firefox

#341
post #79

As someone in the Apple ecosystem, Firefox is not a very compelling alternative. I've certainly tried: Firefox Focus was my main iOS browser for a few years (I know it's Webkit-based) and I've tried switching on desktop as well. On desktop, various Firefox updates would change my settings subtly and nag me about features I had no interest in. On top of that, it was simply a slower browser, both with DOM manipulation…

Firefox is not my primary browser on macOS for similar reasons. Given how similar iOS is to macOS I wouldn’t expect the situation to be much different with a hypothetical Gecko-based version of Firefox for iOS — the performance and efficiency isn’t quite there compared to WebKit-based stuff.

There’s platform-agnostic issues too, however. Firefox is my primary browser on Windows and Linux, but it has a pile of UI papercuts which I’ve kinda-fixed with userchrome.css hacks, and the result is underwhelming (as is the possibility of these hacks periodically breaking with updates). It’s enough of a frustration that forking Firefox to properly fix them would be tempting if keeping up with the firehose of security patches from mainline weren’t so daunting.

My biggest wish is for Gecko to re-gain embedding support on desktop platforms so I can build my own browser around it, making keeping it secure as simple as updating dependencies.

Re: In 2024, please switch to Firefox

#342

I would but I don't want to support the Mozilla Foundation

Maybe use the unbranded build of firefox? It has the great side effect of allowing you to actually edit and install extensions/add-ons without having to use Mozilla's security theater automated signing portal.

When some rare website doesn't work in my daily driver freedoms-respecting browser I'll load up Mozilla Firefox unbranded to do what needs to be done then close it.

Re: In 2024, please switch to Firefox

#343
post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was reworked to be a more limited proposal specific for Android Webviews, IIRC. Fairly recently (last month)?

And after that's normalized, then Google will enhance your user experience by bringing "Android Webview security" to Chrome on android, you know, it makes you really secure, it's really to help you keep safe. A few years down the road, a surprising amount of companies insist you can only use their product on those secure smartphone browsers because of it's enhanced security, so Google helps you out by adding a specia…

Unreasonable and unsubstantiated expectations.

Web sites want you to visit them, they have no reason to barrier you. Some sites I use still have http and if a site wanted you to visit it in a specific way they'd use an app. If the model is to make web sites less accessible for profit it would need a compelling reason to visit it in spite of the barriers. It will never happen.

Re: In 2024, please switch to Firefox

#344

I switched back to firefox last year and haven't looked back. I still use chrome on another laptop sometimes, the performance difference from my human perspective is literally zero. These days, it's much more common for me to encounter a website that works in firefox but not chrome than the other way around. I actually switched for good when I had to use firefox to file my taxes, because the IRS free self-file site w…

Firefox out of the box indeed does not cause broken websites. However, the demographic of this forum probably will use Firefox with "Multi-Account Containers", "Temporary Containers", "uBlock Origin", and a few more. These are amazing for privacy and productivity, but will occasionally cause broken websites. Source: I am a Firefox-first user who occasionally uses plugin-less Chrome because the aforementioned plugins…

It’s probably the ublock origin breaking websites and not the multi-account containers, right?

Re: In 2024, please switch to Firefox

#345

For some reason, on my Windows 10 laptop that I use for music production (Ryzen 3500U, Vega 8), Firefox installed from Microsoft store takes 5-10 seconds to start, while Edge starts instantly. I always liked Firefox, both practically and ideologically, but the annoyance is so high I never use it from that particular laptop. If anyone knows the cause or a fix, please share.

cause: Edge browser is started when Windows boots up, it sits there started but invisible, first window open is fast. It adds up to your windows start time and memory consumption.

solution: start firefox during windows startup, too.

https://support.mozilla.org/gl/questions/1085268

however to start it invisible and behave like Edge, it may take additional tweaks. of course, it costs extra startup time and memory. Also, you can switch off Edge boot-time startup, if you want.

Re: In 2024, please switch to Firefox

#346
In 2024, font rendering in Firefox on Windows is quite bad compared to Chromium based browsers. You can see it a lot with Microsoft websites like outlook and azure devops. I tried, but switched back to Chrome (Ungoogled Chromium)

Re: In 2024, please switch to Firefox

#347

If you keep feeding the Google monster you soon won't be able to browse the internet without a 3rd party attesting that your computer is worth browsing that site. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/07/googles-web-integrit...

This was reworked to be a more limited proposal specific for Android Webviews, IIRC. Fairly recently (last month)?

After all the intense backlash they faced, they made it a 'limited' webview feature rather that dropping it entirely. Now that it's away from a standardization body, what's to prevent it from being developed unimpeded by public opposition? What's to stop them from expanding it to browsers once the 'feature' is ready? After all, this is exactly the pattern we saw with FLoC, 'privacy' sandbox and the Topics API.

Re: In 2024, please switch to Firefox

#348

I switched back to firefox last year and haven't looked back. I still use chrome on another laptop sometimes, the performance difference from my human perspective is literally zero. These days, it's much more common for me to encounter a website that works in firefox but not chrome than the other way around. I actually switched for good when I had to use firefox to file my taxes, because the IRS free self-file site w…

Firefox out of the box indeed does not cause broken websites. However, the demographic of this forum probably will use Firefox with "Multi-Account Containers", "Temporary Containers", "uBlock Origin", and a few more. These are amazing for privacy and productivity, but will occasionally cause broken websites. Source: I am a Firefox-first user who occasionally uses plugin-less Chrome because the aforementioned plugins…

Shouldn't we say "Some sites break user browsing experience"?

Re: In 2024, please switch to Firefox

#349
post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

How has firefox discriminated against you as a white male?

A lot of the money they make from Firefox usage gets spent not on Firefox or the web but on social justice activism, which is invariably exclusionary of ordinary European and American men.

For example, they have an entire sub-fund devoted to nothing but ideological activism in Africa:

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/what-we-fund/awards/Africa...

A typical project is something like funding a mobile app (note: not a website), specifically for African women to teach them how to plant potatoes.

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/blog/growing-skills-confid...

They don't help men - the app is exclusively given to women - because "The issue" is, as they put it, that "In Tanzania, older men are the primary decision-makers in households and local communities".

They could fund things useful to everyone globally, or even things useful for the web specifically (radical), but they choose not to deliberately. Instead they fund content for competing platforms. That's because Mozilla is a generic left wing NGO that sees the Google/Firefox deal as merely a legacy endowment. Naive geeks use it and send them money, which enables them to divert funding to what they really care about.

Edit: primarily -> a lot of, which changes nothing about the argument

Re: In 2024, please switch to Firefox

#350
post #257

The main short coming in firefox for me is the ability to create different profiles for different use cases like one for personal and one for work etc. It is doable but is hidden behind special settings:/// etc sort of and switching between them also requires something similar.

Firefox Multi-Account Containers is far superior to multiple profiles, IMO.
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