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How to Firefox

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Re: How to Firefox

#451

Post by Chubbi1968 »

cassepipe wrote: post #444

Everyone is going to talk about UBlock origin (a must) but I have a different take on what makes firefox great: A thing you can do on firefox with some tweaks is no-search browsing (tm). 1. Remove search suggestions in (about:preferences#search) 2. Use the [History AutoDelete]( https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/history-autod... ) addon to remove your searches from your History since they would clutter th…

Completely agree. Also CTRL + TAB and CTRL + SHIFT + TAB are great for going back and forth between a couple of tabs.

Re: How to Firefox

#452

Post by kevincox »

lucumo wrote: post #450
kevincox wrote: post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, search engines don't which is annoying and confusing. However on desktop you can use keyword bookmarks which offer basically the same functionality and do sync. uBlock Origin does it's own weird thing where you need to trigger the sync in the settings interface. I don't think you can blame Firefox for this UX choice.

> However on desktop you can use keyword bookmarks which offer basically the same functionality and do sync. Search engines can have completion; keyword bookmarks can't. Most search engines don't support it, but some do. > uBlock Origin does it's own weird thing where you need to trigger the sync in the settings interface. I don't think you can blame Firefox for this UX choice. It made the same choice in Chrome, so I…

uBlock Origin sync works for me on Firefox

Re: How to Firefox

#453

Post by glenstein »

voxic11 wrote: post #156
giancarlostoro wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm about the same, I don't even know what the loading speeds issue is about, I still remember Firefox Quantum beating the daylights out of Chrome, and I don't know if Chrome ever fully caught up to Quantum? What's really funny is for ages Chrome would load the browser window even if the whole browser UI wasn't done loading, and sometime after Quantum, Firefox started doing the same trick to make you feel as though i…

Do you use Firefox for Android? I use it for the extension support but its noticeably slower than Chrome on Android.

I use Firefox on Android and I don't think (?) I notice a speed difference. At least not a big one.

Re: How to Firefox

#454

Post by glenstein »

stronglikedan wrote: post #241
mattlutze wrote: post #89

I am surprised how many people have so many problems with Firefox. I've never felt impeded by loading speeds, and my ADHD regularly has me forgetting to restart it, to the tune of 100+ tabs open across multiple desktops. My wimply little MacBook Pro doesn't seem to mind. The only downside I've found is that, because so many people just default to "Chrome or nothing," there's occasionally sites that have bugs because,…

I use Firefox and Chrome to separate work from personal, and I can tell you that I have to close and restart Firefox at least once a day due to spinning fans and crawling performance, whereas with Chrome it's about once a week.

Since we're sharing our respective anecdotes your experience, interestingly mirrors mine in that I do the same thing for work. Microsoft Edge for work tasks (not my choice but the IT team remotely manages the bookmarks on that one), Firefox for personal. But no issues with speed or needing to shut things down just on an ordinary Lenovo laptop.

Re: How to Firefox

#455

Post by glenstein »

davidgerard wrote: post #415
mattlutze wrote: post #89

I am surprised how many people have so many problems with Firefox. I've never felt impeded by loading speeds, and my ADHD regularly has me forgetting to restart it, to the tune of 100+ tabs open across multiple desktops. My wimply little MacBook Pro doesn't seem to mind. The only downside I've found is that, because so many people just default to "Chrome or nothing," there's occasionally sites that have bugs because,…

Every Firefox post has people claiming problems with it that are literally not true.

Or if true, extremely idiosyncratic. This thread is one of the more amazing case studies for people making blanket generalizations from problems that seem to be very specific to their setups and hard to reproduce elsewhere. I don't want to say the problems aren't happening, but there seems to be a wild overconfidence in generalizing from unusual case scenarios.

Of course it's not limited to Firefox. I think it happens with everything from people's first experiences of Mastodon, to people having random bad experiences on some particular Linux distribution to any number of other things.

I think to me the most have spending one I saw was people insisting F-Droid had problems that I could never reproduce when I was using it simultaneously across like four or five devices, including a pixel C tablet with lineage OS, and old Nexus 7 also with lineage OS, and two of my phones as I was in the process of transitioning from one to the other.

Re: How to Firefox

#456

Post by glenstein »

globular-toast wrote: post #179
mattlutze wrote: post #89

I am surprised how many people have so many problems with Firefox. I've never felt impeded by loading speeds, and my ADHD regularly has me forgetting to restart it, to the tune of 100+ tabs open across multiple desktops. My wimply little MacBook Pro doesn't seem to mind. The only downside I've found is that, because so many people just default to "Chrome or nothing," there's occasionally sites that have bugs because,…

Same, no problems here, in the almost 20 years I've been using it. Whenever I've used Chrome I find it weird and annoying. Which just goes to show it's all down to what you're used to. If people would just try switching they'd find it normal in just a week or so. Are you really going to let Google control your computing just because you can't stand the very mild discomfort associated with change?

>Are you really going to let Google control your computing just because you can't stand the very mild discomfort associated with change?

Exactly that's the big picture question and I find it mind-boggling when when people can't look past an idiosyncratic user experience to more fundamental things like Google seizing long-term control over web standards, getting rid of ad block, imposing DRM, and creating a paradigm or even its own competitors are increasingly dependent on Chromium development.

Re: How to Firefox

#457

Post by glenstein »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #439
bool3max wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the long run Alphabet will find a way to bar non-vetted browsers from accessing the Internet.

They will try, but anti-trust laws and -lawsuits should compel them otherwise. Microsoft had to pay hundreds of millions in fines to the EU for not complying with a previous browser choice order [0], following previous lawsuits in the US about their tight coupling of Internet Explorer [1] in which they settled for $1 billion. Google has to pay a fine in excess of 4 billion (!) to the EU for anti-competitive practices…

This does raise a very interesting point though in my opinion. There's been some debate about whether Google should be compelled to sell off its chromium browser, but I wonder if it makes more sense to spin off Google's various attempts at boning internet infrastructure such as AMP and 8.8.8.8.

I guess AMP is being wound down but it was a play for shifting more of the Internet onto Google infrastructure.

Re: How to Firefox

#458

Post by glenstein »

prasadjoglekar wrote: post #146
bool3max wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the long run Alphabet will find a way to bar non-vetted browsers from accessing the Internet.

Hopefully in the slightly shorter run, they get broken up via anti trust.

Interestingly, I think if the Chrome browser gets spun off from Google, it might make sense for Google to have to make annual payments to support the development of Chrome like they do Firefox. Obviously being the default search in Chrome should have significant value worth paying for the same as Firefox and Safari. And it might be the most plausible economic model for Chrome if it's not being funded by Google.

Re: How to Firefox

#459

Post by glenstein »

nuker wrote: post #401
CivBase wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, but I can't stand posts like this and they always come up in discussions about Firefox. If you have a better alternative than Firefox, please say so. Mozilla has many problems and has done bad stuff. Firefox is better than Chrome for most users. These are not mutually exclusive statements.

It is just facts. I use Safari with Wipr and iCloud Private Relay, better than FF if you have Apple devices.

What do you recommend to non-Apple users?

Re: How to Firefox

#460

Post by nuker »

CivBase wrote: post #423
nuker wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is just facts. I use Safari with Wipr and iCloud Private Relay, better than FF if you have Apple devices.

They're facts, but they aren't helpful on their own. The article is about convincing Chrome users to switch to Firefox. If all you do is criticize Mozilla - no matter how much they deserve it - then you are signalling to users that they should stay with Chrome. Despite Mozilla's many problems, I'm sure you'd agree that Google is even worse. An alternative to Firefox needs to be offered at the very least, or all you'r…

I did offered alternative, Safari, didn't I? :)

The trend Mozilla is going is clearly seen. these facts show the trend. That was the purpose of my post, to show the direction they have chosen.

I do get the frustration of not having safe choice at the moment. People lash out because anyone critical of Firefox removes the last safe choice they had. Subconscious reaction is to attack the messenger, instead of realising the grim state of things.

I'd suggest sticking to Apple at the moment, for the lack of better alternative. It has no skin in Ads game, it sells expenssive devices with pretty good privacy and security. Private Relay is big pain in the ass for Google and Facebook, btw.

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