Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why do you use Firefox?

agmweb.ca

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 121 posts

Re: Why do you use Firefox?

#91

Post by spinchange »

vetinari wrote: post #27

> vast majority of users could switch to Chrome and get all the same extensions with almost identical functionality [4] On desktop, maybe. On mobile, definitely not. Chrome for Android does not support extensions at all. Firefox, on the other hand, does. If you want uBlock, Ghostery, whatever on your mobile browser, you don't have other choice than Firefox. And if you like your bookmarks synced between mobile and des…

>And if you like your bookmarks synced between mobile and desktop, that makes Chrome on desktop no-go option too.

The extensions/ad blocker argument is 100% legit, but unless I misunderstand you, Chrome has had history and bookmark sync across signed-in platforms (mobile/desktop) for a very long time!

Re: Why do you use Firefox?

#92

Post by rys »

vetinari wrote: post #31
iSnow wrote: post #18

Goodwill, as I like Mozilla much more than Google. I kind of dislike the Chrome UI, but that's a minor point. A lot of FF is hare-brained, though. E10S solved the unresponsive UI for me, but for the life of me, I don't know how to enable it on my touchscreen Dell. There is no indicator in preferences that tells me whether it is on or off and no button to simply force it. Javascript-heavy websites tend to burn through…

The E10S indication is probably not supposed to be user visible. You can check it though: Go to about:support page and in the first page, check the Multiprocess Windows row.

And for those that look at about:support and see it's disabled for some reason (an add-on you use doesn't play nice with it is the common thing), you should install an add-on called Add-on Compatibility Reporter, to tell you which one is causing you issues.

Re: Why do you use Firefox?

#93

Post by epoch1970 »

TheCapn wrote: post #24

Generally speaking, I use Firefox because I've always used Firefox. At no point have they ever done something that's made me upset enough with my browsing experience to jump platforms entirely. It's familiar, it has the extensions I need and it hasn't buggered up in any significant way that I uninstalled it from frustration.

It's a similar situation for me. I've used Firefox for a long time, and it currently gives me the least-worst experience of the major browsers. That's probably the only reason I still use it.

I wouldn't say I like using Firefox, though. In fact, I think the user experience has gotten a lot worse for me over time. On more than one occasion I've wanted to move away from it.

Really the only thing that keeps me using Firefox is that none of the other major browsers offer a significantly more compelling experience at this time. I find all of the major browsers to be mediocre at best.

If a better non-Firefox browser did come along, I'd likely switch away from Firefox as soon as I found out about the alternative. I have no real ties to Firefox itself.

Re: Why do you use Firefox?

#94

Post by johnchristopher »

cpeterso wrote: post #83
johnchristopher wrote: post #11

- not owned by a corp - I am used to the way the software feels (the way it hangs up or freezes... but at work I use Google Chrome because of the proxy and being used to it in that specific place it's firefox I can't stand... with the exception of the company issued laptop on which I installed firefox (no proxy)). Psychosomatic ? Very much, yes. - free software - I like the logo and the name (I am a minotaur and phoe…

> I am a minotaur and phoenix early adopter and moz before that Interesting, I had never heard of Mozilla Minotaur before. I can't find many details online, other than it was a new mail client before Phoenix was renamed Firefox. Was Minotaur an early version of Thunderbird?

Yes, Minotaur was the name of the project to make a stand alone mail client out of the Mozilla suite.

http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/2190891/Moz...

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/03/03/26/055232/new-mozilla-...

Re: Why do you use Firefox?

#95

Post by crispinb »

cpeterso wrote: post #86
crispinb wrote: post #58

I'm trying it out for a while, having mostly used Chrome in recent years. Perhaps oddly it's climate change that has prompted this. Where I live each summer is hotter than the last, and Chrome's persistent high cpu use this year has been making my macbook worryingly hot. Safari is more efficient but lacks many useful extensions. Firefox is pleasing so far. The laptop is far quieter and cooler. I've found all the exte…

Which keyboard shortcuts do you miss from Chrome?

Two which spring to mind:

(1) Email link. It has a menu item (File -> Email link) but no shortcut. Perhaps worse, the standard OSX means of adding a shortcut to a menu item (via System Prefs -> Keyboard) doesn't work with firefox. An assigned shortcut will very briefly flash the menu name, but doesn't then select the item.

(2) Chrome has a general dialogue for assinging keyboard shortcuts to extensions. As firefox doesn't, the user is at the mercy of extension developers, many of whom seem to be mousers.

Re: Why do you use Firefox?

#96

Post by pasbesoin »

A browser that performs what I want rather than what some second or third party wants. A true user agent -- not some commercial agent increasingly modified to shovel corporate-ware and corporate spying at me.

Extensions currently being a central piece of this.

Kill my extensions, and I've a lot less reason to stay with you.

Re: Why do you use Firefox?

#97

Post by parthdesai »

spinchange wrote: post #91
vetinari wrote: post #27

> vast majority of users could switch to Chrome and get all the same extensions with almost identical functionality [4] On desktop, maybe. On mobile, definitely not. Chrome for Android does not support extensions at all. Firefox, on the other hand, does. If you want uBlock, Ghostery, whatever on your mobile browser, you don't have other choice than Firefox. And if you like your bookmarks synced between mobile and des…

>And if you like your bookmarks synced between mobile and desktop, that makes Chrome on desktop no-go option too. The extensions/ad blocker argument is 100% legit, but unless I misunderstand you, Chrome has had history and bookmark sync across signed-in platforms (mobile/desktop) for a very long time!

I think he means that since you can't use chrome on mobile because of lack of extensions, you can't use it on desktop unless you want out of sync bookmarks.

Re: Why do you use Firefox?

#98

Post by vetinari »

spinchange wrote: post #91
vetinari wrote: post #27

> vast majority of users could switch to Chrome and get all the same extensions with almost identical functionality [4] On desktop, maybe. On mobile, definitely not. Chrome for Android does not support extensions at all. Firefox, on the other hand, does. If you want uBlock, Ghostery, whatever on your mobile browser, you don't have other choice than Firefox. And if you like your bookmarks synced between mobile and des…

>And if you like your bookmarks synced between mobile and desktop, that makes Chrome on desktop no-go option too. The extensions/ad blocker argument is 100% legit, but unless I misunderstand you, Chrome has had history and bookmark sync across signed-in platforms (mobile/desktop) for a very long time!

> Chrome has had history and bookmark sync across signed-in platforms (mobile/desktop) for a very long time!

Yes it did, but the requirement above is AND, not OR - if I want 1) ad blocking in mobile browser AND 2) synced passwords/bookmarks/whatever, I cannot use Chrome at the desktop, because it sync only with mobile Chrome and mobile Chrome doesn't do 1).

Re: Why do you use Firefox?

#99

Post by vetinari »

parthdesai wrote: post #97
spinchange wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And if you like your bookmarks synced between mobile and desktop, that makes Chrome on desktop no-go option too. The extensions/ad blocker argument is 100% legit, but unless I misunderstand you, Chrome has had history and bookmark sync across signed-in platforms (mobile/desktop) for a very long time!

I think he means that since you can't use chrome on mobile because of lack of extensions, you can't use it on desktop unless you want out of sync bookmarks.

Exactly! Thank you.

Re: Why do you use Firefox?

#100

Post by synicalx »

I used to use Firefox way back in the day before Chrome was a thing, then once Chrome existed and run pretty fast I moved to that for many years. Now I'm back to Firefox almost entirely due to the absurd 'Web Bluetooth' BS from Chrome's Update 56.

It's noticeably more sluggish than Chrome even with little or no addons and tabs, but I'm far more ready to put up with that after the last few Chrome updates.

Post reply on HN