Chromium has better features, but with google announcing its plan to ‘drm the internet’ I 'm not sure if it’d be a good idea.
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What better features? Firefox has pretty much everything nowadays, and is as fast as Chrome.
From the comments I’m noticing a trend
- Google Chromecast issues
- Not allowed to do background effects in Google meet
and from personal experience:
- issues using the store to update add-ons on Google docs
- can’t authenticate desktop Google drive
I use a lot of Google products, but avoid Chrome because of nonsense like this. Firefox works fine for everything else EXCEPT certain Google products. Feels intentional
100% intentional. If you spoof your browser signature most work just fine
Same with Edge and Microsoft with their Bing bullshit. Big anticonsumer bullies and they wonder why their online share is stuck.
Google Meet background effects actually work in Firefox if you spoof Firefox user agent to Chrome, I kid you not.
It should work soon without it. Google is just being google and takes its time to fix the problem they created in the first place.
I have the same experience. At my last company they only used Google meet so I had chrome on my computer just for meetings and nothing else.
The only time I use chromium is to attach a debugger to GWT (yes, the “G” stands for Google). It runs like absolute trash in Firefox.
Everything else runs better in FF.
This is exactly why companies spend money on marketing, people remember these ideas and internalize them as their justification long after it stops being true. And Chrome being fast hasn’t been true for a long time.
It still wins most benchmarks, so it’s technically true. Although not really enough to matter on desktop where it’s millisecond differences
I can confirm this, Chrome wins the benchmark tests and some CSS rendering but lags behind in DX. I’m not sure where OP got the idea that Firefox has fewer features from a developer POV.
It doesn’t have translations. I use it anyway, but it’s a minor inconvenience as I live in a foreign country.
Translations might be coming soon
Done locally on the device, so no risk of personal info going to some company
Nice!
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I use an extension for translations and it works just fine
Native procedural dark mode, Developer CSS Overview, browser extension file access.
I use Firefox exclusively except for when the second one is useful. I really wish Firefox had those three though.
Chromium browsers have only 1 feature I need: access to the Chromecast API. I have 3, Firefox can’t connect to them and the last 2-3 times I tried the listed 3rd party methods (fx bridge, etc), I could never get it to work.
Were it not for that, I’d be back on Firefox.
That’s part of why I avoided getting new Chromecast devices 😄
well? what do you have? I would love to flush my chromecasts but they’re so useful.
Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter. Despite being Microsoft, it uses Miracast.
Isn’t Miracast an adhoc wifi network as opposed to simply connecting to an established WiFi network?
If you ever find one let me know because I’m in the exact same boat as you. Casting videos to my TV is so damn convenient
I’ve had these ones from 3-10 years depending on the unit XD
I had a similar need, and it prevented me from moving to FireFox for a long while. Luckily, I did manage to get fx_cast to work, and it’s been flawless ever since. In fact, I’d say it work more reliably than Chrome’s casting!
Have you tried setting
browser.casting.enabled = truein Firefox’s about:config settings?Trust me, I’ve tried everything there is. For hours, literally. Nothing worked.
(Casting from Firefox (beta) on Android.)
That’s a bummer. Personally, I use an app made to cast web video on android because it has better casting experience (including subtitles support) and wider range of supported websites. The dev is also responsive and would push a fix if you report any site where it doesn’t work: Web Video Caster
Agreed, it’s an amazing app, well worth the price for premium version.
Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll definitely try it out.
Edge’s vertical tabs and grouping. Every solution on Firefox feels half-baked.
I use the tree style tab extension for that.
And with a custom userConfig the top tabs disappear like Edge too
That has been the best solution so far for vertical tabs but grouping needs some work.
but to be clear it is not great compared to edge.
I settled on Sidebery after trying most similar extensions. Seems more complete and has better usability in my opinion.
Ooh, do you have a link with info for that? Last time I looked into it it wasn’t possible
On Android tablets, most non-Firefox browsers support a tab bar, and tablet optimised UI. Firefox is just a giant stretched phone layout. I like to use the same browser on all platforms so I can sync tabs, so Firefox being crap on my tablet rules it out for my other devices too.
I uae Fennec, which is a better (but just okay) android browser from f-droid based on firefox. It has firefox sync. Just fyi.
I’m really happy with Vivaldi for now, but I’ll have a look into Fennec anyway and maybe give it a spin. Thanks for the info!
Firefox always memory bloats out on me. Mobile app crashes.
I switched to Brave then moved to Vivaldi. I’ll revisit if FF gets more stable.
even more you can import google addons into firefox ( right now only in nightly builds but it works )
I’ll give you one reason where Firefox blows chrome out of the water: multi account containers:
Firefox Multi-Account Containers lets you keep parts of your online life separated into color-coded tabs. Cookies are separated by container, allowing you to use the web with multiple accounts
That way you can seamlessly have multiple accounts for a specific site open side by side (for example, your work and your personal mail with the same mail provider). Especially amazing if you’re an IT contractor who works for multiple clients.
Yeah it is also good for a bit more privacy on the internet. I have separate containers for Amazon websites, Google, banking etc. Even more powerful tool if you pair it up with a VPN - can have different VPN locations on each container so break up attempts at tracking and profiling you across the web.
Yup, and there are dedicated extensions to manage them individually paired together with noscript. I have one of each for the couple major sites I occasionally use to contain all their tracking.
This is one feature I literally can’t do my job without. Used to have 3 separate browsers installed + opened at the same time for all my various Azure accounts till FF saved the day!
This!
Hi fellow IT contractor, thanks for sharing! That is awesome. Just installed and works like a charm. I was using Chrome profiles for this, but having all in one window is much easier.
As an employee of an MSP, Firefox containers are a lifesaver. No more incognito mode every time I need to check another client’s Office 365!
This is super useful for any sort of development work - you basically get unlimited, separate private windows that you can log into stuff separately.
I use it for multi account switching on Reddit, I still do a lot of scam bot fighting over there and being able to easily switch between several users is really helpful.
Firefox
All day every day
I’ve been using Firefox at home for as long as I can remember. I’ve not found anything I can’t do with it yet.
If something doesn’t work you can always try it in edge of something either way.
Firefox doesn’t support background effects in Google Meet so i can’t blur my background during my daily work meetings. That’s the only reason i still have to use Chromium browsers
Did you try agent spoofing (which probably won’t work in the future because of this). This sounds like things Microsoft (and now Google) does to make their product look better.
I haven’t tried that. I’ll give it a shot tomorrow. Thanks!
I actually tried this last month and it works! Firefox already support features needed to enable background effects on Google Meet, but Google is dragging their ass to actually allow Firefox to use the feature so you’ll have to spoof your user agent.
Why do you need to blur your background?
Gramma likes to air dry after her showers
That’s fun for the whole department!
I’m gonna guess it’s so that people can’t see his background and/or to make the picture look nicer.
The good news is if you have a recent Nvidia GPU you can inject background blur using that on all webcam footage using Nvidia’s Broadcast software.
Lots of reasons. You may not want clients or outside vendors to be looking into your home, which is IMO a sort of intimate thing. I have a client who has a custom, branded background so things look more professional and cohesive - very important in the financial field (or so I’m told). Or maybe your WFH setup is in the kitchen because that’s the only space you had to put it and you don’t want your kids, pets, and spouse ducking into and out of every meeting you have.
That’s part of the fun of working from home though. It lets people see the real you and how you live.
I’m guessing you don’t work in corporate environment or no longer work from home.
There are times when video is expected to be on, but you don’t want to show your room to everyone.
Having said that I can’t think of firefox being able to stream video yet not being able to do this, so likely it is Google’s way to make its competitor look subpar. Probably can be fixed by spoofing user agent. Ironically the most recent change in Chrome will make this very difficult in the future.
I’ve worked from home full-time since we were all sent home in March of 2020, and the background of the room I use was one of the first things I figured out that week.
Not sure what you’ve got in your living space that you’re ashamed of, but even if it’s a hovel, the bosses should see that and it should guilt them into paying you more!!
It is privacy. I don’t have mess, just don’t feel like sharing inside of my house with strangers. Maybe I’m working in weird company, but I noticed that vast majority of coworkers either have camera off, blurs the background or sets up a fake one.
Yeah, I’ve never understood that. I find people like me better when I’m not hiding who I am.
Firefox! This is the way!
Do not use any Chromium based browser. Full stop.
- If you are on Mac, I recommend Orion (Webkit based, but Mac only ATM).
- For every other platform, including Linux, Firefox.
Honestly, Google has gotten so aggressively evil I’d strongly recommend cutting yourself off from all their products entirely. Consider Kagi instead of Google search and Proton instead of GMail. Other offerings also have alternatives that won’t spy on you, steal your information, or treat you like both a criminal and a product instead of a customer.
At first i was hesitant with kagi, like: Why would i pay for a search engine? Then i realized, on the others i am the product anyway, so privacy vs little bit of money. So i am a kagi user now! At the same time, kagi will keep getting better and better (just checked their blogs how much they upgraded in a year.)
TL;DR: Anone who sees this, give kagi search a try!
Same boat! I did their free trial, was genuinely impressed with their search results, and now I have a family subscription. I can control what my kids see too, which is a plus.
Orion is available on iOS and iPadOS as well, and I second Kagi search
I recommend Brave search, it’s an independent index so you get different results. Then you can add !g to search Google and get something else, you get more coverage
It also has an AI summary that’s often good enough to give you answers without clicking links, which I like
I generally install chrome to people who have no idea what they are doing. But since you are tech-savy enough to be in the fediverse, I’d recommend firefox without a second thought.
I generally install chrome to people who have no idea what they are doing.
Why? It’s not like Firefox is more complicated for the end user than Chrome.
True. However, when something goes wrong with an ignorant person’s machine, they are quick to blame it on the “unconventional” choice someone else made.
Fair. I might do the same now, because that is such a good point.
Good point. No one knows what a Mozilla is, but if you say it’s Google’s problem everyone shuts up.
That’s very true.
Firefox
If you want to have choice in the future you should go with Firefox. Google is close to (or maybe already did) make Chrome equivalent of the Internet Explorer.
The better thing to what was with IE is that majority of websites still work fine in Firefox and people who stick to Chrome just do due to mostly ignorance.
Firefox with containers for day to day use. Chrome for google docs. Safari for sites where I don’t want to have to go through the login process every time I open a page.
I went to Firefox as soon as manifest v3 got announced, rather do it sooner rather than later.
Firefox if you take the time to harden it. You can also use librewolf which is hardened OOTB.
I only find Chromium useful for very browser-intensive things like browser games
Can you explain what has to be hardened?
better privacy
You need to do a lot of stuff like disabling telemetry, installing addons like ublock origin as well as making a few tweaks in about:config just to name a few.
“need to”
Firefox is a much better choice than most other browsers
Unless you really like things like CSS Overview and Sleeping Tabs and the intuitive extension bar you should switch to Firefox. It has container tabs and is a lot more resource efficient.
Is it, though? They seem very comparable to me these days.
That, and I’m pretty sure one of the multiple extensions I use to make Youtube watchable has a memory leak, because I do end up having to restart it periodically.
And yeah, I do miss the automatic tab grouping feature, trying to replicate it is such a hassle on Firefox.
Crucially, though, I still main Firefox despite all that, so… I guess that’s my vote.
Tbf I don’t think I’d hold YouTube’s enshittification against Firefox. Google is very active in trying to ensure users see adverts on YouTube on all platforms, which makes it hard for any extension to stay ahead.
I’m pretty sure one of the multiple extensions I use to make Youtube watchable has a memory leak, because I do end up having to restart it periodically.
It’s an extension, so has nothing really to do with the browser. That’s on par with one star reviews on Amazon because the package was delivered damaged.
I’ve never encountered such issues and when they do happen they’re very random and not “periodically”. I have no idea what you mean by “automatic tab grouping” but that did remind of two more features I miss from chromium which I’ve added.
To me my CPU usage has definintly gone down after switching to waterfox. Edge kept crashing periodically for me.
BTW, do you use any other extensions besides Enhancer, Annotations Restored, SponsorBlock and DeArrow?Enhancer and a downvote revealer. To @gigglybobble 's point below, I would argue Enhancer is part of Firefox at this point.
And while I do understand that’s not your experience, I assure you the issues do occur, and the overall weight and performance of Chrome and default Firefox is about the same. I still prefer Firefox, but I’m not gonna lie about the issues I’ve found for the sake of promoting it, either.
I would not say Enhancer is a part of firefox; the same extension also exists for chrome. However an early 2021 guide did say Firefox wasn’t less resource consuming, thanks for that.
Yeah I also have Return Youtube Dislike, forgot to mention that.
