I have two that I will highly recommend:

Vimium has completely changed the way that I use my browsers. They have extensions for firefox and safari as well, but the link I provided is for chrome. If you are used to vim keybindings, it makes websites almost completely navigable using only your keyboard! Here's a video demonstration of it in case you're interested.

My other is SponsorBlock for youtube. This one makes using youtube a little more bearable by automatically skipping the baked-in sponsorships and advertisements. It has literally cut down my viewing times of some channels by like 20%.

Are there any other extensions that you absolutely love?

I use the default Chrome browser on Android and tired of it due to mainly two reasons:

1. Intrusive ads. It's not just the ads themselves but the overwhelming bandwidth they consume. Plus chrome neither blocks the ads itself, nor allows us to install an extension like ublock origin.
2. No Extension support. I've written a few extensions for things like enhancing the reddit experience, a customized new tab, etc. which work on my desktop chrome but not on my mobile since android won't support extensions.

I'm the kind of power user who has the potential to do the right thing but is too lazy and tolerant to actually make the switch!

If only Android chrome allows the extension feature, my problem will be solved tremendously. If I switch to a new browser, I'll not only have to evaluate its effectiveness but also switch to a different password manager like bitwarden (unless I change my desktop browser too).

I initially considered raising a change.org petition asking Google to add Extensions support to chrome on android, but soon realized that it might be a total waste of time and energy, so I've finally decided to switch.

Here are the potential candidates with pros/cons as I understand (but open to new suggestions):

1. Firefox: Clearly my favorite as I've used it before. Most privacy centric and flexible to my knowledge, only con is speed/performance and some sites like youtube don't work effectively on android version?
2. Kiwi: I've almost made up my mind on this. As I understand, this is based on the open source chromium and is effectively degoogled chrome + extension support?
3. Brave: Heard a lot about it lately, want to understand it more but the "take this crypto in lieu of these ads" philosophy doesn't sound very thrilling to me.

Most of the world seems to be settled around Chrome and Safari these days. I remember using Firefox a long time ago myself but then everyone started switching to Chrome and that also turned out to be a natural path of least resistance for web developers like me who had to test web apps in local environment.

This switch happened in circa 2015-16 if I recall correctly, many other browsers have evolved since then and people are looking at alternatives. The Android Kiwi browser, for example, is a great alternative for power users on mobile who need plugins but Chrome won't allow that. Other alternatives have evolved too like Brendan Eich's Brave browser which seems to be promising. Anyone here tried that yet?

I have half a mind to go back to Firefox but I recently learned about how Mozilla Corp is also funded by Google and that turned me off. Wouldn't you rather want to deal with the Devil directly instead of the Devil's assistant or sidekick!

And then there are also those who use Garibaldi, Midori, etc. but I can't go that purist way. I'm way too dependent on the digital way of life and sites like amazon and flipkart won't work in those browsers. What do you think should be the right path ahead from here?

I've been trying to reduce my reliance on all things Google, and one of the big ones is password management. I've tried several times to make the jump, but every time I start researching options I'm overwhelmed by the selection. There are a lot of popular options out there, and I really don't have the time/energy to endure a misstep. So without a clear idea of which manager will check all of my boxes, I end up bailing on the process and keep using chrome's built in option.

So to start, here's what I like about Chrome:

• Automatically offers to store passwords without extra clicks
• Autofills automatically where it can, and gives me an easy choice when it can't
• Works everywhere I need passwords. (basically everywhere I browse the internet since chrome works everywhere)
• Minimal overhead. This is hard to beat since Chrome just includes it, so I'm fine with a little extra setup if necessary.

I used to use keepass portable on a thumb drive (I want to say circa ~2009ish), but it became really inconvenient as my usage shifted more to mobile devices.

I see this as a first step to also reducing my reliance on Chrome so I can start to consider other browsers. Right now I feel locked in to Google's ecosystem, but I know I can break it up if I don't get too bogged down by choice. Much appreciate any help. :)

Am I the only one?

They've made some serious improvements and I generally enjoy using Firefox but I occasionally run into issues that just shows complete disregard for end users. Assuming, of course, my issues are not isolated.

Every month or so, when Firefox updates, it completely resets itself. This doesn't happen with every update, but Mozilla pushes an update that breaks the functionality of my browser. My browser settings, my userChrome profile, my extensions and their settings, and my bookmarks are all gone. Everything.

I do have sync but that doesn't work properly either. It only syncs some of my settings (which actually makes it harder for me to figure out what's enabled/disabled) and while I do get my bookmarks (none of which have their favicons), the extensions that manage to sync (meaning the ones that were installed from the store) don't sync their settings unless they have cloud support.

I do not understand this. Why do I, as an end user who care about Mozilla's mission, have to deal with this? I'd overlooked many of Firefox's shortcomings in the past, but when the browser works, it works well. I have some issues, but browsers are complicated and running into issues are to be expected. I understand that, but I simply cannot understand how eager they are to break the end user's workflow. Isn't it supposed to be a cardinal sin for every software company, especially the ones trying to survive, to not do this?

I just spent roughly half an hour of my day to get my browser back to its previous state. Adding the times I had had to deal with this issue before, I've spent hours on dealing with Firefox that I shouldn't have. I don't think I have another half an hour to spare for it and I don't want to anymore, but is there even an alternative for Windows that suck less?

(Apologies for the rant, but I needed to vent and perhaps get a discussion going about the current state of browsers.)

Most of my internet browsing is done on mobile and I've used predominantly Firefox and Firefox Focus in the past. I just switched over to Brave now that they've finally implemented their own crypto currency.
What browser are you using?
Is there a reason for this browser specifically? If so why?
What do you use your browser for?

I recently switch browsers from Safari to Orion after many, many years. I imported all of my bookmarks and then realized that I couldn't remember the last time I went through them to see what was still useful (or even around).

I also realized that I don't save a ton of bookmarks anymore as I keep all of my browsing history available and search through that.

How often do you all go through your bookmarks/favorites?

I'm using an Android phone with Chrome 65.0.3325.109 installed.

There's an option in this browser to add a page to the home screen. This creates a shortcut on my home screen. When I tap on that shortcut, it opens the saved page in Chrome.

I had done this with Tildes. However, I deleted the shortcut and made it again. The behaviour has now changed.

Previously, this shortcut opened Tildes as a tab within Chrome. Now, it opens Tildes as its own separate "application". It's not in Chrome. That means I don't get the functionality that comes with Chrome, such as opening a link in a new Chrome tab. In this pseudo-application version, I'm stuck with only one window. I can't open other tabs. I can't simply copy links from one Chrome tab (news website) to another Chrome tab (Tildes).

Did you change something in the past week or so? Can you please change it back? I want a shortcut to a web page to open something that behaves like a web page, not a stand-alone application.

I have recently been getting into the Brave browser and they have a system called BAT. I'm still not totally clear on all the intricacies, but the basic idea is that they have a universal token that can be given to content creators, instead of using advertising. Here's a link because I probably messed up that description somehow. So what are your thoughts on it?

Those of you who keep hundreds of tabs open: I'm curious how and why you use them. I'd hoard tabs in the past, but in a sad incident a browser (Firefox) restart caused the loss of all my 10s of open tabs that was accumulated over weeks long research about a topic, I decided to never trust tabs again. Now I'm making use of my bookmars toolbar, Org mode and Instapaper for most of the stuff having many tabs open was the method before. So, for me, tabs were for keeping stuff handy during research, read-it-later lists, and temporary bookmarks. What are the use cases for you?

The big players today are Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge. Then there are a load of alternative browsers from Vivaldi and Brave to EWW and elinks and w3m, and then things like Dillo and Netsurf. Do you use any of these alternative browsers? If yes, why, and why did you pick that particular one? I'd be interested to read why not, too.

I've got a crappy Chromebook running GalliumOS (Xubuntu) and Chromium is slow as molasses. I tried a few other browsers like Otter and Falkon. They're alright for most sites -- not Tildes, but this seems consistent with QT5 browsers.

Anyway, outside of text browsers, anybody have any light weight browser suggestions?

What are some of your must have browser extensions?

I recently made an effort to switch to Firefox, and now I'm looking for some good browser extensions to make my web browsing experience better. Here are the ones I currently use:

• HTTPS Everywhere
• Privacy Badger
• uBlock Origin
• Vimium

So, I'm planning on building yet another browser (based on Firefox, since we already have too much Chromium forks around)

I'm intending to target the people worried about their privacy, but aren't technical enough to dabble with about:config tweaks and deal with any site breakages.

So, for this project, I'm planning on doing the following modifications to Firefox:

• Tweaked by default to get a balance between increased privacy, and less site breakage
  • Tweaks include cutting any "background" communication with Mozilla (while I trust them, some people might not) and Google (safe browsing, geolocation)
  • Maybe, possibly, an "advanced privacy settings" menu for more privacy settings in exchange for site breakage?
• Integrated ad blocker (Decided on uBlock Origin, maybe adding Nano Defender to bypass any nag screens)
• Maybe a way to "pretend" to be a Chromium browser, since some sites require that nowadays (More user agent complexity, yay!)

So, this is where this thread comes in. What would you guys want in a (Gecko-based) browser, that I can provide?

I am definitely not planning any substantial under-the-hood changes, since that would
a) make maintaining it a pain
b) be way out of my skill level.

I am only looking for stuff that can be applied with some simple source code patches, or an integrated extension, as I will not "fork" the entire FF source. This project is essentially a rebranded patchset. (Also allows for faster updates!)

ps: Please be realistic, and remember that this is a one man thing. I can not make any substantial changes, like bringing XUL add-ons back, if you know what those are.

pps: If you can, and are willing to help with anything, let me know and I'll put up a repo online :)

ppps: Please let me know if I've made a mistake while creating this topic.

I've tried a lot of browsers. Starting from Chrome, to Chromium, to Firefox, to Links, to w3m, to, eventually, Qutebrowser, which I use for most of my browsing now.

At least for me, I had four things in mind while choosing a browser:

• I want it to be light
• I want it to be minimal
• I want it to be keyboard-oriented
• I want it to be able to use modern websites

I won't be going through all the browsers I've tried, but those I mentioned are the big ones, so I'll just do a quick check-list of these things.

Chrome/Chromium:

• Weighs like a sumo wrestler 1/5
• Cluttered 1/5
• Just some shortcuts and extentions 3/5
• The model, the idol to strife for 5/5

Firefox:

• Apparently lighter than Chromium, though not by much 1/5
• Cluttered 1/5
• Some shortcuts, famous extensions 3/5
• On point 5/5

Links:

• Very light and fast 5/5
• Minimal, though can go smaller 4/5
• Yes 5/5
• Doesn't support javascript 1/5

w3m:

• As light as it gets 6/5
• Pretty damn minimal 5/5
• Even works for blind 5/5
• Does javascript, but hard to use with cluttered wesites like Reddit or any news site 3/5

Qutebrowser:

• It is quite small and feels fast 4/5
• Can be easily modified to not have anything on screen, and command line-like controls 5/5
• Great, but hint system fails with javascript 4/5
• Doesn't work with Reddit, for some reason 4/5

With the things that I look for, Qutebrowser is the answer, with w3m being the close second. Of course, there are different things to look for in a piece of software, and you may want the extra stability and extensions Firefox provides, or privacy of Tor browser, or the suckless nature of surf, so I'd like to hear what is your browser of choice!

Weird question, but does anyone know of a simple tab viewer or organizer for Firefox (bonus points if it works on iOS)? I have... way too many tabs open, and I want to see what I can bookmark before closing rather than having to either close everything or manually check each tab.