I love the amount of community feedback and engagement Mozilla has regarding FF. I think it's really cool that they publish information like this, and would be interested in seeing comparable...
I love the amount of community feedback and engagement Mozilla has regarding FF. I think it's really cool that they publish information like this, and would be interested in seeing comparable information with the other popular browsers. Like where they were and where they are now, specifically
I enjoy Firefox, but I wish the android app was better. Especially for tablets, the app doesn't have a proper tab bar. It's also missing a bookmark widget and there are a few weird UI decisions...
I enjoy Firefox, but I wish the android app was better. Especially for tablets, the app doesn't have a proper tab bar. It's also missing a bookmark widget and there are a few weird UI decisions that make the app harder to use than Chrome. Having uBlock Origin on my phone makes any frustrations worth it though.
Yeah Android Firefox is annoying. My main gripe is with the URL/search bar, it seems impossible to tame. I simply want my history to be the first results and only after that should it search for...
Yeah Android Firefox is annoying. My main gripe is with the URL/search bar, it seems impossible to tame.
I simply want my history to be the first results and only after that should it search for anything using a search engine. Seems impossible to configure it to do this though so I'm constantly having to specify history/tabs/search using the little selector.
Might just be how I use a browser though... history is everything for me, I navigate to specific places by typing a portion of URL's that I visit most days.
First, ensure you have Firefox for Mobile installed, rather than Focus. Then, tap on the dot menu, then Add-ons, and then Add-ons Manager. There you should see the option to install uBlock Origin.
First, ensure you have Firefox for Mobile installed, rather than Focus. Then, tap on the dot menu, then Add-ons, and then Add-ons Manager. There you should see the option to install uBlock Origin.
I didn't have focus installed, but I deleted Firefox and reinstalled it the next day and it worked. IDK it was like I had a different version of Firefox.
I didn't have focus installed, but I deleted Firefox and reinstalled it the next day and it worked. IDK it was like I had a different version of Firefox.
After decades using Firefox as a solo browser, I moved to Orion a couple of weeks ago. I love Firefox, and I try to use open source software as much as possible, but being the browser such a...
After decades using Firefox as a solo browser, I moved to Orion a couple of weeks ago.
I love Firefox, and I try to use open source software as much as possible, but being the browser such a critical software in my work and personal workflow, I couldn't stand any more of receiving the amount of "tab crashed" messages over and over again. I tried uninstalling extensions and such, but I ended up trying Orion (which btw allow you to access both Firefox and Chrome extensions (!) also in mobile (!!)) and not going back to Firefox.
It's a pity, but the weird and uncontrolable tab crash bug was enough for me
I am going to steal your offer for my own firefox issue.... On linux, if I open a link in a new tab, I am unable to copy any text using right mouse + copy (option is greyed out) until I go to...
I am going to steal your offer for my own firefox issue.... On linux, if I open a link in a new tab, I am unable to copy any text using right mouse + copy (option is greyed out) until I go to another tab and back.
This issue has been driving me ansolutely crazy. Any ideas?
I have some of those! For example, I reported "Javascript scroll issue in specific chatboxes" 7 years ago, for work. There's a comment from someone else who's been able to reproduce it, but it...
Did you make a ticket?
I have some of those! For example, I reported "Javascript scroll issue in specific chatboxes" 7 years ago, for work. There's a comment from someone else who's been able to reproduce it, but it remains open and unassigned. Naturally, I lost interest long ago, so maybe it's no longer a problem.
I've been watching "Firefox isn't seeing multiple audio tracks in a particular mp4 file" for several years, regarding how Firefox appeared to have a standards-required interface for wrangling multiple audio tracks in video files, but they just didn't work (later they just removed it, not sure about the current state of affairs), since it impeded a personal project of mine. The ticket has been open for 9 years.
Due to some sort of bogus CORS pipeline, "not working css mask from local storage" prevented my OBS overlays from being tested on Firefox. It has been open since 2019.
The point I'm trying to make here is, as someone who has actually attempted to make tickets for Firefox issues... That's usually not going to be helpful in a useful timeframe.
I'm a Firefox user regardless, but hey! Check out bug 210657, about a nonstandard behavior in standards mode that was open 21 years ago and remains open. I left a comment in 2009 stating IE7 rendered it properly! Looks like three years ago this still hadn't been fixed.
I looked for similar issues on forums and such for weeks, but I didn't find anything userful tbh. And checking the logs was useless too, no information whatsoever. Again, it's a pity but here we...
I looked for similar issues on forums and such for weeks, but I didn't find anything userful tbh. And checking the logs was useless too, no information whatsoever. Again, it's a pity but here we are.
I also like the model of paying for search to support Kagi/Orion.
Neat! I actually really like this model of development. I'm not sure if it will become my main browser, but it seems like a fun bit of software to check out.
I also like the model of paying for search to support Kagi/Orion.
Neat! I actually really like this model of development. I'm not sure if it will become my main browser, but it seems like a fun bit of software to check out.
(prefacing my comment to say: same, and for both products as well) Speaking of neat things, before I tried Kagi for the first time myself, I was looking at their published numbers for page load...
I also like the model of paying for search to support Kagi/Orion.
(prefacing my comment to say: same, and for both products as well)
Neat! I actually really like this model of development. I'm not sure if it will become my main browser, but it seems like a fun bit of software to check out.
Speaking of neat things, before I tried Kagi for the first time myself, I was looking at their published numbers for page load time being extremely low in comparison to others. But this doesn’t do it justice, at all.
Whenever I switch from “regular” browsing to a search query now, there’s this short moment where I think something like “oh wait, it’s already done loading!”
For example previously, waiting on DuckDuckGo – or Google, even longer ago – I probably knew subconsciously to expect a (very) short mental break before I could be able to start scanning the results, as I came to expect it would simply “take a moment” to load. With Kagi, that moment simply isn’t there.
I guess that’s what happens when their search results page is positively not ridden with advertisements, JS frameworks and custom fonts that all have to be loaded in every single time. But I don’t know what wizardry they’re pulling to not only have a slim HTML/CSS page, but a fast backend too for bringing up relevant results to the actual search incredibly quickly and staying accurate…
Longer-term, I really hope they manage to get Orion working cross-platform, and get it working well. You can really tell it’s tailored to macOS currently (which being a native, “well-behaving” citizen and following UX guidelines is a good thing), but it’s the flipside of the “everything cross-platform” approach: way, way more effort to make it equally as perfect elsewhere.
Yeah, after I posted that I realized it was only macOS software. There is absolutely zero percent chance I use the software now. Apple is a horrible company, and they don't get my money.
Kagi/Orion
Yeah, after I posted that I realized it was only macOS software. There is absolutely zero percent chance I use the software now. Apple is a horrible company, and they don't get my money.
Huh. I'm a solo Firefox user, and haven't encountered many tab crashes,though admittedly haven't been on my computer much recently. Did you notice any trends or patterns in what pages would crash?...
Huh. I'm a solo Firefox user, and haven't encountered many tab crashes,though admittedly haven't been on my computer much recently. Did you notice any trends or patterns in what pages would crash? Would some sites crash more than others? Would it happen randomly while browsing a page just fine for five minutes?
I have Orion on my mac and use it occasionally, but I have a hard time using it as my primary browser because I cannot also get it on Windows and Linux. I do absolutely love their tree-style tabs,...
I have Orion on my mac and use it occasionally, but I have a hard time using it as my primary browser because I cannot also get it on Windows and Linux. I do absolutely love their tree-style tabs, and it motivated me to finally make Sidebery work well and look nice on my Firefox setup (it took some extra tweaks to my userChrome.css to make it feel "native").
I haven't really had any problems with Firefox crashing though, if anything it has been more stable for me than Orion, which occasionally becomes unresponsive in a weird and inconsistent manner that is hard to explain.
Orion might be a good balance. It seems trivial, but I can't use Firefox because it doesn't let me properly format formulas in Google Sheets. No issues in Orion. I've been using Orion for iOS for...
Orion might be a good balance. It seems trivial, but I can't use Firefox because it doesn't let me properly format formulas in Google Sheets. No issues in Orion.
I've been using Orion for iOS for a while and like it enough. I might as well give the desktop browser a good try. Thanks for the nudge!
Funnily enough, Orion apparently has been frozen(and consuming a lot of resources/power) when I checked it out today. I've had tab crash issues that crash the ENTIRE browser once before on Linux,...
Funnily enough, Orion apparently has been frozen(and consuming a lot of resources/power) when I checked it out today.
I've had tab crash issues that crash the ENTIRE browser once before on Linux, but outside of that one instance of NixOS installation(on a relatively crappy machine), I never had tab crashes.
FireFox is likely to stay my main browser on Windows and maybe Linux, though I'd consider Epiphany for Linux.
On MacOS I actually run 3 different browsers each in a different desktop space, Safari, Firefox and Librewolf, I'm trying out Orion to see if I can replace FF with it. I generally tend to prefer a FOSS option but looking at Orion, its privacy policy and FAQ, it seems compelling to switch to. Too bad it's MacOS only for now, in case I want to use it on another OS or for when I want to switch away from my first Mac.
Huh, I really wonder what's going on with your setup. It's been years since I've seen a Firefox tab crash on any of several OS despite running a few fairly heavy add-ons.
Huh, I really wonder what's going on with your setup. It's been years since I've seen a Firefox tab crash on any of several OS despite running a few fairly heavy add-ons.
I stubbornly used Firefox for the past twenty years as my main browser and I don’t plan to switch to anything else unless they shut it down. I tried opera a long time ago and honestly liked it...
I stubbornly used Firefox for the past twenty years as my main browser and I don’t plan to switch to anything else unless they shut it down.
I tried opera a long time ago and honestly liked it because of its download manager. Obviously switched to chrome when it just came out, but I still got back to Firefox. I really liked when they added Firefox accounts so that you could retrieve all your stuff when you reinstall your OS for example.
Firefox was never slow for me, maybe because I don’t really have a habit of having a lot of tabs tabs open, and I like to keep my tab bar clean. I think my use case might be unpopular, because I don’t use bookmarks at all and rely on browser history heavily. Basically I hit control L and type what I want and usually it’s at the top (unless I had to clear my browser history for whatever reason usually due to work).
I usually have just three pinned tabs open for gmail, Google calendar and jira. Back when google reader was a thing that one was also pinned one for me. I just can’t make myself use any other desktop alternatives for mail or calendar because I find them inferior.
If i need something else that’s not in my pinned tabs, I just open a new tab and type to select from my history or send a google search and just open from top result if not I’m my history or if I’m too lazy to type the full URL.
And whenever a tab crashes or is slow and unresponsive, I resort to blaming javascript rather than firefox. This is all based on experience having relatively adequate amount of ram, for example now I’m using m1 macbook air with 16gb ram and don’t have any problems whatsoever. But I think it all depends on how many tabs you have open.
I actually also have chrome installed which I use in occasion someone tells me that the UI problems I have are related to firefox. I also use safari rarely for Apple Pay. But these brave, Vivaldi, Orion, opera gl and other browsers with revolutionary vertical tabs are not for me and I refuse to even try.
I primarily used FF these days, but I have two main issues with it that keep sending me back to Chrome. I browse quite a few pages that are in a foreign language- Japanese, to be precise. Firefox...
I primarily used FF these days, but I have two main issues with it that keep sending me back to Chrome.
I browse quite a few pages that are in a foreign language- Japanese, to be precise. Firefox does not have the capability to translate an entire page from Japanese to English- in fact, Firefox only translates handful of languages to English. So Google, with its Translate capability, at least offers to translate the page (whether I decide I actually want the page translated or not).
The second issues really part of the whole ongoing YT debate. I have adblockers on both browsers. With Firefox, YT is automatically blocking the videos. However, I can still get past them (for now) with Chrome.
So I like FF more, but Chrome is proving to be more useful.
Unfortunately, this is what helps them further establish their textbook monopoly. Once everyone has abandoned Firefox and other browsers, Google will cut off adblocker extensions. Can you in any...
The second issues really part of the whole ongoing YT debate. I have adblockers on both browsers. With Firefox, YT is automatically blocking the videos. However, I can still get past them (for now) with Chrome.
So I like FF more, but Chrome is proving to be more useful.
Unfortunately, this is what helps them further establish their textbook monopoly. Once everyone has abandoned Firefox and other browsers, Google will cut off adblocker extensions.
Can you in any way still use Firefox for this, or do they not let you in at all with the detection?
One of the other comments pointed out a workaround, since I use uBlock Origin. It solved the problem for viewing Youtube on Firefox... the only drawback is, it's going to be part of the...
One of the other comments pointed out a workaround, since I use uBlock Origin. It solved the problem for viewing Youtube on Firefox... the only drawback is, it's going to be part of the cat-and-mouse/Whack-a-Mole game that is now being played by adblockers and Youtube.
Still irritated by Firefox's lack of translation ability- though I suppose some would say that just keep forcing me to get better at the language I'm trying to learn.
The fact that they just introduced their local browser translation for some languages is a good sign for them adding further languages in the future. In my personal experience it's definitely...
Still irritated by Firefox's lack of translation ability
The fact that they just introduced their local browser translation for some languages is a good sign for them adding further languages in the future. In my personal experience it's definitely weaker at German (the language I mostly use it for) than Google translate was when I used the Translate Web Pages extension, which I'd still highly recommend if you need something beyond what the local translation offers.
If it supports your language, the new translation feature isn't perfect but it's good enough for everyday use and the fact that it does everything locally makes it worth using imo. Plus its bad translations help me learn new things about German sometimes, such as when it told me my cough suppressant would breastfeed my cough. I will never forget that vocab word again lol!
If you're willing to use Google products anyway, there are several extensions that let you use Google Translate's page translation feature easily from the toolbar in Firefox.
If you're willing to use Google products anyway, there are several extensions that let you use Google Translate's page translation feature easily from the toolbar in Firefox.
Since I vaguely recall reading about it, I’m pretty surprised that there’s no whole-page translation browser extension using DeepL from either themselves, or third party-made using their API. I...
Still irritated by Firefox's lack of translation ability- though I suppose some would say that just keep forcing me to get better at the language I'm trying to learn.
Since I vaguely recall reading about it, I’m pretty surprised that there’s no whole-page translation browser extension using DeepL from either themselves, or third party-made using their API.
I wrote a small, basic CLI tool for accessing their API for a different use case and using it has been great and pretty fast. As well as for free… the API currently sports an incredible 500,000 characters without charge per month, which I think is well more than enough for any typical non-commercial usage.
I seem to recall an extension that offered to let you do full-page translation with DeepL if you provided your own API key, but I don't think I ever got it to properly work. I don't remember which...
I seem to recall an extension that offered to let you do full-page translation with DeepL if you provided your own API key, but I don't think I ever got it to properly work. I don't remember which extension this was though, unfortunately.
I think the problem is that 500,000 characters a month is a lot for one person but not for all people using an extension, so to not need to pay for commercial use you'd need each individual to have their own API key to use, which is a pretty annoying barrier to entry.
Annoying, yes, but, specifically if you’re a bit technically inclined (aka willing to paste a string in a settings field) I think it’s not that serious of a problem. Again, the only thing you’d...
I think the problem is that 500,000 characters a month is a lot for one person but not for all people using an extension, so to not need to pay for commercial use you'd need each individual to have their own API key to use, which is a pretty annoying barrier to entry.
Annoying, yes, but, specifically if you’re a bit technically inclined (aka willing to paste a string in a settings field) I think it’s not that serious of a problem.
Again, the only thing you’d need to do is trust a company to not charge your credit card why they prompt you to store (in case of exceeding the free limit).
If you're in the US you can use privacy.com and generate a temporary card that will deny the charge if they happen to. Last I knew it only worked in the US.
Again, the only thing you’d need to do is trust a company to not charge your credit card why they prompt you to store (in case of exceeding the free limit).
If you're in the US you can use privacy.com and generate a temporary card that will deny the charge if they happen to. Last I knew it only worked in the US.
For the latter issue, make sure the filters in your adblocker are updated. For uBlock Origin, open the settings dashboard, go to filter lists, purge all caches, and update now. Once I did that, I...
For the latter issue, make sure the filters in your adblocker are updated. For uBlock Origin, open the settings dashboard, go to filter lists, purge all caches, and update now. Once I did that, I haven't had any issues with YouTube. I do also have several custom filters enabled, so they may be helping too.
Same for me. Once I've updated the filters, it fixed Youtube's anti-adblock. However, right now, I've heard it's basically a game of whack-a-mole. New uBlock Origin filters are released, Youtube...
Same for me. Once I've updated the filters, it fixed Youtube's anti-adblock.
However, right now, I've heard it's basically a game of whack-a-mole. New uBlock Origin filters are released, Youtube patches it, rinse and repeat.
Sorry for the delayed response. According to "My Filters" the only one I have is the first set listed on that site. I must have added them once YouTube started blocking adblockers because it's my...
Sorry for the delayed response. According to "My Filters" the only one I have is the first set listed on that site. I must have added them once YouTube started blocking adblockers because it's my most recent entry. In my comment above I was referring more to custom filter lists, which are listed below if anyone's interested.
As the other comment said, it's a game of Whack-a-Mole right now, but thank you for the tip! It worked perfectly (guess I'll be playing this game for a while)
As the other comment said, it's a game of Whack-a-Mole right now, but thank you for the tip! It worked perfectly (guess I'll be playing this game for a while)
While this will work, please don't do this. Purging all caches means every single list requires an update and this is unnecessary. You only need to update the Quick Fixes list. While it's not a...
While this will work, please don't do this. Purging all caches means every single list requires an update and this is unnecessary.
You only need to update the Quick Fixes list.
While it's not a lot of data per person I keep seeing this recommendation to purge the cache and update all lists which the people at ublock origin have specifically requested you not to do. Only update the list that is relevant, in this case it is the Quick Fixes list. Given the number of users all of this purging/updating does consume a lot of data and these lists are hosted free of charge, it's important to minimise unnecessary updates.
Force an update of ONLY the uBlock filters – Quick fixes list. <== This is within the extension. Lists are what determine what's blocked or not. And this list is where we counter YouTube.
I like using Firefox as a secondary browser, but I switched to Vivaldi at the start of this year. I can't see myself switching back to any other browser.
I like using Firefox as a secondary browser, but I switched to Vivaldi at the start of this year. I can't see myself switching back to any other browser.
I love the amount of community feedback and engagement Mozilla has regarding FF. I think it's really cool that they publish information like this, and would be interested in seeing comparable information with the other popular browsers. Like where they were and where they are now, specifically
There is arewefastyet which compiles a bunch of microbenchmarks.
Thanks for the info. I'll have to do more research to see what the individual benchmarks actually mean for day to day use lol
I enjoy Firefox, but I wish the android app was better. Especially for tablets, the app doesn't have a proper tab bar. It's also missing a bookmark widget and there are a few weird UI decisions that make the app harder to use than Chrome. Having uBlock Origin on my phone makes any frustrations worth it though.
Yeah Android Firefox is annoying. My main gripe is with the URL/search bar, it seems impossible to tame.
I simply want my history to be the first results and only after that should it search for anything using a search engine. Seems impossible to configure it to do this though so I'm constantly having to specify history/tabs/search using the little selector.
Might just be how I use a browser though... history is everything for me, I navigate to specific places by typing a portion of URL's that I visit most days.
How do you get ublock on it?
First, ensure you have Firefox for Mobile installed, rather than Focus. Then, tap on the dot menu, then Add-ons, and then Add-ons Manager. There you should see the option to install uBlock Origin.
I didn't have focus installed, but I deleted Firefox and reinstalled it the next day and it worked. IDK it was like I had a different version of Firefox.
Weeeiird. Well, glad you got it working in the end.
After decades using Firefox as a solo browser, I moved to Orion a couple of weeks ago.
I love Firefox, and I try to use open source software as much as possible, but being the browser such a critical software in my work and personal workflow, I couldn't stand any more of receiving the amount of "tab crashed" messages over and over again. I tried uninstalling extensions and such, but I ended up trying Orion (which btw allow you to access both Firefox and Chrome extensions (!) also in mobile (!!)) and not going back to Firefox.
It's a pity, but the weird and uncontrolable tab crash bug was enough for me
(Former Firefox developer here)
I could help you troubleshoot that if you want.
I am going to steal your offer for my own firefox issue.... On linux, if I open a link in a new tab, I am unable to copy any text using right mouse + copy (option is greyed out) until I go to another tab and back.
This issue has been driving me ansolutely crazy. Any ideas?
Not really, sorry. That wasn't my area of expertise, unfortunately.
Did you attempt to find out why? Did you make a ticket?
I have some of those! For example, I reported "Javascript scroll issue in specific chatboxes" 7 years ago, for work. There's a comment from someone else who's been able to reproduce it, but it remains open and unassigned. Naturally, I lost interest long ago, so maybe it's no longer a problem.
I've been watching "Firefox isn't seeing multiple audio tracks in a particular mp4 file" for several years, regarding how Firefox appeared to have a standards-required interface for wrangling multiple audio tracks in video files, but they just didn't work (later they just removed it, not sure about the current state of affairs), since it impeded a personal project of mine. The ticket has been open for 9 years.
Due to some sort of bogus CORS pipeline, "not working css mask from local storage" prevented my OBS overlays from being tested on Firefox. It has been open since 2019.
The point I'm trying to make here is, as someone who has actually attempted to make tickets for Firefox issues... That's usually not going to be helpful in a useful timeframe.
I'm a Firefox user regardless, but hey! Check out bug 210657, about a nonstandard behavior in standards mode that was open 21 years ago and remains open. I left a comment in 2009 stating IE7 rendered it properly! Looks like three years ago this still hadn't been fixed.
I looked for similar issues on forums and such for weeks, but I didn't find anything userful tbh. And checking the logs was useless too, no information whatsoever. Again, it's a pity but here we are.
I also like the model of paying for search to support Kagi/Orion.
Neat! I actually really like this model of development. I'm not sure if it will become my main browser, but it seems like a fun bit of software to check out.
(prefacing my comment to say: same, and for both products as well)
Speaking of neat things, before I tried Kagi for the first time myself, I was looking at their published numbers for page load time being extremely low in comparison to others. But this doesn’t do it justice, at all.
Whenever I switch from “regular” browsing to a search query now, there’s this short moment where I think something like “oh wait, it’s already done loading!”
For example previously, waiting on DuckDuckGo – or Google, even longer ago – I probably knew subconsciously to expect a (very) short mental break before I could be able to start scanning the results, as I came to expect it would simply “take a moment” to load. With Kagi, that moment simply isn’t there.
I guess that’s what happens when their search results page is positively not ridden with advertisements, JS frameworks and custom fonts that all have to be loaded in every single time. But I don’t know what wizardry they’re pulling to not only have a slim HTML/CSS page, but a fast backend too for bringing up relevant results to the actual search incredibly quickly and staying accurate…
Longer-term, I really hope they manage to get Orion working cross-platform, and get it working well. You can really tell it’s tailored to macOS currently (which being a native, “well-behaving” citizen and following UX guidelines is a good thing), but it’s the flipside of the “everything cross-platform” approach: way, way more effort to make it equally as perfect elsewhere.
Edited: a wording
Yeah, after I posted that I realized it was only macOS software. There is absolutely zero percent chance I use the software now. Apple is a horrible company, and they don't get my money.
The Kagi search engine (website) is as cross-platform as it can get.
Huh. I'm a solo Firefox user, and haven't encountered many tab crashes,though admittedly haven't been on my computer much recently. Did you notice any trends or patterns in what pages would crash? Would some sites crash more than others? Would it happen randomly while browsing a page just fine for five minutes?
I have Orion on my mac and use it occasionally, but I have a hard time using it as my primary browser because I cannot also get it on Windows and Linux. I do absolutely love their tree-style tabs, and it motivated me to finally make Sidebery work well and look nice on my Firefox setup (it took some extra tweaks to my userChrome.css to make it feel "native").
I haven't really had any problems with Firefox crashing though, if anything it has been more stable for me than Orion, which occasionally becomes unresponsive in a weird and inconsistent manner that is hard to explain.
Orion might be a good balance. It seems trivial, but I can't use Firefox because it doesn't let me properly format formulas in Google Sheets. No issues in Orion.
I've been using Orion for iOS for a while and like it enough. I might as well give the desktop browser a good try. Thanks for the nudge!
Is Orion something new or another reskinned Chrome/Blink browser?
Webkit.
Safari basically.
Its WebKit -- so more of a modified Safari, I guess. Its pretty good, but still crashes. With some time, though, it might be a good alternative.
Funnily enough, Orion apparently has been frozen(and consuming a lot of resources/power) when I checked it out today.
I've had tab crash issues that crash the ENTIRE browser once before on Linux, but outside of that one instance of NixOS installation(on a relatively crappy machine), I never had tab crashes.
FireFox is likely to stay my main browser on Windows and maybe Linux, though I'd consider Epiphany for Linux.
On MacOS I actually run 3 different browsers each in a different desktop space, Safari, Firefox and Librewolf, I'm trying out Orion to see if I can replace FF with it. I generally tend to prefer a FOSS option but looking at Orion, its privacy policy and FAQ, it seems compelling to switch to. Too bad it's MacOS only for now, in case I want to use it on another OS or for when I want to switch away from my first Mac.
Huh, I really wonder what's going on with your setup. It's been years since I've seen a Firefox tab crash on any of several OS despite running a few fairly heavy add-ons.
I stubbornly used Firefox for the past twenty years as my main browser and I don’t plan to switch to anything else unless they shut it down.
I tried opera a long time ago and honestly liked it because of its download manager. Obviously switched to chrome when it just came out, but I still got back to Firefox. I really liked when they added Firefox accounts so that you could retrieve all your stuff when you reinstall your OS for example.
Firefox was never slow for me, maybe because I don’t really have a habit of having a lot of tabs tabs open, and I like to keep my tab bar clean. I think my use case might be unpopular, because I don’t use bookmarks at all and rely on browser history heavily. Basically I hit control L and type what I want and usually it’s at the top (unless I had to clear my browser history for whatever reason usually due to work).
I usually have just three pinned tabs open for gmail, Google calendar and jira. Back when google reader was a thing that one was also pinned one for me. I just can’t make myself use any other desktop alternatives for mail or calendar because I find them inferior.
If i need something else that’s not in my pinned tabs, I just open a new tab and type to select from my history or send a google search and just open from top result if not I’m my history or if I’m too lazy to type the full URL.
And whenever a tab crashes or is slow and unresponsive, I resort to blaming javascript rather than firefox. This is all based on experience having relatively adequate amount of ram, for example now I’m using m1 macbook air with 16gb ram and don’t have any problems whatsoever. But I think it all depends on how many tabs you have open.
I actually also have chrome installed which I use in occasion someone tells me that the UI problems I have are related to firefox. I also use safari rarely for Apple Pay. But these brave, Vivaldi, Orion, opera gl and other browsers with revolutionary vertical tabs are not for me and I refuse to even try.
I primarily used FF these days, but I have two main issues with it that keep sending me back to Chrome.
I browse quite a few pages that are in a foreign language- Japanese, to be precise. Firefox does not have the capability to translate an entire page from Japanese to English- in fact, Firefox only translates handful of languages to English. So Google, with its Translate capability, at least offers to translate the page (whether I decide I actually want the page translated or not).
The second issues really part of the whole ongoing YT debate. I have adblockers on both browsers. With Firefox, YT is automatically blocking the videos. However, I can still get past them (for now) with Chrome.
So I like FF more, but Chrome is proving to be more useful.
Unfortunately, this is what helps them further establish their textbook monopoly. Once everyone has abandoned Firefox and other browsers, Google will cut off adblocker extensions.
Can you in any way still use Firefox for this, or do they not let you in at all with the detection?
One of the other comments pointed out a workaround, since I use uBlock Origin. It solved the problem for viewing Youtube on Firefox... the only drawback is, it's going to be part of the cat-and-mouse/Whack-a-Mole game that is now being played by adblockers and Youtube.
Still irritated by Firefox's lack of translation ability- though I suppose some would say that just keep forcing me to get better at the language I'm trying to learn.
The fact that they just introduced their local browser translation for some languages is a good sign for them adding further languages in the future. In my personal experience it's definitely weaker at German (the language I mostly use it for) than Google translate was when I used the Translate Web Pages extension, which I'd still highly recommend if you need something beyond what the local translation offers.
If it supports your language, the new translation feature isn't perfect but it's good enough for everyday use and the fact that it does everything locally makes it worth using imo. Plus its bad translations help me learn new things about German sometimes, such as when it told me my cough suppressant would breastfeed my cough. I will never forget that vocab word again lol!
If you're willing to use Google products anyway, there are several extensions that let you use Google Translate's page translation feature easily from the toolbar in Firefox.
Since I vaguely recall reading about it, I’m pretty surprised that there’s no whole-page translation browser extension using DeepL from either themselves, or third party-made using their API.
I wrote a small, basic CLI tool for accessing their API for a different use case and using it has been great and pretty fast. As well as for free… the API currently sports an incredible 500,000 characters without charge per month, which I think is well more than enough for any typical non-commercial usage.
I seem to recall an extension that offered to let you do full-page translation with DeepL if you provided your own API key, but I don't think I ever got it to properly work. I don't remember which extension this was though, unfortunately.
I think the problem is that 500,000 characters a month is a lot for one person but not for all people using an extension, so to not need to pay for commercial use you'd need each individual to have their own API key to use, which is a pretty annoying barrier to entry.
Annoying, yes, but, specifically if you’re a bit technically inclined (aka willing to paste a string in a settings field) I think it’s not that serious of a problem.
Again, the only thing you’d need to do is trust a company to not charge your credit card why they prompt you to store (in case of exceeding the free limit).
If you're in the US you can use privacy.com and generate a temporary card that will deny the charge if they happen to. Last I knew it only worked in the US.
For the latter issue, make sure the filters in your adblocker are updated. For uBlock Origin, open the settings dashboard, go to filter lists, purge all caches, and update now. Once I did that, I haven't had any issues with YouTube. I do also have several custom filters enabled, so they may be helping too.
Same for me. Once I've updated the filters, it fixed Youtube's anti-adblock.
However, right now, I've heard it's basically a game of whack-a-mole. New uBlock Origin filters are released, Youtube patches it, rinse and repeat.
@MangoTiger Wondering about your custom filters. Are they similar to the ones on the following website?
https://files.enderman.ch/scripts/yt-antiadblocker.html
Sorry for the delayed response. According to "My Filters" the only one I have is the first set listed on that site. I must have added them once YouTube started blocking adblockers because it's my most recent entry. In my comment above I was referring more to custom filter lists, which are listed below if anyone's interested.
My custom filter lists
AdGuard Annoyances filter
Anti-paywall filters
Bypass Paywalls Clean filter
Fanboy's Annoyance List
Fanboy's Enhanced Tracking List
Fuck Fuckadblock
PUP Domains Blocklist
As the other comment said, it's a game of Whack-a-Mole right now, but thank you for the tip! It worked perfectly (guess I'll be playing this game for a while)
While this will work, please don't do this. Purging all caches means every single list requires an update and this is unnecessary.
You only need to update the Quick Fixes list.
While it's not a lot of data per person I keep seeing this recommendation to purge the cache and update all lists which the people at ublock origin have specifically requested you not to do. Only update the list that is relevant, in this case it is the Quick Fixes list. Given the number of users all of this purging/updating does consume a lot of data and these lists are hosted free of charge, it's important to minimise unnecessary updates.
From: https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/17tm9rp/youtube_antiadblock_and_ads_november_12_2023_mega/
I like using Firefox as a secondary browser, but I switched to Vivaldi at the start of this year. I can't see myself switching back to any other browser.
I do still encounter some weirdness with certain sites on Firefox but it's minor and not enough to make me switch.