Why and why do you not use Firefox?

[ThermalPad2020]

Additionally, Edge on Windows is the only browser that supports 4K Netflix. FF can only go to 720p when it works with Netflix, and Chrome is 1080p maximum.

 

[cdcastillo]

I use safari about 80% of the time, the rest I use firefox.

 

[MacBH928]

Apple sent me a link to their website, it didn't load on Safari but it loaded on FF.🤣

I use Firefox (Nightly) instead of Safari for two main reasons:

1) Delete cookies, apart from those I whitelist, on exit.

Having said that, if Safari ever fixes the two main issues, I'd move back to it for simplicity.

Yes thats a great feature, seems simple to implement but I never know how software developers think. On the FF side of things, they still don't have zoom via mouse pad gestures, you still have to hit cmd&+/-.

Whats simpler about Safari?

While I used to use Firefox back in the day, Edge worked faster for my work (PDF and ePub reading for classes), so I used Edge as the work/web browsing browser, Firefox as the "power" browser. Eventually Edge caught up and Firefox continued to get bloated, so I stuck with Edge on my Win10 machine, Firefox only being used for specific tasks like checking Steam bans. As soon as Edge Chromium came out, I got it. Now it's a mature browser, vastly more efficient than Chrome despite using similar engine base.

On my Apple stuff, I've always used Safari. iOS browsers are all just reskinned Safari anyways and the only one I've bothered with was Edge iOS due to Microsoft Account syncing and the Collections feature. Now I use Safari for general use, with Edge as my option in case I need a Chromium-based browser to do something. I always had negative feelings towards FF after a while, but especially stopped using it for good after reading this.

https://madaidans-insecurities.github.io/firefox-chromium.html. It turns out even Chrome beats Firefox in security (maybe even in privacy too technically... Firefox leaves a more unique fingerprint than Chrome does). FF forks are even worse since they use older versions of FF that don't have other necessary safeguards.

Everything has worked well for me on Edge nowadays, only very old websites that require something like IE6 ActiveX 🤣. And on my MacBook Air, where battery life is crucial while using Zoom for classes, I need all the battery I can get.

I never thought I will see the day where people actually prefer to use the Microsoft browser. Everyone hated on explorer since the early days, I am impressed Microsoft are winning people back.

Yes I heard of those FF issues, and while I am not technical, I think these are blown out of proportion and are theoratical things. Privacy and FOSS advocates exclusively use FF including many programmers, if these were real issues I think they would abandon the browser. I When was the last time we heard someone was attacked using these vulnerabilities. In addition, TOR, the most anonymous browser out there uses older versions of FF. So if it was really vulnerable this browser existence would be pointless.

 

[MacBH928]

Additionally, Edge on Windows is the only browser that supports 4K Netflix. FF can only go to 720p when it works with Netflix, and Chrome is 1080p maximum.

Why? I know on Safari they go to 1080P on YouTube but that is because Safari doesn't carry the codecs that YouTube use for 4K.

 

[adrianlondon]

Yes thats a great feature, seems simple to implement but I never know how software developers think. On the FF side of things, they still don't have zoom via mouse pad gestures, you still have to hit cmd&+/-.

Whats simpler about Safari?

I don't use a mouse, but zooming is working very well with the trackpad on my Macbook. For some reason, it took Firefox a long time to support this natively, without needing an extension (multi-touch zoom, I think it was).

As for what makes Safari simpler ... well, it comes baked into the OS so tends to always work There's usually one OS beta that breaks Firefox for a week per major OS release. Plus, not that I use these features, but Safari uses keychain for passwords and credit cards, and there's handoff etc.

 

[ruka.snow]

Have you downloaded it recently?
I would like to hear what you think of it, they had major overhaul. I don't mean for you to switch from Safari, I would just like to know if you think whatever issues you had with it are no longer there.

I am trying to understand why people generally don't prefer this browser as it has the lowest market share..and diminishing as it seems.

I wouldn't do that, I have a lot of work to do and don't have time to try out if a browser has caught up with something that already works.

 

[skogkatt]

Always use FF on Windows PC (at work etc.), while on Macs I prefer Safari. I miss the Pocket integration though

 

[theSeb]

I used Firefox back in the day and then Chrome became a thing and I started using it when few others were. We are so young and naive then and Google were the good guys that promised they would do no evil. Then over the years it became a bloated mess and awful on the Mac, so I switched to Safari and got used to it.

On Windows 10 I've given Edge a try and I don't mind it too much. It can keep 90 tabs open without eating all the system resources, but I am using Firefox now. The other day I thought I would give Chrome a try again on Windows. Just sitting there on the start page it was using 15% of the CPU. I do like how it looks, but I can't have that. I also like Firefox with DDG as the search engine for peace from Google's all data slurping empire.

TLDR: Safari on Mac. Firefox on Windows

 

[Marshall73]

I use Firefox on windows as you don't get Safari on windows. I also use the new chromium based Edge on windows AND I use internet explorer 11 on windows for the times where Microsoft partner tools don't run on anything else /sigh.

On Mac I use Safari only.

 

[bousozoku]

I’ve been a longtime chrome user on multiple platforms but made the switch back to Firefox just this week for the first time in probably ten years.

I’ve been quite surprised how versatile and fast it is now. I’m heavily invested in googles services but haven’t noticed any issues not using chrome.

Main reason i switched is that my company pushed out an update to where chrome and safari and now “managed” on my work issued MacBook Pro. I can’t even change the homepage. And since I used chrome for both personal and work purposes, I wasn’t comfortable with level of intrusion.

So I took the opportunity to now use chrome only for work (created a new profile) and Firefox for personal.

So far so good.

If you use the Multi-Account Containers extension (from Mozilla/Firefox developers), you can keep multiple accounts separate in Firefox, concurrently.

 

[Average Pro]

This is open a discussion to read people's opinion on why they choose or not to use Firefox.

If you don't use Firefox what did you find in this browser that you did not like?

I don't use Firefox because it's not part of the Apple ecosystem. By this I mean that if it's not made by Apple, I don't install it on my Apple computers. I set this rule back in 2004 when I ditched PCs. To date, I have never lost data or had a hardware/software failure. I have executed a hard reboot on my Apple computers less than once a year. The only software exceptions are Adobe, Carbon Copy Cloner and Wacom.

 

[jahala]

I actually like Firefox quite a lot for its compatibility and plug-ins. The modern version is very fast. I dislike it's non-native UI. I have same complaint with Chrome. However, the thing that thing that really made me stop using after trying it recently is its lack of AppleScript support. I am rather attached to the Keyboard Maestro actions that let me grab the URL or title of the active tab in Safari. Chrome has a pretty good workaround, but trying to do it with with Firefox is fragile and has side effects.

I use Safari as my main browser and Edge on the few sites that have problems with Safari.

 

[throAU]

This is open a discussion to read people's opinion on why they choose or not to use Firefox.

If you don't use Firefox what did you find in this browser that you did not like?

Why I do:

• It doesn't do integrated windows authentication its another browser to have different passwords saved on various sites, etc.
• As above, it isn't Google.

Why I don't normally

• Performance has not been as good (battery, responsiveness, etc.)
• No built in anti-adware (like Brave), not system default (like Safari)

Safari is present without me installing, it is updated with macOS security updates automatically, syncs with the rest of my apple devices, etc.

On linux/windows I use Firefox or Brave mostly.

 

[MacBH928]

I don't use a mouse, but zooming is working very well with the trackpad on my Macbook. For some reason, it took Firefox a long time to support this natively, without needing an extension (multi-touch zoom, I think it was).

As for what makes Safari simpler ... well, it comes baked into the OS so tends to always work There's usually one OS beta that breaks Firefox for a week per major OS release. Plus, not that I use these features, but Safari uses keychain for passwords and credit cards, and there's handoff etc.

This is not working for me on the latest FF version. I looked it up seems like its coming in 83. You might have installed a plugin to enable it or something?!

another issue is that it does do the text replacement shortcuts. Ex. in Safari I can write"myemail" and it will replace the text into my email address but this does not work in FireFox for some reason.

I used Firefox back in the day and then Chrome became a thing and I started using it when few others were. We are so young and naive then and Google were the good guys that promised they would do no evil. Then over the years it became a bloated mess and awful on the Mac, so I switched to Safari and got used to it.

I remember when we were excited for Google products. I specifically remember the unheard of 1GB @gmail address that sounded much cooler than @hotmail. You could also choose a proper gmail user, since every combination in existence was taken by people on @yahoo and @hotmail.

We were naive, thinking those companies were making money in legit ways.

I don't use Firefox because it's not part of the Apple ecosystem. By this I mean that if it's not made by Apple, I don't install it on my Apple computers. I set this rule back in 2004 when I ditched PCs. To date, I have never lost data or had a hardware/software failure. I have executed a hard reboot on my Apple computers less than once a year. The only software exceptions are Adobe, Carbon Copy Cloner and Wacom.

You are one of the most hardcore users I have ever heard of, not using another software just because it was not made by Apple but to each his own.

Why I don't normally

• Performance has not been as good (battery, responsiveness, etc.)
• No built in anti-adware (like Brave), not system default (like Safari)

Safari is present without me installing, it is updated with macOS security updates automatically, syncs with the rest of my apple devices, etc.

On linux/windows I use Firefox or Brave mostly.

I am not sure about performance, but for anti-adware you can install the superb true and tested uBlock Origin(open source), you can set FireFox as your default browser, and you can let it auto update AFAIK.

 

[throAU]

I am not sure about performance, but for anti-adware you can install the superb true and tested uBlock Origin(open source), you can set FireFox as your default browser, and you can let it auto update AFAIK.

Oh sure, I COULD do that.

I'm aware those things exist. Or I could just download and install Brave and forget about that as a concern.

Firefox for me has just had a checkered history performance and polish wise. I keep it around as a second or third browser to keep different bookmarks session cookies, etc. in but its generally not my primary browser because others just "feel" nicer to use. Can't put my finger on exactly why but in the past it has been process per tab, smoother scrolling, etc.

A lot of that is fixed now, but old habits die hard and there's not been any real reason for me to switch *back* to Firefox (I did run it as primary browser as far back as when it was called Firebird/Phoenix).

 

[adrianlondon]

This is not working for me on the latest FF version. I looked it up seems like its coming in 83. You might have installed a plugin to enable it or something?!

another issue is that it does do the text replacement shortcuts. Ex. in Safari I can write"myemail" and it will replace the text into my email address but this does not work in FireFox for some reason.

Ah right, I forgot. I'm on v84 (as I use the Nightly builds). Yeah, you need the multi-touch-zoom extension up until v83.

As for keyboard shortcuts, I miss those too. There are definite advantages to staying with stock Apple apps. That's how they want it, of course.

 

[2984839]

I use Firefox on everything. I'm less and less tolerant of Google in general now and the intrusiveness of Chrome/Chromium is getting worse. Even with Iridium, which removes most of that stuff, I still keep finding ways it calls home.

 

[throAU]

I use Firefox on everything. I'm less and less tolerant of Google in general now and the intrusiveness of Chrome/Chromium is getting worse. Even with Iridium, which removes most of that stuff, I still keep finding ways it calls home.

Just run Brave instead. It is compatible with Chrome plugins, runs the same engine, it just doesn't phone home to google and blocks ads.

 

[2984839]

Just run Brave instead. It is compatible with Chrome plugins, runs the same engine, it just doesn't phone home to google and blocks ads.

There's no port of Brave for OpenBSD. I suppose it could be compiled, but it would take some work.

 

[topcat001]

This is one of my reasons for sticking to Firefox. It is available everywhere and I like having the sync features on all my machines. Compiling every (frequent) update is not fun.

 

[throAU]

There's no port of Brave for OpenBSD. I suppose it could be compiled, but it would take some work.

I guess if you decide to run openBSD on the desktop, you need to be prepared for the fact you're running an OS used by 0.01% of the desktop population and compile stuff yourself.

I don't say that to be an ass, but it is what it is. No commercial software vendor is going to support OpenBSD with the market share it has (for end user desktop software), it is just not commercially viable.

That's definitely a valid reason to run Firefox though if that's your chosen desktop platform.

 

[2984839]

I guess if you decide to run openBSD on the desktop, you need to be prepared for the fact you're running an OS used by 0.01% of the desktop population and compile stuff yourself.

I don't say that to be an ass, but it is what it is. No commercial software vendor is going to support OpenBSD with the market share it has (for end user desktop software), it is just not commercially viable.

That's definitely a valid reason to run Firefox though if that's your chosen desktop platform.

I'm fully aware of that and not complaining; just pointing out that that is why I don't run Brave on it.

 

[MacBH928]

Just run Brave instead. It is compatible with Chrome plugins, runs the same engine, it just doesn't phone home to google and blocks ads.

Everyone who is running Chrome and do not want to ditch it should run Brave, its almost 1:1 better replacement. From a philosophical point of view, a good reason to run FireFox is not let the whole web run on the Chromium browser and its Blink engine. Its owned/influenced by Google and we don't want that. We want option and FireFox keeps FOSS, competition, and standards alive.

Of course to each his own, I am just saying.

There's no port of Brave for OpenBSD. I suppose it could be compiled, but it would take some work.

There is a linux one, I am not sure if it works on OpenBSD, but last I heard many software can work on both.

 

[MacBH928]

Ah right, I forgot. I'm on v84 (as I use the Nightly builds). Yeah, you need the multi-touch-zoom extension up until v83.

As for keyboard shortcuts, I miss those too. There are definite advantages to staying with stock Apple apps. That's how they want it, of course.

is the keyboard shortcut restricted to Apple own apps? Why can't it be system wide like on iOS? very irritating.

 

[adrianlondon]

is the keyboard shortcut restricted to Apple own apps? Why can't it be system wide like on iOS? very irritating.

I think I remember reading (i.e. don't quote me) that it's only available to apps that are downloaded via the App Store. Or that could be keychain. Or both. Or neither