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Awesomebar for one. Being able to just type in the random things you remember from a url / title (I think it combines them) and have FF narrow down the alterna

Awesomebar for one. Being able to just type in the random things you remember from a url / title (I think it combines them) and have FF narrow down the alternatives, -fast, is something I haven't found in any other mainstream browser. Another aspect is it doesn't automatically send everything you type to google (I don't worry to much but it is a nice touch.) Maybe the average user is confused by having a separate search field in addition to the address bar but I like it. (And yes, you can search from awesomebar as well, although there is no suggest feature.)

_yy 11y ago
> Being able to just type in the random things you remember from a url / title (I think it combines them) and have FF narrow down the alternatives, -fast, is something I haven't found in any other mainstream browser. Chrome has exactly the same feature. You can disable Google Instant, too, but it's actually a really useful feature.
- reitanqild 11y ago
  Common misconception I guess[0]: Chromes version is not the same. (Unless I am seriously wrong.) Try to type new com <part of title of something you read on hn today> to test. On FF and PM this just works but on Chrome I still don't think it works. [0]: which might explain why not everyone is using the better browser :-P
  - ino 11y ago
    That has always worked for me on Chrome. On the other hand, chrome lets me use the websites own search without setting up anything. For example: you [tab] searches on youtube. news [tab] searches hn. I've never set it up and works with almost every site I've performed a search on.
    - mcintyre1994 11y ago
      Does "new com webex" work for you in Chrome? It won't offer anything but a Google search for me. On Firefox it'll either offer to switch tab to here if it's still open or it'll find this in history. I agree Chrome's site search thing is awesome, but how did you teach it to use the new HN one? EDIT: Chrome settings -> manage search engines. Very impressed with the list of those it's stored automatically. Point stands that it doesn't seem to relearn though when one changes.
      - ino 11y ago
        yes it does: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ku9zzet28pzjcc9/Screenshot%202015-08-27%2009.06.06.PNG?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/ku9zzet28pzjcc9/Screenshot%202015-...
  - efdee 11y ago
    That works for me on Chrome. The misconception might be on your side ;-)
  - joshuacc 11y ago
    Just tried it in Chrome and it has the exact same behavior as FireFox.
    - borgbean 11y ago
      When I do this in chrome, it opens a new instance of the page. In Firefox, it switches to the tab you're searching for.
lobster_johnson 11y ago
Safari does this, as does Chrome. For example, typing "webex" will show this discussion as one of the autocompletion suggestions. Safari will suggest also suggest things like Wikipedia articles and popular sites. Similarly, if I type "imdb michael mann", Safari will suggest "Search imdb.com for michael mann". Firefox's location bar is arguably much worse than both Safari and Chrome — it won't really autocomplete anything except "search Google for this" and bookmarks/history. Safari also leaves the search standing in the location bar when you submit it, whereas Firefox replaces it with an obscure, unreadable google.com URL.

_yy 11y ago

> Being able to just type in the random things you remember from a url / title (I think it combines them) and have FF narrow down the alternatives, -fast, is something I haven't found in any other mainstream browser. Chrome has exactly the same feature. You can disable Google Instant, too, but it's actually a really useful feature.

reitanqild 11y ago
Common misconception I guess[0]: Chromes version is not the same. (Unless I am seriously wrong.) Try to type new com <part of title of something you read on hn today> to test. On FF and PM this just works but on Chrome I still don't think it works. [0]: which might explain why not everyone is using the better browser :-P
- ino 11y ago
  That has always worked for me on Chrome. On the other hand, chrome lets me use the websites own search without setting up anything. For example: you [tab] searches on youtube. news [tab] searches hn. I've never set it up and works with almost every site I've performed a search on.
  - mcintyre1994 11y ago
    Does "new com webex" work for you in Chrome? It won't offer anything but a Google search for me. On Firefox it'll either offer to switch tab to here if it's still open or it'll find this in history. I agree Chrome's site search thing is awesome, but how did you teach it to use the new HN one? EDIT: Chrome settings -> manage search engines. Very impressed with the list of those it's stored automatically. Point stands that it doesn't seem to relearn though when one changes.
    - ino 11y ago
      yes it does: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ku9zzet28pzjcc9/Screenshot%202015-08-27%2009.06.06.PNG?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/ku9zzet28pzjcc9/Screenshot%202015-...
- efdee 11y ago
  That works for me on Chrome. The misconception might be on your side ;-)
- joshuacc 11y ago
  Just tried it in Chrome and it has the exact same behavior as FireFox.
  - borgbean 11y ago
    When I do this in chrome, it opens a new instance of the page. In Firefox, it switches to the tab you're searching for.

lobster_johnson 11y ago

Safari does this, as does Chrome. For example, typing "webex" will show this discussion as one of the autocompletion suggestions. Safari will suggest also suggest things like Wikipedia articles and popular sites. Similarly, if I type "imdb michael mann", Safari will suggest "Search imdb.com for michael mann". Firefox's location bar is arguably much worse than both Safari and Chrome — it won't really autocomplete anything except "search Google for this" and bookmarks/history. Safari also leaves the search standing in the location bar when you submit it, whereas Firefox replaces it with an obscure, unreadable google.com URL.