4 ms·

What usability problems did you experience vs Chrome?

by cdmckay 10y ago

neoncontrails 10y ago
Most notably, for me, I'm stuck using Yahoo as the default search engine. I can change the default to Google, but the preference resets when the window closes. Edit: It appears only browser instances launched with Selenium are affected. Instances launched the usual way default to Google as expected.
- chucksmash 10y ago
  This was a once only change for me. If this is actually the case (setting not staying...set) you should open a bug report as it's surely not intended.
- zorgmonkey 10y ago
  To change the default search engine you can click the magnifying glass and then click Change Search Settings from there you can set the default search engine.
  - neoncontrails 10y ago
    I know how to change the default search engine, but the settings don't persist from session to session (at least not when the browser is launched from Selenium).
    - frenchy 10y ago
      Perhaps Selenium doesn't use an existing profile when it loads because that could subtly change its behavior every time it is run (for example, which links are visited).
      - neoncontrails 10y ago
        This makes perfect sense. Thanks for the explanation.
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
    - justinlardinois 10y ago
      I'm pretty sure you can configure which profile Selenium launches with, and change that profile to use Google as the search engine.
- rhelmer 10y ago
  That really should not be happening. Are you clicking "Change Search Settings" in the search drop-down, and changing the "Default Search Engine" in the preferences (about:preferences#search) ?
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
x0x0 10y ago
not gp, but 1 - crashes, approximately bimonthly. Chrome just doesn't crash for me any more. 2 - very high cpu usage if ff runs long enough. Eventually it will creep up towards consuming 50%+ of a cpu 3 - similar problems with memory usage. Chrome is a pig, but if you close windows, the system gets memory back. FF just doesn't seem to return memory to the system w/o a full restart. 4 - intermittent freezes when loading new tabs. The entire app becomes unresponsive, long enough to notice / feel jerky. fwiw, I leave chrome up for weeks on end and don't have these issues. osx 10.9
- kyllo 10y ago
  I also get window rendering issues in FF on Windows 10 after waking my laptop from sleep. The browser can still be used but the frame goes totally white. Very weird.
  - frik 10y ago
    I get rendering issues after waking the notebook from sleep in Win7 as well. Also I get rendering issues in a Remote Desktop session. If the PC is running for days Firefox crashes automatically after some days. Firefox crashes (whole browser) more often than other browsers. It's annoying that the multi process implementation that so many years to implement and will still break plugin compatibility.
- eitland 10y ago
  1. Know the problem but for me it is infrequent enough and the bandaid (restore last session) is good enough that I don't care. 2. Painful for me as well until I I blocked js in google search and search results. (I often have quite a number of tab trees open and the roots are often google search results and they eat CPU if not restrained. I don't know if this is intentional on googles part but it leadt it shows poor attention to QA.) Just recently learned about about:performance and it is really nice.
  - dingaling 10y ago
    The burning of CPU cycles whilst idling on Google's result page is the most infuriating bug in Firefox but doesn't seem to have been accorded any priority. It has persisted for at least three years. https://support.mozilla.org/fr/questions/965360 https://support.mozilla.org/fr/questions/965360 Unfortunately I usually only remember to close the results tabs when my fan spins-up.
discreditable 10y ago
Granted, this is non-default config. When blocking third-party cookies, Chrome shows a little icon which you can click to whitelist blocked cookies. There is no such Firefox option that I've found yet. It's also a lot easier to toggle javascript for individual sites in Chrome without extensions.
- Sylos 10y ago
  This is arguable in my opinion. Someone who wants to block third-party Cookies or JavaScript shouldn't have any trouble with installing extensions.
  - ak4g 10y ago
    Now you've forced me to make at at least two more decisions: to open up addons.mozilla to find a cookie-management extension, and to open up addons.mozilla to find a javascript-permissions-management extension. At each of these interactions, I would be confronted with the worst possible next-actionable-step: a large, seemingly unbounded number of options. Picking any of them then requires an additional interaction to confirm, possibly whilst (realistically speaking) disregarding scary-looking security warnings about what the extension will be able to do with my first-born child. Of course, IRL, users respond as you'd expect when given such immediate negative feedback. They will make it through at most one forced-decision interaction. By the time they hit #2, the user's goal will become "install Chrome", not "figure out which extension to install next". It's really important to recognize here that the extension search/installation/configuration user flow is more-or-less indistinguishable from actively punishing the user for using firefox. Oh, so you want to use firefox, and actually do something? Kindly direct this barrage of STOP NO DONT feedback to your decision-making apparatus until it comes around to it's senses and installs something, anything else.
    - Drdrdrq 10y ago
      What a great summary of extension installation process! I wonder why they never streamlined it and made at least a list of featured (curated / reviewed for security) extensions. That said, I still prefer Firefox to anything produced by MS, sorry, I mean Google... :)
pcr0 10y ago
It stutters when resizing, at times.
- Sylos 10y ago
  Good news is that this should be fixed with Electrolysis, which is currently being rolled out and will make it to your local Firefox installation somewhen in the next few months.
  - cjg_ 10y ago
    Also you can opt in now and see if it fixes your problems. I've run it now for a week or so and seems to work well.

What usability problems did you experience vs Chrome?

by cdmckay 10y ago

What usability problems did you experience vs Chrome?

Most notably, for me, I'm stuck using Yahoo as the default search engine. I can change the default to Google, but the preference resets when the window closes. Edit: It appears only browser instances launched with Selenium are affected. Instances launched the usual way default to Google as expected.

chucksmash 10y ago
This was a once only change for me. If this is actually the case (setting not staying...set) you should open a bug report as it's surely not intended.
zorgmonkey 10y ago
To change the default search engine you can click the magnifying glass and then click Change Search Settings from there you can set the default search engine.
- neoncontrails 10y ago
  I know how to change the default search engine, but the settings don't persist from session to session (at least not when the browser is launched from Selenium).
  - frenchy 10y ago
    Perhaps Selenium doesn't use an existing profile when it loads because that could subtly change its behavior every time it is run (for example, which links are visited).
    - neoncontrails 10y ago
      This makes perfect sense. Thanks for the explanation.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
  - justinlardinois 10y ago
    I'm pretty sure you can configure which profile Selenium launches with, and change that profile to use Google as the search engine.
rhelmer 10y ago
That really should not be happening. Are you clicking "Change Search Settings" in the search drop-down, and changing the "Default Search Engine" in the preferences (about:preferences#search) ?
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

x0x0 10y ago

not gp, but 1 - crashes, approximately bimonthly. Chrome just doesn't crash for me any more. 2 - very high cpu usage if ff runs long enough. Eventually it will creep up towards consuming 50%+ of a cpu 3 - similar problems with memory usage. Chrome is a pig, but if you close windows, the system gets memory back. FF just doesn't seem to return memory to the system w/o a full restart. 4 - intermittent freezes when loading new tabs. The entire app becomes unresponsive, long enough to notice / feel jerky. fwiw, I leave chrome up for weeks on end and don't have these issues. osx 10.9

kyllo 10y ago
I also get window rendering issues in FF on Windows 10 after waking my laptop from sleep. The browser can still be used but the frame goes totally white. Very weird.
- frik 10y ago
  I get rendering issues after waking the notebook from sleep in Win7 as well. Also I get rendering issues in a Remote Desktop session. If the PC is running for days Firefox crashes automatically after some days. Firefox crashes (whole browser) more often than other browsers. It's annoying that the multi process implementation that so many years to implement and will still break plugin compatibility.
eitland 10y ago
1. Know the problem but for me it is infrequent enough and the bandaid (restore last session) is good enough that I don't care. 2. Painful for me as well until I I blocked js in google search and search results. (I often have quite a number of tab trees open and the roots are often google search results and they eat CPU if not restrained. I don't know if this is intentional on googles part but it leadt it shows poor attention to QA.) Just recently learned about about:performance and it is really nice.
- dingaling 10y ago
  The burning of CPU cycles whilst idling on Google's result page is the most infuriating bug in Firefox but doesn't seem to have been accorded any priority. It has persisted for at least three years. https://support.mozilla.org/fr/questions/965360 https://support.mozilla.org/fr/questions/965360 Unfortunately I usually only remember to close the results tabs when my fan spins-up.

discreditable 10y ago

Granted, this is non-default config. When blocking third-party cookies, Chrome shows a little icon which you can click to whitelist blocked cookies. There is no such Firefox option that I've found yet. It's also a lot easier to toggle javascript for individual sites in Chrome without extensions.

Sylos 10y ago
This is arguable in my opinion. Someone who wants to block third-party Cookies or JavaScript shouldn't have any trouble with installing extensions.
- ak4g 10y ago
  Now you've forced me to make at at least two more decisions: to open up addons.mozilla to find a cookie-management extension, and to open up addons.mozilla to find a javascript-permissions-management extension. At each of these interactions, I would be confronted with the worst possible next-actionable-step: a large, seemingly unbounded number of options. Picking any of them then requires an additional interaction to confirm, possibly whilst (realistically speaking) disregarding scary-looking security warnings about what the extension will be able to do with my first-born child. Of course, IRL, users respond as you'd expect when given such immediate negative feedback. They will make it through at most one forced-decision interaction. By the time they hit #2, the user's goal will become "install Chrome", not "figure out which extension to install next". It's really important to recognize here that the extension search/installation/configuration user flow is more-or-less indistinguishable from actively punishing the user for using firefox. Oh, so you want to use firefox, and actually do something? Kindly direct this barrage of STOP NO DONT feedback to your decision-making apparatus until it comes around to it's senses and installs something, anything else.
  - Drdrdrq 10y ago
    What a great summary of extension installation process! I wonder why they never streamlined it and made at least a list of featured (curated / reviewed for security) extensions. That said, I still prefer Firefox to anything produced by MS, sorry, I mean Google... :)

pcr0 10y ago

It stutters when resizing, at times.

Sylos 10y ago
Good news is that this should be fixed with Electrolysis, which is currently being rolled out and will make it to your local Firefox installation somewhen in the next few months.
- cjg_ 10y ago
  Also you can opt in now and see if it fixes your problems. I've run it now for a week or so and seems to work well.