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I use Firefox on my phone. I am more comfortable with it for privacy reasons. It's a pretty nice browser outside of that. However I'm using a pretty beefy phon

I use Firefox on my phone. I am more comfortable with it for privacy reasons. It's a pretty nice browser outside of that. However I'm using a pretty beefy phone whereas when I used my Moto G it wasn't quite the best browser in terms of resources however a lot has changed since then. (Like Chrome no longer having tabs integrated into the task manager. That feature was great for devices with not too much RAM and horribly buggy firmware that would unload apps prematurely. It's also very convenient to use. Maybe could have used a little bit more refinement.) Also it's the only browser that supports my dusty old PCs. So I tend to use it on those as well. Thanks Firefox devs.

tracker1 10y ago
I loved the integrated tabs.. having to drag down (oops, not fast enough, try again) then a click and a swipe to close the tap instead of click/swipe alone... also it's just nasty after getting used to it... it's why I wish VS Code would go back to the pre-tab behavior, it was just so much better once you got used to it. I find that firefox is a little funky on Android though... the integration with lastpass is weird, have to copy/paste, at least site identification works now, there have been a few other oddities too... I notice a lot of sites improperly detect a lack of video support, or it may just be format that's the problem. I tend to like/use chrome and prefer it... but I do think there's been some weird behavior in/from google... just finding out about chrome apps being killed off irks me to no end, considering it's the first actually decent write once run everywhere option. I'm guessing the recent hangouts change was because of this, as they'll likely move to electron on the desktop. I'm glad Firefox is still an option though... I also appreciate what they've done to further the platform... Though I do chuckle a bit of how much easier web components, and even react might have come in if e4x had been implemented in other browsers.
- bad_user 10y ago
  Personally I prefer Firefox on my Android, because it has plugins, like HTTPS Everywhere and uBlock Origin, without which a mobile browser is IMHO unusable. I also like the quick sharing actions, remembering the last 3 apps used for sharing. And the local search in your history it does, avoiding roundtrips to the search engine. Although to be fair this functionality appears to work better on the desktop. > the integration with lastpass is weird On Android the defacto standard for password managers is to use custom keyboards. Ironically, the custom keyboard I found most usable for this purpose has been Keepass2Android [1], precisely because if it loses focus it still remembers the last account selected and I've tried both Lastpass and 1Password. Along with KeeWeb on my desktop, it's way better than Lastpass imho and free. [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=keepass2android.keepass2android&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=keepass2androi...
  - pmontra 10y ago
    Thanks for the link to Keepass2Android. I agree on much you write about Firefox but unfortunately the only sane browser to use on mobile is one that automatically reflows text on zoom. The only one I know is Opera and I can't understand why no other browser implements this feature. Any other browser forces me to endlessly scroll horizontally and not zooming means that some text can be too small to read. I tried these addons but none of them worked for me, they appear to do nothing. * https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/fit-text-to-width/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/fit-text-to-w... * https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/android-text-reflow/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/android-text-...
gnicholas 10y ago
Yep, support for older computers is a huge plus. My 2008 iMac is nearly half a dozen Mac OS versions behind, but I can still get the latest version of Firefox. Safari and Chrome stopped updating years ago. From a security perspective, it's Firefox all the way. I also happen to use Firefox as my daily driver on my main laptop, largely due to the Tree Style Tabs addon, which I have not seen a decent substitute for on Chrome/Safari.
- stephenr 10y ago
  From a security perspective wouldn't you be better served by having an up to date OS?
  - gnicholas 10y ago
    If I could reliably run a newer OS on an 8-year-old iMac, I would. But since I can't—and because the only thing I use the machine for is web browsing—the relevant question is which browser will be the safest.
    - 4ad 10y ago
      Thanks for not throwing working hardware away. I imagine you would not be happy with Linux on your iMac?
      - gnicholas 10y ago
        I haven't used Linux since college, and I don't have enough time to get back up to speed. Good point though, and politely phrased.
    - stephenr 10y ago
      El Capitan runs on mid 2007 and newer iMacs, no?
      - billyjobob 10y ago
        Yes, Sierra is the first one that is not compatible.
dTal 10y ago
>horribly buggy firmware that would unload apps prematurely Offtopic, but I'm uncomfortable with the trend of calling a perfectly normal Linux OS, running on perfectly normal read-write solid-state storage, "firmware" just because the device manufacturer chose not to give you root. It encourages you to regard it as a static device that happens to need some software (like a CD-ROM drive), rather than an internet-connected fully general purpose computer "owned" by someone else. Ubuntu doesn't become "firmware" because I padlocked the case and locked the root account, and neither should Android.

tracker1 10y ago

I loved the integrated tabs.. having to drag down (oops, not fast enough, try again) then a click and a swipe to close the tap instead of click/swipe alone... also it's just nasty after getting used to it... it's why I wish VS Code would go back to the pre-tab behavior, it was just so much better once you got used to it. I find that firefox is a little funky on Android though... the integration with lastpass is weird, have to copy/paste, at least site identification works now, there have been a few other oddities too... I notice a lot of sites improperly detect a lack of video support, or it may just be format that's the problem. I tend to like/use chrome and prefer it... but I do think there's been some weird behavior in/from google... just finding out about chrome apps being killed off irks me to no end, considering it's the first actually decent write once run everywhere option. I'm guessing the recent hangouts change was because of this, as they'll likely move to electron on the desktop. I'm glad Firefox is still an option though... I also appreciate what they've done to further the platform... Though I do chuckle a bit of how much easier web components, and even react might have come in if e4x had been implemented in other browsers.

bad_user 10y ago
Personally I prefer Firefox on my Android, because it has plugins, like HTTPS Everywhere and uBlock Origin, without which a mobile browser is IMHO unusable. I also like the quick sharing actions, remembering the last 3 apps used for sharing. And the local search in your history it does, avoiding roundtrips to the search engine. Although to be fair this functionality appears to work better on the desktop. > the integration with lastpass is weird On Android the defacto standard for password managers is to use custom keyboards. Ironically, the custom keyboard I found most usable for this purpose has been Keepass2Android [1], precisely because if it loses focus it still remembers the last account selected and I've tried both Lastpass and 1Password. Along with KeeWeb on my desktop, it's way better than Lastpass imho and free. [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=keepass2android.keepass2android&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=keepass2androi...
- pmontra 10y ago
  Thanks for the link to Keepass2Android. I agree on much you write about Firefox but unfortunately the only sane browser to use on mobile is one that automatically reflows text on zoom. The only one I know is Opera and I can't understand why no other browser implements this feature. Any other browser forces me to endlessly scroll horizontally and not zooming means that some text can be too small to read. I tried these addons but none of them worked for me, they appear to do nothing. * https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/fit-text-to-width/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/fit-text-to-w... * https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/android-text-reflow/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/android-text-...

gnicholas 10y ago

Yep, support for older computers is a huge plus. My 2008 iMac is nearly half a dozen Mac OS versions behind, but I can still get the latest version of Firefox. Safari and Chrome stopped updating years ago. From a security perspective, it's Firefox all the way. I also happen to use Firefox as my daily driver on my main laptop, largely due to the Tree Style Tabs addon, which I have not seen a decent substitute for on Chrome/Safari.

stephenr 10y ago
From a security perspective wouldn't you be better served by having an up to date OS?
- gnicholas 10y ago
  If I could reliably run a newer OS on an 8-year-old iMac, I would. But since I can't—and because the only thing I use the machine for is web browsing—the relevant question is which browser will be the safest.
  - 4ad 10y ago
    Thanks for not throwing working hardware away. I imagine you would not be happy with Linux on your iMac?
    - gnicholas 10y ago
      I haven't used Linux since college, and I don't have enough time to get back up to speed. Good point though, and politely phrased.
  - stephenr 10y ago
    El Capitan runs on mid 2007 and newer iMacs, no?
    - billyjobob 10y ago
      Yes, Sierra is the first one that is not compatible.

dTal 10y ago

>horribly buggy firmware that would unload apps prematurely Offtopic, but I'm uncomfortable with the trend of calling a perfectly normal Linux OS, running on perfectly normal read-write solid-state storage, "firmware" just because the device manufacturer chose not to give you root. It encourages you to regard it as a static device that happens to need some software (like a CD-ROM drive), rather than an internet-connected fully general purpose computer "owned" by someone else. Ubuntu doesn't become "firmware" because I padlocked the case and locked the root account, and neither should Android.