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Probably the single thing that keeps me using Firefox is its address bar. It's a much nicer experience than Chrome's, with its user-friendly auto complete mecha

Probably the single thing that keeps me using Firefox is its address bar. It's a much nicer experience than Chrome's, with its user-friendly auto complete mechanisms. The speed of the browsers is rarely the bottleneck for me anymore. I'll switch to Chrome for intense javascript experiences, but that's about it. I feel like chrome needs to start focusing more time on the experience - these speed improvements aren't paying dividends anymore.

albertzeyer 16y ago
What do you mean with the address bar? Chromes bar also has autocompletion. I even find it simpler to use. In Firefox, I have to press the down-key + enter to select a suggestion. In Chrome, I just have to press enter. What do you think is missing otherwise in Chrome? I think the overall user experience is probably much better compared to Firefox in nearly all aspects.
- trickjarrett 16y ago
  I concur with rottencupcakes, the FF "AwesomeBar" is still a bit more... awesome than Chrome's. It isn't just auto-url completion, it does a fair bit more completion and analysis to suggest what you're trying to type.
- hasanove 16y ago
  While I use Chrome as default, I too miss Firefox autocompletion. In Firefox, I would just start typing "Hacker News" and HN would popup as a first suggestion after first letter, probably based on usage frequency. The only way to get the same result in Chrome, is to start typing "news.ycombinator.com", which means you have to remember url, not the name. Chrome, will surely find by "Hacker News" too, but I will need to type in at least 5-6 characters for that.
  - _delirium 16y ago
    That might be why I prefer Chrome's. I usually type URLs, only fall back to typing titles if I don't remember the URL, and it really annoys me how often Firefox will take me to the wrong site unless I type a fairly large prefix of the URL. In Chrome I can just type ne..., while in Firefox I have to go all the way to news.y... before it'll give me the right completion.
    - abstractbill 16y ago
      As far as I can tell, both browsers have basic learning algorithms that are supposed to predict better over time what site you want (in both Chrome and Firefox I can now just type 'n' to get to Hacker News). However, even though I currently use Chrome as my primary browser, I think Firefox still gets this slightly better - I think it learned more quickly and accurately for me at least.
  - parbo 16y ago
    Huh, when I write "hac" the top suggestion in Chrome (well, Chromium daily) is HN.
- bobbyi 16y ago
  Other than the first suggestion, you have to use the down arrow in Chrome to use the completions. In Firefox, you cycle through them using tab just like completion in every other app (e.g, bash, ipython, anything using readline).
- deleted 16y ago
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jonknee 16y ago
What don't you like about Chrome's address bar? It auto-completes as well, it will even auto-fill a URL for a site you've never been to before. Having search in the same box is usually faster for me, the only time I hit a snag is when I'm searching for something that can be confused with a URL. I suppose it's all relative, but to me FireFox feels cumbersome in comparison to Chrome. I only open it up to test sites on.
ErrantX 16y ago
That's an interesting opposing view; because the thing that hooked me on Chrome was the address bar. I can no longer function efficiently in other browsers because, for me anyway, it is so streamlined.
- deleted 16y ago
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- mgw 16y ago
  Same thing for me. The possibility to integrate search engines (or other forms) with a keyword is what keeps me in Chrome. I have to agree though that FFs autocomplete feature is better. Chrome only seems to match addresses if you type their beginning.
  - scw 16y ago
    Firefox has also had this feature for a while, right click > 'Add a Keyword for this Search' which is indispensable.
    - mhansen 16y ago
      Not the same. Chrome automatically picks up every search engine you use.
  - scw 16y ago
    Firefox has also had this feature for a while, right click > 'Add a Keyword for this Search' which is indispensable.
lftl 16y ago
For everyone asking what's wrong with Chrome's URL bar, here's one specific example I run into. I go visit Google Analytics relative often. In Firefox, I can start typing analytics.. and it pulls up GA as an option very quickly. With chrome it never shows up at all, instead I have to start typing google, and it'll show up as the 3rd or 4th option. It's hard to remember all the specific annoyances, but this is one of a handful where FF's awesome bar really outshines Chromes. Now I'm willing to make the tradeoff because Chrome on linux is still MUCH faster the FF.
- ErrantX 16y ago
  I suspect this is either a product of what is familiar to individuals or of different browsers suiting different surfing styles. For me FF never seems to pull up Google analytics for "analytics" but I only have to get to "anal"[1] before it appears as #1 in Chrome. The algorithms probably train better for different people 1. There is probably some ironic joke in there somewhere :)
  - cdr 16y ago
    I suspect it's a matter of time, at least for Firefox if not for Chrome. Firefox's is mainly frequency based, so it needs a little while to train. It took 2-3 weeks for FF's bar to really start to get awesome for me.
- jdminhbg 16y ago
  I use Chrome instead of FF despite the address bar. Other annoyances: - Address you enter disappears when you hit enter, doesn't reappear until the page loads. This is a problem if the page spins for a long time; it can be indistinguishable from a total failure. - Type-ahead will occasionally find matches like "ha" -> "Hacker News" despite the address being "news.ycombinator.com" which is good, but... When you type the "c", that result will disappear! It's really unpredictable and that makes it hard to use. - The status bar's "..." replacement can be good, but it occasionally elides the important part of an address, like "...blogspot.com/..." Not useful. That said, Chrome is vastly more usable (on OS X) than FF just because of its speed and stability. I only use FF for Firebug now.
avdempsey 16y ago
I think we can all agree that Safari is the furthest behind in this regard. For a company that takes pride in stripping things down to the bare essentials, having an address bar and a search bar is becoming obnoxious.
- mattparcher 16y ago
  One small thing I like about Safari is that it understands addresses like nytimes/politics as nytimes.com/politics.
- Volt 16y ago
  I guess that's true. Personally I guess I never noticed because I have Quicksilver indexing my Safari history. I can also use it to do all my Web searches.
xiaoma 16y ago
I agree with you and I rate Firefox search bookmarks as an even bigger plus. Life is short and I don't want to waste it by having to go to a site such as wikipedia or a multi-lingual dictionary first and then search and wait for a second page to load.
- coyul 16y ago
  I'm not sure how Chrome's treatment of custom search engines differs from Firefox's. In Chrome, you can associate a URL with a keyword so that when you type "keyword query" into the address bar, the %s parameter in the associated URL is replaced with your query. In what way is Firefox's better?
  - xiaoma 16y ago
    In Firefox, I can type any of the following into the awesome bar: "d victual" -> looks up "victual" "j joust" -> gets "joust" in a Japanese dictionary "wp Boron" -> displays the wikipedia page "Boron" "hn patio11" -> displays HN comments of "patio11" How can I do this in Chrome? Last time I checked, it wasn't possible. If it is now, then I might start using Chrome for more resource intensive flash games.
    - gmurphy 16y ago
      Go into your search engine manager (via options or the omnibox's context menu) and edit the keywords for your chosen engine - note that we automatically add engines here with the keyword as the domain, so if you do a search on amazon.com, we'll automatically add amazon with the keyword 'amazon.com' - with autocomplete, this lets you type 'am', then press tab to search (or space-separate the keywork from the term).
    - Prolorn 16y ago
      You can do the same in Chrome. Check under Options ("Basic" tab) > "Manage" next to Default Search. You should see a list of search engines. If you've already used the search engine and Chrome has picked it up, just select it from the list, "Edit", and customize what keyword you want to use (by default it uses the basic URL). If it's not there, "Add" to make a new one. For example, for Wikipedia I use: Keyword: wp URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&search=%s http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&#38... Here's the Chrome help page about it: http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?answer=95653 http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?answer=95... It tells you to use Tab to search, but typing just the keyword and search term works fine (e.g. "wp Google" to look up Google on Wikipedia).
DennisP 16y ago
They are for anyone using node.js.

albertzeyer 16y ago

What do you mean with the address bar? Chromes bar also has autocompletion. I even find it simpler to use. In Firefox, I have to press the down-key + enter to select a suggestion. In Chrome, I just have to press enter. What do you think is missing otherwise in Chrome? I think the overall user experience is probably much better compared to Firefox in nearly all aspects.

trickjarrett 16y ago
I concur with rottencupcakes, the FF "AwesomeBar" is still a bit more... awesome than Chrome's. It isn't just auto-url completion, it does a fair bit more completion and analysis to suggest what you're trying to type.
hasanove 16y ago
While I use Chrome as default, I too miss Firefox autocompletion. In Firefox, I would just start typing "Hacker News" and HN would popup as a first suggestion after first letter, probably based on usage frequency. The only way to get the same result in Chrome, is to start typing "news.ycombinator.com", which means you have to remember url, not the name. Chrome, will surely find by "Hacker News" too, but I will need to type in at least 5-6 characters for that.
- _delirium 16y ago
  That might be why I prefer Chrome's. I usually type URLs, only fall back to typing titles if I don't remember the URL, and it really annoys me how often Firefox will take me to the wrong site unless I type a fairly large prefix of the URL. In Chrome I can just type ne..., while in Firefox I have to go all the way to news.y... before it'll give me the right completion.
  - abstractbill 16y ago
    As far as I can tell, both browsers have basic learning algorithms that are supposed to predict better over time what site you want (in both Chrome and Firefox I can now just type 'n' to get to Hacker News). However, even though I currently use Chrome as my primary browser, I think Firefox still gets this slightly better - I think it learned more quickly and accurately for me at least.
- parbo 16y ago
  Huh, when I write "hac" the top suggestion in Chrome (well, Chromium daily) is HN.
bobbyi 16y ago
Other than the first suggestion, you have to use the down arrow in Chrome to use the completions. In Firefox, you cycle through them using tab just like completion in every other app (e.g, bash, ipython, anything using readline).
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

jonknee 16y ago

What don't you like about Chrome's address bar? It auto-completes as well, it will even auto-fill a URL for a site you've never been to before. Having search in the same box is usually faster for me, the only time I hit a snag is when I'm searching for something that can be confused with a URL. I suppose it's all relative, but to me FireFox feels cumbersome in comparison to Chrome. I only open it up to test sites on.

ErrantX 16y ago

That's an interesting opposing view; because the thing that hooked me on Chrome was the address bar. I can no longer function efficiently in other browsers because, for me anyway, it is so streamlined.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
mgw 16y ago
Same thing for me. The possibility to integrate search engines (or other forms) with a keyword is what keeps me in Chrome. I have to agree though that FFs autocomplete feature is better. Chrome only seems to match addresses if you type their beginning.
- scw 16y ago
  Firefox has also had this feature for a while, right click > 'Add a Keyword for this Search' which is indispensable.
  - mhansen 16y ago
    Not the same. Chrome automatically picks up every search engine you use.
- scw 16y ago
  Firefox has also had this feature for a while, right click > 'Add a Keyword for this Search' which is indispensable.

lftl 16y ago

For everyone asking what's wrong with Chrome's URL bar, here's one specific example I run into. I go visit Google Analytics relative often. In Firefox, I can start typing analytics.. and it pulls up GA as an option very quickly. With chrome it never shows up at all, instead I have to start typing google, and it'll show up as the 3rd or 4th option. It's hard to remember all the specific annoyances, but this is one of a handful where FF's awesome bar really outshines Chromes. Now I'm willing to make the tradeoff because Chrome on linux is still MUCH faster the FF.

ErrantX 16y ago
I suspect this is either a product of what is familiar to individuals or of different browsers suiting different surfing styles. For me FF never seems to pull up Google analytics for "analytics" but I only have to get to "anal"[1] before it appears as #1 in Chrome. The algorithms probably train better for different people 1. There is probably some ironic joke in there somewhere :)
- cdr 16y ago
  I suspect it's a matter of time, at least for Firefox if not for Chrome. Firefox's is mainly frequency based, so it needs a little while to train. It took 2-3 weeks for FF's bar to really start to get awesome for me.
jdminhbg 16y ago
I use Chrome instead of FF despite the address bar. Other annoyances: - Address you enter disappears when you hit enter, doesn't reappear until the page loads. This is a problem if the page spins for a long time; it can be indistinguishable from a total failure. - Type-ahead will occasionally find matches like "ha" -> "Hacker News" despite the address being "news.ycombinator.com" which is good, but... When you type the "c", that result will disappear! It's really unpredictable and that makes it hard to use. - The status bar's "..." replacement can be good, but it occasionally elides the important part of an address, like "...blogspot.com/..." Not useful. That said, Chrome is vastly more usable (on OS X) than FF just because of its speed and stability. I only use FF for Firebug now.

avdempsey 16y ago

I think we can all agree that Safari is the furthest behind in this regard. For a company that takes pride in stripping things down to the bare essentials, having an address bar and a search bar is becoming obnoxious.

mattparcher 16y ago
One small thing I like about Safari is that it understands addresses like nytimes/politics as nytimes.com/politics.
Volt 16y ago
I guess that's true. Personally I guess I never noticed because I have Quicksilver indexing my Safari history. I can also use it to do all my Web searches.

xiaoma 16y ago

I agree with you and I rate Firefox search bookmarks as an even bigger plus. Life is short and I don't want to waste it by having to go to a site such as wikipedia or a multi-lingual dictionary first and then search and wait for a second page to load.

coyul 16y ago
I'm not sure how Chrome's treatment of custom search engines differs from Firefox's. In Chrome, you can associate a URL with a keyword so that when you type "keyword query" into the address bar, the %s parameter in the associated URL is replaced with your query. In what way is Firefox's better?
- xiaoma 16y ago
  In Firefox, I can type any of the following into the awesome bar: "d victual" -> looks up "victual" "j joust" -> gets "joust" in a Japanese dictionary "wp Boron" -> displays the wikipedia page "Boron" "hn patio11" -> displays HN comments of "patio11" How can I do this in Chrome? Last time I checked, it wasn't possible. If it is now, then I might start using Chrome for more resource intensive flash games.
  - gmurphy 16y ago
    Go into your search engine manager (via options or the omnibox's context menu) and edit the keywords for your chosen engine - note that we automatically add engines here with the keyword as the domain, so if you do a search on amazon.com, we'll automatically add amazon with the keyword 'amazon.com' - with autocomplete, this lets you type 'am', then press tab to search (or space-separate the keywork from the term).
  - Prolorn 16y ago
    You can do the same in Chrome. Check under Options ("Basic" tab) > "Manage" next to Default Search. You should see a list of search engines. If you've already used the search engine and Chrome has picked it up, just select it from the list, "Edit", and customize what keyword you want to use (by default it uses the basic URL). If it's not there, "Add" to make a new one. For example, for Wikipedia I use: Keyword: wp URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&search=%s http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&#38... Here's the Chrome help page about it: http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?answer=95653 http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?answer=95... It tells you to use Tab to search, but typing just the keyword and search term works fine (e.g. "wp Google" to look up Google on Wikipedia).

DennisP 16y ago

They are for anyone using node.js.