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> website which is "best viewed with Chrome" I'm stunned. Is this still a thing? Last time I remember seeing websites recommending a browser, it was late 90s w

by kees99 8y ago

> website which is "best viewed with Chrome" I'm stunned. Is this still a thing? Last time I remember seeing websites recommending a browser, it was late 90s with "get Netscape" gifs.

latexr 8y ago
Not only is it still a thing, Google itself is a major culprit of it. Seems like every new experiment they release is “best viewed” in — or worse, “requires” — Google Chrome.
- Rovanion 8y ago
  Not just experiments. Neither Google Hangouts nor Meet worked in Firefox until the 22nd of May this year.
  - lambda 8y ago
    Oh, wow, Hangouts and Meet are working in Firefox now? I've been keeping Chrome running just for that for a couple of years, will be glad to stop having to do that.
  - novaRom 8y ago
    Google Flights is still not working in Firefox
    - baobrain 8y ago
      What is not working? I have been using google flights to book trips for months without issues now. The only google services I've had some trouble with firefox are hangouts, and even that is fixed.
      - callahad 8y ago
        Try it on Android, where Google controls more of the market, and has less incentive for interop. You get a door slammed in your face: https://twitter.com/andrewhobden/status/1007668509826928640 https://twitter.com/andrewhobden/status/1007668509826928640 Great response from Alex Russell, but it's clear that the sentiments of the Chrome team aren't translating into policy elsewhere in Google, or we wouldn't be dealing with something like this every few months.
        baobrain 8y ago
        Oh wow, I never noticed this before, this must be a recent thing...Thanks!
  - pmontra 8y ago
    Meet didn't even work in Chrome on Ubuntu 16.04 last time I checked. A customer of mine that went all Google talked about going back to Skype, which fixed most problems in the last months (with the obvious exception of the uselessly sparse layout.)
  - JshWright 8y ago
    Meet works now? I knew about hangouts, but Meet was still not working last I checked. That would be fantastic if that was the case. EDIT: So it does! The last reason I was keeping Chrome as my default (so Meet calendar invite links would work) is gone.
  - swasheck 8y ago
    I've found that "work" in this case is still even a stretch. With it being the only application that I have open, with one tab on Firefox, these sites (but especially Inbox) cause my zBook to sound like it's mining Bitcoin or running SETI analysis.
- GusRuss89 8y ago
  Well yeah, if it's an experiment that demonstrates a feature that Firefox doesn't support then of course it will be best viewed in Chrome. Experiments shouldn't count here.
  - forgottenpass 8y ago
    As soon as "experiment" stops meaning "soft launch" we can stop counting them.
- pbhjpbhj 8y ago
  It's quite a good filter, they can get user feedback with less risk of negative reviews.
- hellojason 8y ago
  Google Optimize requires both Chrome and a browser extension (which isn’t available for any other browser) to work.
sureaboutthis 8y ago
Well, "best viewed in IE" was the thing till 2010 or so. The Chrome version I have never seen except on sites experimenting with advanced features unavailable elsewhere.
zeptomu 8y ago
Unfortunately, yes, e.g. Google Earth: https://www.google.com/earth/ https://www.google.com/earth/
scaryclam 8y ago
Yep. You can't use google hangouts without chrome. I've seen other websites (non-google) doing the same. Chrome is the new IE it seems :(
- filomeno 8y ago
  Well, at least this new IE is open-source, cross-platform, and way better than that browser which reached a 90% usage peak some time ago. Joking aside, I've never really known the difference between Google Talk, Hangouts, etc, but I regularly chat with my contacts from the Gmail website, using Firefox, without any problem so far.
- krallja 8y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17364039 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17364039 says Hangouts’ usable in firefox once more.
  - phyzome 8y ago
    I can tell you that it's pretty touch and go. They don't even support screensharing in Chromium, did you know that? Meet did start to work in latest Firefox recently, and then this week they broke mic audio. -.-
novaRom 8y ago
Yes, Google Flights refuses to work with Firefox and asks to switch to Chrome
- hexane360 8y ago
  *on mobile For anyone confused.
allengeorge 8y ago
Bank of America claims Firefox is an “unsupported browser”, so, yeah :/
- kroltan 8y ago
  You'll be surprised how well it works by just switching the user-agent. It's more of a "too lazy to make sure it works" than a "actually doesn't work and Chrome should be used" situation.
  - gutnor 8y ago
    Too lazy to test probably. If you support IE, Safari, Chrome both on the desktop and mobile, chances are that your site supports practically everything. Unfortunately, often giving the official thumbs up requires passing some test suite. If companies have gotten better with their development methodology, their testing methodology is still often "Take a bunch of guys in India and have then run through that extensive check list".
wheaties 8y ago
There are many job postings, payment forms(!?) and financial websites that only work properly in Firefox. The best part is, for job postings, it's a great "not going to work there" filter.
- bshacklett 8y ago
  Don't be too quick to dismiss a workplace because of something like that. Teams that are hiring often have very little control over the initial process (e.g.: the site where jobs are posted), but may be doing amazing things and be great to work with.
callahad 8y ago
Google themselves launched or re-launched five Chrome-only sites last year (Hangouts, Meet, Adwords, Earth, and Allo). Six if you count the Google Advanced Protection Program. Google Flights began blocking Firefox for Android last week, and Google still serves a degraded Search experience to Firefox users on Android (but hey, no AMP). Despite well-meaning concern from the Chrome team, it's abundantly clear that Google's other product managers do not view interoperability with open, cross-browser standards as a requirement. And while many products eventually gain Firefox support, that support usually only comes months after launch, if at all. To wit, Earth was recently rebranded from "Earth on Web" to "Earth for Chrome," so who knows what's going to happen there.
- ameister14 8y ago
  Which I find especially hilarious because there was a period from 2014-2017 when hangouts worked better for me and my colleagues in other browsers
- eat_veggies 8y ago
  Allo works on Firefox now, but before, I used to set my user-agent to Chrome's and it'd work.
  - akoncius 8y ago
    it's not a definition of working when you need to cheat system in order to get it working.
    - Fuxy 8y ago
      If the system is cheating you it's only fair you cheat it back... but I get what you mean; most users won't even know to do that or would be interested in doing it. It's shady for Google to lie to their users especially when they imply its the browsers fault and not just their dev team being lazy gits and not validating that features work on Firefox. Because that's the only valid excuse I could come up with that would make sense as to why they don't support it beside being shady that is...
- 8y ago
vitro 8y ago
Don't know if it is an issue of Firefox or Google just makes it slow, but viewing custom Google maps with few thousands of pins takes much longer time to parse and render in Firefox than in Chrome, where it feels almost instantaneous compared to Firefox.
Bartweiss 8y ago
Outside of the Google projects people have mentioned, I hardly ever see this. Well, I do see "doesn't work on IE" or "please dear god stop visiting with IE 6" pretty often, but I can hardly blame sites for that...
ChristianBundy 8y ago
I'm dealing with this now. We're working on a very complex map visualization with D3, and Firefox runs it choppy as hell. On the other hand, WebKit/Blink browsers (Chromium, GNU Web (Epiphany), others) run it buttery smooth. Given that everyone else on my team uses Chrome, I think we'll likely be sporting a "works best in Chrome" banner soon, especially as most people would be confused by "works best in WebKit/Blink".
- bzbarsky 8y ago
  Are you in a position to file a Firefox bug with a link to a page showing the problem? If you can do that and tell me the bug report url, I'll take a look.
richjdsmith 8y ago
Just today I tried browsing Google Flights on (the latest version of) Firefox mobile and not only did it recommend getting a "browser upgrade", it would not let me use the site at all. Here's a screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/2CCRVDf https://imgur.com/a/2CCRVDf

by kees99 8y ago

> website which is "best viewed with Chrome" I'm stunned. Is this still a thing? Last time I remember seeing websites recommending a browser, it was late 90s with "get Netscape" gifs.

latexr 8y ago

Not only is it still a thing, Google itself is a major culprit of it. Seems like every new experiment they release is “best viewed” in — or worse, “requires” — Google Chrome.

Rovanion 8y ago
Not just experiments. Neither Google Hangouts nor Meet worked in Firefox until the 22nd of May this year.
- lambda 8y ago
  Oh, wow, Hangouts and Meet are working in Firefox now? I've been keeping Chrome running just for that for a couple of years, will be glad to stop having to do that.
- novaRom 8y ago
  Google Flights is still not working in Firefox
  - baobrain 8y ago
    What is not working? I have been using google flights to book trips for months without issues now. The only google services I've had some trouble with firefox are hangouts, and even that is fixed.
    - callahad 8y ago
      Try it on Android, where Google controls more of the market, and has less incentive for interop. You get a door slammed in your face: https://twitter.com/andrewhobden/status/1007668509826928640 https://twitter.com/andrewhobden/status/1007668509826928640 Great response from Alex Russell, but it's clear that the sentiments of the Chrome team aren't translating into policy elsewhere in Google, or we wouldn't be dealing with something like this every few months.
      - baobrain 8y ago
        Oh wow, I never noticed this before, this must be a recent thing...Thanks!
- pmontra 8y ago
  Meet didn't even work in Chrome on Ubuntu 16.04 last time I checked. A customer of mine that went all Google talked about going back to Skype, which fixed most problems in the last months (with the obvious exception of the uselessly sparse layout.)
- JshWright 8y ago
  Meet works now? I knew about hangouts, but Meet was still not working last I checked. That would be fantastic if that was the case. EDIT: So it does! The last reason I was keeping Chrome as my default (so Meet calendar invite links would work) is gone.
- swasheck 8y ago
  I've found that "work" in this case is still even a stretch. With it being the only application that I have open, with one tab on Firefox, these sites (but especially Inbox) cause my zBook to sound like it's mining Bitcoin or running SETI analysis.
GusRuss89 8y ago
Well yeah, if it's an experiment that demonstrates a feature that Firefox doesn't support then of course it will be best viewed in Chrome. Experiments shouldn't count here.
- forgottenpass 8y ago
  As soon as "experiment" stops meaning "soft launch" we can stop counting them.
pbhjpbhj 8y ago
It's quite a good filter, they can get user feedback with less risk of negative reviews.
hellojason 8y ago
Google Optimize requires both Chrome and a browser extension (which isn’t available for any other browser) to work.

sureaboutthis 8y ago

Well, "best viewed in IE" was the thing till 2010 or so. The Chrome version I have never seen except on sites experimenting with advanced features unavailable elsewhere.

zeptomu 8y ago

Unfortunately, yes, e.g. Google Earth: https://www.google.com/earth/ https://www.google.com/earth/

scaryclam 8y ago

Yep. You can't use google hangouts without chrome. I've seen other websites (non-google) doing the same. Chrome is the new IE it seems :(

filomeno 8y ago
Well, at least this new IE is open-source, cross-platform, and way better than that browser which reached a 90% usage peak some time ago. Joking aside, I've never really known the difference between Google Talk, Hangouts, etc, but I regularly chat with my contacts from the Gmail website, using Firefox, without any problem so far.
krallja 8y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17364039 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17364039 says Hangouts’ usable in firefox once more.
- phyzome 8y ago
  I can tell you that it's pretty touch and go. They don't even support screensharing in Chromium, did you know that? Meet did start to work in latest Firefox recently, and then this week they broke mic audio. -.-

novaRom 8y ago

Yes, Google Flights refuses to work with Firefox and asks to switch to Chrome

hexane360 8y ago
*on mobile For anyone confused.

allengeorge 8y ago

Bank of America claims Firefox is an “unsupported browser”, so, yeah :/

kroltan 8y ago
You'll be surprised how well it works by just switching the user-agent. It's more of a "too lazy to make sure it works" than a "actually doesn't work and Chrome should be used" situation.
- gutnor 8y ago
  Too lazy to test probably. If you support IE, Safari, Chrome both on the desktop and mobile, chances are that your site supports practically everything. Unfortunately, often giving the official thumbs up requires passing some test suite. If companies have gotten better with their development methodology, their testing methodology is still often "Take a bunch of guys in India and have then run through that extensive check list".

wheaties 8y ago

There are many job postings, payment forms(!?) and financial websites that only work properly in Firefox. The best part is, for job postings, it's a great "not going to work there" filter.

bshacklett 8y ago
Don't be too quick to dismiss a workplace because of something like that. Teams that are hiring often have very little control over the initial process (e.g.: the site where jobs are posted), but may be doing amazing things and be great to work with.

callahad 8y ago

Google themselves launched or re-launched five Chrome-only sites last year (Hangouts, Meet, Adwords, Earth, and Allo). Six if you count the Google Advanced Protection Program. Google Flights began blocking Firefox for Android last week, and Google still serves a degraded Search experience to Firefox users on Android (but hey, no AMP). Despite well-meaning concern from the Chrome team, it's abundantly clear that Google's other product managers do not view interoperability with open, cross-browser standards as a requirement. And while many products eventually gain Firefox support, that support usually only comes months after launch, if at all. To wit, Earth was recently rebranded from "Earth on Web" to "Earth for Chrome," so who knows what's going to happen there.

ameister14 8y ago
Which I find especially hilarious because there was a period from 2014-2017 when hangouts worked better for me and my colleagues in other browsers
eat_veggies 8y ago
Allo works on Firefox now, but before, I used to set my user-agent to Chrome's and it'd work.
- akoncius 8y ago
  it's not a definition of working when you need to cheat system in order to get it working.
  - Fuxy 8y ago
    If the system is cheating you it's only fair you cheat it back... but I get what you mean; most users won't even know to do that or would be interested in doing it. It's shady for Google to lie to their users especially when they imply its the browsers fault and not just their dev team being lazy gits and not validating that features work on Firefox. Because that's the only valid excuse I could come up with that would make sense as to why they don't support it beside being shady that is...
8y ago

vitro 8y ago

Don't know if it is an issue of Firefox or Google just makes it slow, but viewing custom Google maps with few thousands of pins takes much longer time to parse and render in Firefox than in Chrome, where it feels almost instantaneous compared to Firefox.

Bartweiss 8y ago

Outside of the Google projects people have mentioned, I hardly ever see this. Well, I do see "doesn't work on IE" or "please dear god stop visiting with IE 6" pretty often, but I can hardly blame sites for that...

ChristianBundy 8y ago

I'm dealing with this now. We're working on a very complex map visualization with D3, and Firefox runs it choppy as hell. On the other hand, WebKit/Blink browsers (Chromium, GNU Web (Epiphany), others) run it buttery smooth. Given that everyone else on my team uses Chrome, I think we'll likely be sporting a "works best in Chrome" banner soon, especially as most people would be confused by "works best in WebKit/Blink".

bzbarsky 8y ago
Are you in a position to file a Firefox bug with a link to a page showing the problem? If you can do that and tell me the bug report url, I'll take a look.

richjdsmith 8y ago

Just today I tried browsing Google Flights on (the latest version of) Firefox mobile and not only did it recommend getting a "browser upgrade", it would not let me use the site at all. Here's a screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/2CCRVDf https://imgur.com/a/2CCRVDf