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Google websites work better on chrome. Not sure if it’s because google is doing something nefarious or if Firefox is just not keeping up with google website tec

Google websites work better on chrome. Not sure if it’s because google is doing something nefarious or if Firefox is just not keeping up with google website technologies. So, I’ve trained my brain to use chrome as an app only for google websites. When I need to check gmail or YouTube or google calendar, I use chrome. Otherwise I’m on Firefox or safari. It’s worked pretty well. I found I was only really unhappy with Firefox when using google websites. No longer a problem.

kgwxd 6y ago
I use Gmail, YouTube, Calendar and Sheets through Firefox and never noticed a difference. What's not as good?
- iscrewyou 6y ago
  I’ve replied to one of the other replies above.
  - kgwxd 6y ago
    I forgot, stories of FF on Mac being bad are pretty common. Hope they focus on that soon.
alangibson 6y ago
What problems do you have? I use Firefox exclusively and I'm a heavy Google app user too (laziness...), but I can't remember ever having a significant issue
- SubiculumCode 6y ago
  Google refuses to let Firefox have their voice typing feature.
  - SubiculumCode 6y ago
    For those down-voting, I should have added this: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1456885 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1456885
- MegaDeKay 6y ago
  I've had weird little breakages. Right now in Firefox, I am unable to search within a given Youtube channel. Works fine in Chrome. Edit: I am a diehard Firefox user and fall back to Chrome only when I have to because of some weird breakage. One of those is editing within Atlassian's Confluence: find within a Confluence page doesn't work right in FF, and I've often had @name references messed up too upon saving. Chrome works fine.
- iscrewyou 6y ago
  I’m on a MacBook Pro with a discrete graphics card. YouTube never performs well for me on Firefox. It takes time to buffer the video when I skip ahead or back. And that’s with me being on Fiber internet. Same goes for Gmail. It takes longer to load emails. It’s minor annoyances that add up. For some reason, Chrome always works better whenever I switch the applications. There’s a good chance my MacBook is not supported properly for Firefox as I’ve run into some internet threads about. But at this point, I’ve settled on this solution. It also makes me spend less time on YouTube once chrome is closed down and I’m solely on Firefox.
- Hnaomyiph 6y ago
  For some reason Firefox absolutely cannot play 720p+ 60fps videos on YouTube for me, whereas opening the same video on Edge I can play 4K 60fps videos without a single problem.
shakna 6y ago
> Google websites work better on chrome. Not sure if it’s because google is doing something nefarious or if Firefox is just not keeping up with google website technologies. For a number of sites like YouTube and GMail, it's because of Google. If you change your useragent to look like Chrome, you get served a JS payload that Firefox is fine with, and it is faster. If your useragent isn't Chrome, they'll serve you a less optimised payload, but which tends to have wider support. They seem to have made a tradeoff - one that generally isn't necessary under Firefox.
LittlePeter 6y ago
What is exactly better? I am using FF and browse Google websites, but never noticed anything.
- iscrewyou 6y ago
  I replied to one of the other replies above.
derefr 6y ago
It’s the latter, but I would describe it less as Firefox not “keeping up”, and more as Google deploying pre-standard protocols (like SPDY) into Chrome first, before ever documenting the protocol; let alone trying to get it turned into a standard (like HTTP/2.) Chrome had SPDY support not just before any other web browser did, but before any open web server did—because Chrome had SPDY support before Google ever documented that there was such as thing as “SPDY.” It was, at first, just turned on as a special Chrome-to-Google.com accelerator, spoken only between that browser and that server, because only they knew it. I don’t fault Google for this: they’re doing “internal” R&D with protocols, and then RFCing them if-and-when they turn out to have been a good design for at least their use-case with plenty of experimental data to confirm that. Which is exactly how the RFC process is intended to be used: spreading things that are known to work. It’s just kind of surprising that “internal” R&D, in their case, means “billions of devices running their software are all auto-updated to speak the protocol, and start speaking it—at least to Google’s own servers—making it immediately become a non-negligible percentage of Internet packet throughput.” (Which is a troubling thing to have happen, if you’re a network equipment mfgr, and you expected to have some time while new protocols are still “nascent” to tune your switches for them.)
- kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
  HTTP 1.1 is faster when you're not downloading megabytes of JS. I rarely browse AMP sites but when I do I'm amazed at how user hostile they are compared to a strictly filtered browsing experience.
- tannhaeuser 6y ago
  It's also relevant under an antitrust PoV.

kgwxd 6y ago

I use Gmail, YouTube, Calendar and Sheets through Firefox and never noticed a difference. What's not as good?

iscrewyou 6y ago
I’ve replied to one of the other replies above.
- kgwxd 6y ago
  I forgot, stories of FF on Mac being bad are pretty common. Hope they focus on that soon.

alangibson 6y ago

What problems do you have? I use Firefox exclusively and I'm a heavy Google app user too (laziness...), but I can't remember ever having a significant issue

SubiculumCode 6y ago
Google refuses to let Firefox have their voice typing feature.
- SubiculumCode 6y ago
  For those down-voting, I should have added this: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1456885 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1456885
MegaDeKay 6y ago
I've had weird little breakages. Right now in Firefox, I am unable to search within a given Youtube channel. Works fine in Chrome. Edit: I am a diehard Firefox user and fall back to Chrome only when I have to because of some weird breakage. One of those is editing within Atlassian's Confluence: find within a Confluence page doesn't work right in FF, and I've often had @name references messed up too upon saving. Chrome works fine.
iscrewyou 6y ago
I’m on a MacBook Pro with a discrete graphics card. YouTube never performs well for me on Firefox. It takes time to buffer the video when I skip ahead or back. And that’s with me being on Fiber internet. Same goes for Gmail. It takes longer to load emails. It’s minor annoyances that add up. For some reason, Chrome always works better whenever I switch the applications. There’s a good chance my MacBook is not supported properly for Firefox as I’ve run into some internet threads about. But at this point, I’ve settled on this solution. It also makes me spend less time on YouTube once chrome is closed down and I’m solely on Firefox.
Hnaomyiph 6y ago
For some reason Firefox absolutely cannot play 720p+ 60fps videos on YouTube for me, whereas opening the same video on Edge I can play 4K 60fps videos without a single problem.

shakna 6y ago

> Google websites work better on chrome. Not sure if it’s because google is doing something nefarious or if Firefox is just not keeping up with google website technologies. For a number of sites like YouTube and GMail, it's because of Google. If you change your useragent to look like Chrome, you get served a JS payload that Firefox is fine with, and it is faster. If your useragent isn't Chrome, they'll serve you a less optimised payload, but which tends to have wider support. They seem to have made a tradeoff - one that generally isn't necessary under Firefox.

LittlePeter 6y ago

What is exactly better? I am using FF and browse Google websites, but never noticed anything.

iscrewyou 6y ago
I replied to one of the other replies above.

derefr 6y ago

It’s the latter, but I would describe it less as Firefox not “keeping up”, and more as Google deploying pre-standard protocols (like SPDY) into Chrome first, before ever documenting the protocol; let alone trying to get it turned into a standard (like HTTP/2.) Chrome had SPDY support not just before any other web browser did, but before any open web server did—because Chrome had SPDY support before Google ever documented that there was such as thing as “SPDY.” It was, at first, just turned on as a special Chrome-to-Google.com accelerator, spoken only between that browser and that server, because only they knew it. I don’t fault Google for this: they’re doing “internal” R&D with protocols, and then RFCing them if-and-when they turn out to have been a good design for at least their use-case with plenty of experimental data to confirm that. Which is exactly how the RFC process is intended to be used: spreading things that are known to work. It’s just kind of surprising that “internal” R&D, in their case, means “billions of devices running their software are all auto-updated to speak the protocol, and start speaking it—at least to Google’s own servers—making it immediately become a non-negligible percentage of Internet packet throughput.” (Which is a troubling thing to have happen, if you’re a network equipment mfgr, and you expected to have some time while new protocols are still “nascent” to tune your switches for them.)

kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
HTTP 1.1 is faster when you're not downloading megabytes of JS. I rarely browse AMP sites but when I do I'm amazed at how user hostile they are compared to a strictly filtered browsing experience.
tannhaeuser 6y ago
It's also relevant under an antitrust PoV.