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The first thing that I do is turn off these fancy new tab pages. Very often, there is no option to have a blank page instead and less and less people know about
by aquir 5y ago
The first thing that I do is turn off these fancy new tab pages. Very often, there is no option to have a blank page instead and less and less people know about pages like about:blank
- beebeepka 5y agoFirefox is making it real easy to have new windows and tabs open about:blank. For all the hate they get, FF is easily the best and most respectful browser around
- skinkestek 5y agoThe dislike (not hate, at least in my case) is not against Firefox. I like Firefox a lot. What I don't like is Mozilla using it as a dairy cow, and starving it on top of that.
- dotancohen 5y ago> What I don't like is Mozilla using it as a dairy cow, and starving it on top of that. I don't get the analogy. What exactly is Mozilla doing that you don't like?
- neuromute 5y agoThey’re implying that Mozilla are milking Firefox for all it’s worth. Exploiting it and at the same time not treating it very well.
- skinkestek 5y agoCorrect. I feel Mozilla is starving Firefox and using the money somewhat frivolously. Mozilla have many interesting projects and several of them may be good, but none of them have had such impact or has such potential for the future as Firefox. Edit: and I'm willing to pay $10 - $50 a month to someone who will create and maintain a patched version of the latest Firefox that fixes the worst problems like not being able to hide the standard tabs (in addition to any sponsored search deals they may get). I suspect I'm not alone: for many(most?) of us our browser is one of our most important tools, the other being and IDE, an editor or some graphics tool. Edit 2: Paid Chromium based doesn't count for me. A major point is to counter the Chrome monoculture.
- marcosdumay 5y agoWell, that's a really bad reason to use chrome or some other chromium based browser. But if you are willing to fork Firefox, that's a very good reason. I just don't think any fork will be as long as the majority of users are on a chromium based browser, those are toxic to the ecosystem.
- skinkestek 5y ago> Well, that's a really bad reason to use chrome or some other chromium based browser. Who said I do, I often have multiple months between every time I use a Chrome or Chrome based browser. Edit, I use a multipronged approach: - I use only Firefox - except once in a blue moon to verify if something is an actual Firefox bug or a general bug. - and develop in Firefox. Bonus: Without testing in any other browsers most weeks I can count on one finger the times I have introduced cross browser defects - I raise awareness that Mozilla is extracting money from Firefox, not funding it. - I raise awareness about how Google is pushing to kill competition in the browser markets (besides here on HN and contacting authorities myself I have also urged a grumpy colleague today to contact relevant competition authorities) - I rise awareness about the likely outcome of a Chrome monoculture: mostly that ad blocking will disappear, the web as a platform will stagnate and we will have to live with more nasty restrictions.
- laurent92 5y agoFirefox opens new tabs saying “We care about your privacy, look, LOOK!” every time you start, sometimes two of those tabs (release notes + privacy). I wish I could just deactivate those built-in ads.
- Semaphor 5y agoRecently, they had this annoying modal ad (with no "close when clicking outside" feature) telling me that I can make my browser colorful. I care about web-health and containers is far too much of a must-have feature to make me switch, but I’m finally starting to get annoyed. Without containers, I’d probably bite the bullet and start using some chrome fork that doesn’t show me useless ads.
- ComputerGuru 5y agoYes, I got that one too and was extremely perplexed that it didn’t close when I clicked outside it and I had to hunt the tiny x instead.
- nyanpasu64 5y agoI found the colored browser cool, but the infuriating part is that Firefox is deliberately only offering features for a limited time. And if I didn't want to pick a color, not being able to click outside to close would be annoying.
- Semaphor 5y agoUnlike many here, I don’t mind FF giving their browser more mass-appeal (here in Germany it’s still a major browser), so adding that color feature is fine. I just don’t need intrusive advertisement about it. It’s even worse for me, because I use FF on multiple machines and with several profiles, so I saw the ad over 10 times in total.
- ldng 5y agoRecently they also changed the urlbar to do a search when you type anything... even localhost. INFURIATING. To stay polite. Messed with about:config but did not find a way to disable that crap. So Chrome and FF are in the same boat: "UX" "designer" taking non-sensical decisions for the whimsical greater good.
- xvector 5y agoFirefox is significantly less secure than Chrome, though it may be more private.
- beebeepka 5y agoPlease elaborate
- xvector 5y agohttps://madaidans-insecurities.github.io/firefox-chromium.html https://madaidans-insecurities.github.io/firefox-chromium.ht...
- aquir 5y agoWe need facts tho prove this
- xvector 5y agohttps://madaidans-insecurities.github.io/firefox-chromium.html https://madaidans-insecurities.github.io/firefox-chromium.ht...
- aquir 5y agoInteresting article but the issue is that it's mashing together the Chromium Browser and Google Chrome. I'm sure that Chromium itself is safe but the prvacy concers arise from the "Google bits" rather that the browser engine itself.
- xvector 5y agoRight, which is why the article mentions that it is focusing on security and not privacy. With a bit of effort, you can get a similar level of privacy to Firefox in Chrom[e/ium].
- 5y ago
- jiscariot 5y agoDoes Firefox actually get hate? I don't think I've seen people actually make digs at FF. For me it would be Edge that gets the most laughs but I find is a better performing browser, at least in terms of UI than FF or Chrome. Side-bar tasks, grouping, integrated screen-shot, etc.
- willvarfar 5y agoMozilla management gets hate. They have had a string of controversies, policy upheavals that have bad optics and layoffs etc. They are often on HN for all the bad reasons.
- nothatscool 5y agoMaybe not Firefox itself but Mozilla’s “We need more than deplatforming” blog post burnt a lot of good will towards them. I think that kind of censorial ethos is at odds with the majority of people who would specifically choose firefox over chrome.
- baybal2 5y agoChrome used to have an option of a blank page, but it was removed "for user convenience"
- hansel_der 5y agoTIL
- totetsu 5y ago[flagged]
- eyelidlessness 5y agoThis seems oddly specific. Show me where the insightful but repetitive, moderately funny British man hurt you.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- jan_Inkepa 5y agoOr how will my innocent friends learn of my sordid browsing history? -_-
- matttb 5y agoFortunately they made an extension for it: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/empty-new-tab-page/dpjamkmjmigaoobjbekmfgabipmfilij https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/empty-new-tab-page...