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Chrome’s Profiles are the #1 reason I use it over Firefox. If Firefox had as complete of an implementation as Chrome then I would consider switching, but until

Chrome’s Profiles are the #1 reason I use it over Firefox. If Firefox had as complete of an implementation as Chrome then I would consider switching, but until then Firefox is a non-starter for me. I use all 3 of these profiles all day every day for work: * one personal profile logged into personal Google * one work profile managed by the company, logged into company Google * one development profile with all the debugging extensions installed, like React and Redux tools (they require access to all pages all the time)

cryptonector 5y ago
What's wrong with Firefox Containers?
- thomasedwards 5y ago
  It doesn’t sync your entire experience. I have a completely different setup for each profile, and then I use Containers _within_ each profile. They’re not the same thing.
benjamir 5y ago
headscratch I used profiles with Ff for ages... what is the difference to Chrome's?
- thomasedwards 5y ago
  When I open Chrome, I can open any profile straight away from the menu. On Mac, there’s just one Chrome icon. When I open Firefox, I have to go to a page that looks like a developer debug mode, and then open a new profile in a new Firefox instance. I now have two Firefox icons in my dock. I normally work with three profiles, so now I have three Firefox icons in my dock all called Firefox. 66.6% of the time I press the wrong one. The problem is that Firefox has to be at least as good as Chrome to succeed. Being _almost_ as good as Chrome means people will just use Chrome.
- cassianoleal 5y ago
  In Chrome there's an icon you click to switch. Honestly, if someone would create a FF extension that was just that, it would probably cover 90% of what's considered superior in Chrome.
  - Crono 5y ago
    Its called "Profile Switcher for Firefox": https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/profile-switcher/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/profile-switc...
    - cassianoleal 5y ago
      That looks quite good. It's a little over the top with having to install external software though.
  - weaksauce 5y ago
    have you used container tabs? those are effectively "different profiles" for what most people consider them. It's still shared extensions and history and bookmarks but you can login with different accounts in different tabs and it keeps that separate.
    - cassianoleal 5y ago
      I use container tabs, temporary tabs and the containerise extension to help manage things. I use it so there's stronger isolation between the websites I visit, and cookies are cleaned up when I close the browser. That's on my main/personal profile. I have separate profiles for work stuff, one for each client or organisation I work with. On those, I only access sites that are relevant to the organisation, and I have a lot fewer protections. I keep long sessions, I leave cookies in place, etc. It's a lot more convenient that way.
    - maxloh 5y ago
      I have different sets of bookmark in my school and regular profile (because in most cases they were opened for very different purposes).
- jeltz 5y ago
  The usability and discoverability. I use almost exclusively Firefox but I have stopped using the profiles since the UX isn't good enough.
  - roosgit 5y ago
    about:profiles looks like a debugging page, not something you use for launching a profile. And I'm not referring to its aspect, but usability. It's not made to be used daily. I'll have to see if it can be "designed" with userChrome.css or something and I'll give it a try.
- weaksauce 5y ago
  The only thing I can think of is that the UI is not as nice as chromes for switching? in chrome you can switch the profile from a menu option and there can be more than one profile active at a time with separate everything including extensions and bookmarks. in firefox you don't get that easy switch and I am not sure the gui for the profiles is enabled by default. you have to manually start up firefox with a -P flag from the command line to get the profile manager. And you only get one profile active at a time. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-remove-switch-firefox-profiles https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-... That said, 90% of the time you can use container tabs and it is almost the equivalent of that.
  - feanaro 5y ago
    > And you only get one profile active at a time. This isn't true. As I'm writing this, I have three Firefox windows open, each in a different profile. What makes you think you can only have one profile active at a time?
    - weaksauce 5y ago
      were there any hoops you had to run to get that to work? afaict that's not possible ootb without adding a flag to the command line. I'll admit that I haven't really tried it since many years ago. for 90% of the users out there that we need to convince to use firefox: having a command line switch is about the same as not having the feature at all... chrome has a menu item that brings up a brand new window in that profile. I want firefox to succeed and it's my daily driver.
      - feanaro 5y ago
        You do have to use the command-line and there is a single hoop: the `--new-instance` flag. I agree the situation could be made "normal" user friendly and it isn't right now.
BlackLotus89 5y ago
Why not use the firefox profiles? I also use multiple profiles. My setup is as fallows. firefox -ProfileManager Create 2 profiles work and private. Change the theme of work to orange and private to black. Create two .desktop files and append to the Exec line -P work (or private) and the Name to include (work) I have work on desktop 5 and private on desktop 8 and 9. Works like a charme for me. Additional bonus. Use container to add additional seperation.
- maxloh 5y ago
  But it is just 2 clicks to do the same thing in Chrome (and those two clicks are really fast thanks to Fitts's law).
- cassianoleal 5y ago
  Or, just open `about:profiles` and press buttons.
- zelphirkalt 5y ago
  They probably don't know, because Firefox doesn't bump your nose into the fact, that it has profiles.
- nicoburns 5y ago
  In Chrome I can switch from one profile to another as fast as opening a new tab (i.e. instantly). Can Firefox do that?
  - BlackLotus89 5y ago
    With containers you can. It's literally opening a new tab. If you have two profiles open at the same time like described you can easily switch desktops. The clear seperation of work and private browsing sessions helps me as well.
    - notreallyserio 5y ago
      What is easy here? In Chrome, on macOS, it's command-` to switch windows and command-shift-m to open a new window in with a specific profile. Also, links always open in the profile that is currently in the foreground. Is that possible in Firefox? Last I heard it isn't, but I haven't checked in a while.
baq 5y ago
about:profiles
tenacious_tuna 5y ago
I use Firefox's container tabs all the time, which segment exactly the same way as profiles (albiet with the same extension pool). Personally I prefer having blended tabs in a single window, or having additional segregation; I keep Amazon punted out to it's own container, as well as social media. I know it won't stop all the cross-identificaiton, but it should at least help.

cryptonector 5y ago

What's wrong with Firefox Containers?

thomasedwards 5y ago
It doesn’t sync your entire experience. I have a completely different setup for each profile, and then I use Containers _within_ each profile. They’re not the same thing.

benjamir 5y ago

headscratch I used profiles with Ff for ages... what is the difference to Chrome's?

thomasedwards 5y ago
When I open Chrome, I can open any profile straight away from the menu. On Mac, there’s just one Chrome icon. When I open Firefox, I have to go to a page that looks like a developer debug mode, and then open a new profile in a new Firefox instance. I now have two Firefox icons in my dock. I normally work with three profiles, so now I have three Firefox icons in my dock all called Firefox. 66.6% of the time I press the wrong one. The problem is that Firefox has to be at least as good as Chrome to succeed. Being _almost_ as good as Chrome means people will just use Chrome.
cassianoleal 5y ago
In Chrome there's an icon you click to switch. Honestly, if someone would create a FF extension that was just that, it would probably cover 90% of what's considered superior in Chrome.
- Crono 5y ago
  Its called "Profile Switcher for Firefox": https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/profile-switcher/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/profile-switc...
  - cassianoleal 5y ago
    That looks quite good. It's a little over the top with having to install external software though.
- weaksauce 5y ago
  have you used container tabs? those are effectively "different profiles" for what most people consider them. It's still shared extensions and history and bookmarks but you can login with different accounts in different tabs and it keeps that separate.
  - cassianoleal 5y ago
    I use container tabs, temporary tabs and the containerise extension to help manage things. I use it so there's stronger isolation between the websites I visit, and cookies are cleaned up when I close the browser. That's on my main/personal profile. I have separate profiles for work stuff, one for each client or organisation I work with. On those, I only access sites that are relevant to the organisation, and I have a lot fewer protections. I keep long sessions, I leave cookies in place, etc. It's a lot more convenient that way.
  - maxloh 5y ago
    I have different sets of bookmark in my school and regular profile (because in most cases they were opened for very different purposes).
jeltz 5y ago
The usability and discoverability. I use almost exclusively Firefox but I have stopped using the profiles since the UX isn't good enough.
- roosgit 5y ago
  about:profiles looks like a debugging page, not something you use for launching a profile. And I'm not referring to its aspect, but usability. It's not made to be used daily. I'll have to see if it can be "designed" with userChrome.css or something and I'll give it a try.
weaksauce 5y ago
The only thing I can think of is that the UI is not as nice as chromes for switching? in chrome you can switch the profile from a menu option and there can be more than one profile active at a time with separate everything including extensions and bookmarks. in firefox you don't get that easy switch and I am not sure the gui for the profiles is enabled by default. you have to manually start up firefox with a -P flag from the command line to get the profile manager. And you only get one profile active at a time. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-remove-switch-firefox-profiles https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-... That said, 90% of the time you can use container tabs and it is almost the equivalent of that.
- feanaro 5y ago
  > And you only get one profile active at a time. This isn't true. As I'm writing this, I have three Firefox windows open, each in a different profile. What makes you think you can only have one profile active at a time?
  - weaksauce 5y ago
    were there any hoops you had to run to get that to work? afaict that's not possible ootb without adding a flag to the command line. I'll admit that I haven't really tried it since many years ago. for 90% of the users out there that we need to convince to use firefox: having a command line switch is about the same as not having the feature at all... chrome has a menu item that brings up a brand new window in that profile. I want firefox to succeed and it's my daily driver.
    - feanaro 5y ago
      You do have to use the command-line and there is a single hoop: the `--new-instance` flag. I agree the situation could be made "normal" user friendly and it isn't right now.

BlackLotus89 5y ago

Why not use the firefox profiles? I also use multiple profiles. My setup is as fallows. firefox -ProfileManager Create 2 profiles work and private. Change the theme of work to orange and private to black. Create two .desktop files and append to the Exec line -P work (or private) and the Name to include (work) I have work on desktop 5 and private on desktop 8 and 9. Works like a charme for me. Additional bonus. Use container to add additional seperation.

maxloh 5y ago
But it is just 2 clicks to do the same thing in Chrome (and those two clicks are really fast thanks to Fitts's law).
cassianoleal 5y ago
Or, just open `about:profiles` and press buttons.
zelphirkalt 5y ago
They probably don't know, because Firefox doesn't bump your nose into the fact, that it has profiles.
nicoburns 5y ago
In Chrome I can switch from one profile to another as fast as opening a new tab (i.e. instantly). Can Firefox do that?
- BlackLotus89 5y ago
  With containers you can. It's literally opening a new tab. If you have two profiles open at the same time like described you can easily switch desktops. The clear seperation of work and private browsing sessions helps me as well.
  - notreallyserio 5y ago
    What is easy here? In Chrome, on macOS, it's command-` to switch windows and command-shift-m to open a new window in with a specific profile. Also, links always open in the profile that is currently in the foreground. Is that possible in Firefox? Last I heard it isn't, but I haven't checked in a while.

baq 5y ago

about:profiles

tenacious_tuna 5y ago

I use Firefox's container tabs all the time, which segment exactly the same way as profiles (albiet with the same extension pool). Personally I prefer having blended tabs in a single window, or having additional segregation; I keep Amazon punted out to it's own container, as well as social media. I know it won't stop all the cross-identificaiton, but it should at least help.