6 ms·

I like firefox. I really do. I've donated to Mozilla, and wear my resulting FF t-shirt with pride. That said, it's not just auto-update that makes Chrome mor

I like firefox. I really do. I've donated to Mozilla, and wear my resulting FF t-shirt with pride. That said, it's not just auto-update that makes Chrome more attractive. The omnibox, polarizing though it may be, sets Chrome apart from every other browser as far as U[I|X] goes. Oddly enough, that one feature alone is enough to make it my default browser. Were FF as fast as Chrome, I'd still use the latter because I just like using it more. Chrome's sandboxing, V8, and other intelligent features are just icing on the cake. This, ultimately, confuses me more than anything about the other browser vendors' reaction to Chrome. They've copied or are copying just about everything about it: short release cycles, better JS engines, sandboxing... but not the one definitive UI feature that has made it so attractive to so many people. This surprises me. I would have though Apple, at least, with its commitment to minimalistic UIs, would have been quick to hop on that train, but no dice.

rue 15y ago
I'm not entirely familiar with what omnibox does, but there're a few search bar addons, and quickly testing on 11, typing "whuh" in the navigation bar goes to a Google search too. Personally, I just use vimperator (the clones of which on Chrome are…abysmal?) so I can o[pen]/t[abopen] and then type a search term (w/ customizable engine) or a URL. … Memorywise, the recent FFs are much better. Usually problems are caused by extensions.
robtoo 15y ago
I've had a look at Google's docs[1], and it's really not clear to me what Chrome's omnibox offers that Firefox's address bar (or whatever they call it) doesn't. http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95440 http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&ans...
- redthrowaway 15y ago
  I've got Aurora installed for Tor and flash-based apps that don't play nicely with Chrome, but I still use Chrome for my daily surfing and so have not really noticed any of the changes Mozilla has made. If the address bar really is reproducing the functionality of the omnibox, why not kill the search box all together? It seems like duplicated functionality and a waste of screen real estate.
  - Silhouette 15y ago
    Some of us actually like distinguishing between URLs/bookmarks/history and an autocomplete-with-search-engine-spying search facility. I don't view the trend of combining them into a single text box as a positive one, whichever browser is doing it.
  - robtoo 15y ago
    I think the only use for the search box now is to give people easy access to multiple (or a secondary) search engine. Sure, it's ugly, but it does give users a clear and simple way to search wikipedia for "widgets". Chrome, on the other hand, only exposes non-Google search engines through the search engine keyword thingy, which means a user has to actually type "en.wikipedia.org widgets" into the omnibox. Sure, tab-completion will do half the work, but the user still has to remember to start typing "en." rather than, say, "wikipedia". I know that Chrome (and, indeed, Firefox) allow you to edit those search engine keywords, but that is power-user territory, and power-users can edit their Firefox UI as well. http://i.imgur.com/mS5Ot.png http://i.imgur.com/mS5Ot.png
    - Lazare 15y ago
      Minor quibble, but Chrome makes it pretty easy to change your default search engine to anything you want, including non-Google search engines. It's not that you need to use a keyword to search a non-Google search engine, it's that you need to use a keyword to search a non-default search engine. :)
      - robtoo 15y ago
        Also, the UI in Firefox for changing the address bar search engine is awful -- about:config, click through the warning, then find and edit keyword.URL (which is in a different format to everything else)
  - megablast 15y ago
    I am pretty sure Firefox had this before Chrome, the awesome bar, but you really like firefox and know this already. The reason to keep the search field is people use it I guess. And there would be some confusion once removed.
captaincrowbar 15y ago
Apple are switching to a Chrome-style unified address/search bar in Safari 5.2 (now in beta).
thwest 15y ago
I have have better luck with awesomebar personally. My searches tend to hit words in URLs and titles of history before I actually want to duckduckgo. Omnibox also breaks my usage pattern for intranet (no tld) URLs.
kenmazy 15y ago
I also like chrome's omnibox, but I dislike their support for rss feeds as a bookmark (live rss) as well as their video adblock (doesn't work). For firefox, I use the https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/omnibar/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/omnibar/ addon, it works quite well for me. Now if only I could find a way to get firefox tabs into the title bar...

rue 15y ago

I'm not entirely familiar with what omnibox does, but there're a few search bar addons, and quickly testing on 11, typing "whuh" in the navigation bar goes to a Google search too. Personally, I just use vimperator (the clones of which on Chrome are…abysmal?) so I can o[pen]/t[abopen] and then type a search term (w/ customizable engine) or a URL. … Memorywise, the recent FFs are much better. Usually problems are caused by extensions.

robtoo 15y ago

I've had a look at Google's docs[1], and it's really not clear to me what Chrome's omnibox offers that Firefox's address bar (or whatever they call it) doesn't. http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95440 http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&ans...

redthrowaway 15y ago
I've got Aurora installed for Tor and flash-based apps that don't play nicely with Chrome, but I still use Chrome for my daily surfing and so have not really noticed any of the changes Mozilla has made. If the address bar really is reproducing the functionality of the omnibox, why not kill the search box all together? It seems like duplicated functionality and a waste of screen real estate.
- Silhouette 15y ago
  Some of us actually like distinguishing between URLs/bookmarks/history and an autocomplete-with-search-engine-spying search facility. I don't view the trend of combining them into a single text box as a positive one, whichever browser is doing it.
- robtoo 15y ago
  I think the only use for the search box now is to give people easy access to multiple (or a secondary) search engine. Sure, it's ugly, but it does give users a clear and simple way to search wikipedia for "widgets". Chrome, on the other hand, only exposes non-Google search engines through the search engine keyword thingy, which means a user has to actually type "en.wikipedia.org widgets" into the omnibox. Sure, tab-completion will do half the work, but the user still has to remember to start typing "en." rather than, say, "wikipedia". I know that Chrome (and, indeed, Firefox) allow you to edit those search engine keywords, but that is power-user territory, and power-users can edit their Firefox UI as well. http://i.imgur.com/mS5Ot.png http://i.imgur.com/mS5Ot.png
  - Lazare 15y ago
    Minor quibble, but Chrome makes it pretty easy to change your default search engine to anything you want, including non-Google search engines. It's not that you need to use a keyword to search a non-Google search engine, it's that you need to use a keyword to search a non-default search engine. :)
    - robtoo 15y ago
      Also, the UI in Firefox for changing the address bar search engine is awful -- about:config, click through the warning, then find and edit keyword.URL (which is in a different format to everything else)
- megablast 15y ago
  I am pretty sure Firefox had this before Chrome, the awesome bar, but you really like firefox and know this already. The reason to keep the search field is people use it I guess. And there would be some confusion once removed.

captaincrowbar 15y ago

Apple are switching to a Chrome-style unified address/search bar in Safari 5.2 (now in beta).

thwest 15y ago

I have have better luck with awesomebar personally. My searches tend to hit words in URLs and titles of history before I actually want to duckduckgo. Omnibox also breaks my usage pattern for intranet (no tld) URLs.

kenmazy 15y ago

I also like chrome's omnibox, but I dislike their support for rss feeds as a bookmark (live rss) as well as their video adblock (doesn't work). For firefox, I use the https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/omnibar/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/omnibar/ addon, it works quite well for me. Now if only I could find a way to get firefox tabs into the title bar...