4 ms·

Come join the Firefox revolution!

by KurtMueller 2y ago

dagurp 2y ago
You could also use Vivaldi which has a built-in ad blocker
- bdangubic 2y ago
  so many folk here on HN inexplicably are stuck on using Google Chrome which I honestly just do not understand at all…
irobeth 2y ago
It really is amazing how things have come full circle from the point where chrome positioned itself as a "Libre" alternative to the IE near-monopoly There was a point between IE and chrome when Mozilla was always in the near-foreground offering alternatives to every internet hegemony, right around web 2.0, kinda makes me optimistic for the internet to see a resurgence of recommendations
- ffsm8 2y ago
  Huh, I don't remember that narrative at all... From how I remember it, we started with Netscape, IE outcompeted that by adding new features until they had enough share to strangle the competition. By that time IE became mandatory because of their extensions. Windows systems couldn't get updates without opening IE. Eventually it (IE) fossilized and Firefox became the better browser with more features (remember that debugging extension?) but was still pretty slow. Then came chrome. Way way faster, sleek and modern UI, removing the search and tool-bars. Hiding bookmarks by default and putting everything into the Omni bar. Really, that was what everyone I know of cared about: responsiveness/speed and that sleek UI. Finally Firefox improved its resource usage/speed and adjusted it's UI, taking inspiration from chrome... But by that time, it's popularity had already dropped massively.
  - lowboy 2y ago
    > remember that debugging extension? Firebug was a godsend.
  - x0x0 2y ago
    > IE outcompeted that by adding new features until they had enough share to strangle the competition. ie won because it wasn't an utter piece of shit. Netscape 3 crashed if you looked at it crosseyed, and ie3 was significantly more stable and performant. I worked at one of the first companies to ship a serious app targeting a browser and, at one point, 1/3 of our front-end code was fingerprinting various netscape versions and working around their browser bugs. The world rushed to ie3/4 because it wasn't garbage. I'm not saying Microsoft didn't abuse their monopoly position or compete in underhanded and illegal ways, but they originally won purely on quality. People shipping serious web apps begged their users to get off netscape.
- Suppafly 2y ago
  >from the point where chrome positioned itself as a "Libre" alternative to the IE near-monopoly you're misremembering history. chrome was always just faster and had newer features that people liked.
grounder 2y ago
Try Firefox Nightly for the native sidebar vertical tabs. That and native tab containers make Firefox work really well for me.
- karteum 2y ago
  If you want vertical tabs, built-in adblocker, and more generally are looking for a lightweight and free (as in free speech and as in free beer) browser, you may look at https://www.falkon.org/ https://www.falkon.org/ (made with QTwebengine i.e. Blink)
rchaud 2y ago
Uh, YT on FF is unusable now. They'll show the "adblockers not allowed" message if you have Ghostery enabled. Even if you disable that, they will add tons of artificial lag on things like key input, clicks and screen draw speed. I know it's artificial because it worked fine for years and then one day....
- snailmailman 2y ago
  I’ve had zero issues or ads lately using Firefox + uBlock origin. For a while I had to update the Adblock lists manually sometimes, but for months now it’s been flawless for me.
- satvikpendem 2y ago
  Just wait a day and uBlock will update its filters. That's what happened to me initially. In the meantime I had a yt-dlp script for videos I wanted to watch. Tubular on mobile also works fine.
- freehorse 2y ago
  This is a youtube vs ad-blockers issue afaik, not a firefox one. Still not enough for me to ditch UB-O but prob enough to waste less time on youtube
- csdreamer7 2y ago
  Disable ublock origin on Youtube, or pay for Youtube. As for artificial lag, I suspect it is because it using the web standard version of Youtube. Had this issue with Google Sheets where paste did not work correctly (forget exactly what it is) and it did work on Chrome. Google uses non-standard things to optimize the experience. It is not acceptable, but it is also an issue that will go away once more people go back to the fox.
  - rchaud 2y ago
    I consider myself grandfathered into their 2006 plan.
- spauldo 2y ago
Alifatisk 2y ago
Try out Zen browser, built on Firefox but closer to Arc.
- scoobydooxp 2y ago
  It took a while to get used to vertical tabs but once that took, I have moved completely to Zen. It was good to see it move from alpha to beta recently.
  - satvikpendem 2y ago
    Too bad they removed the ability to open the vertical tabs side bar on hover, that was a critical feature that caused me to go back to Firefox proper. I'll go back to Zen once they add it but to be honest, I'm not too sure what extra value Zen would bring me.
    - pa_nic 2y ago
      it's still here the 'left bar on hoover feature', it's just with another name
      - satvikpendem 2y ago
        I am talking about this feature [0], it should have the option to show all the tab icons and expand on hover, not hide the side bar entirely. The creator said this was being dropped due to maintenance concerns, and I haven't seen a community solution like they said yet. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/zen_browser/s/FaQ8Ro6d8r https://www.reddit.com/r/zen_browser/s/FaQ8Ro6d8r
        christophilus 2y ago
        Well, that feature seems to be showcased on their marketing landing page, so they may want to address that.
    - dghlsakjg 2y ago
Am4TIfIsER0ppos 2y ago
Yeah if you want the same fate in about a year
- viraptor 2y ago
  Have you got any source for that?
  - viraptor 2y ago
    Just in case: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2024/03/13/manifest-v3-manifest-v2-march-2024-update/ https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2024/03/13/manifest-v3-manif... > Support for Event pages, along with support for blocking webRequest, is a divergence from Chrome that enables use cases that are not covered by Chrome’s MV3 implementation. > Firefox, however, has no plans to deprecate MV2 and will continue to support MV2 extensions for the foreseeable future.
  - Am4TIfIsER0ppos 2y ago
    The entire history of firefox since version 4 when they first copied chrome
csdreamer7 2y ago
I was never able to leave the Firefox revolution. Chrome kept syncing my bookmarks out of order. I have never had it happen on Firefox.
conartist6 2y ago
I used Chrome for like 15 years now? (since it came out) and I finally switched to Firefox over this.
spacechild1 2y ago
Joined the revolution 20 years ago and never looked back! BTW, Firefox still has over 10% market share in German speaking countries, compared to 3% worldwide. To the rest of the world: stop being lazy and try other browsers!

Come join the Firefox revolution!

dagurp 2y ago

You could also use Vivaldi which has a built-in ad blocker

bdangubic 2y ago
so many folk here on HN inexplicably are stuck on using Google Chrome which I honestly just do not understand at all…

irobeth 2y ago

It really is amazing how things have come full circle from the point where chrome positioned itself as a "Libre" alternative to the IE near-monopoly There was a point between IE and chrome when Mozilla was always in the near-foreground offering alternatives to every internet hegemony, right around web 2.0, kinda makes me optimistic for the internet to see a resurgence of recommendations

ffsm8 2y ago
Huh, I don't remember that narrative at all... From how I remember it, we started with Netscape, IE outcompeted that by adding new features until they had enough share to strangle the competition. By that time IE became mandatory because of their extensions. Windows systems couldn't get updates without opening IE. Eventually it (IE) fossilized and Firefox became the better browser with more features (remember that debugging extension?) but was still pretty slow. Then came chrome. Way way faster, sleek and modern UI, removing the search and tool-bars. Hiding bookmarks by default and putting everything into the Omni bar. Really, that was what everyone I know of cared about: responsiveness/speed and that sleek UI. Finally Firefox improved its resource usage/speed and adjusted it's UI, taking inspiration from chrome... But by that time, it's popularity had already dropped massively.
- lowboy 2y ago
  > remember that debugging extension? Firebug was a godsend.
- x0x0 2y ago
  > IE outcompeted that by adding new features until they had enough share to strangle the competition. ie won because it wasn't an utter piece of shit. Netscape 3 crashed if you looked at it crosseyed, and ie3 was significantly more stable and performant. I worked at one of the first companies to ship a serious app targeting a browser and, at one point, 1/3 of our front-end code was fingerprinting various netscape versions and working around their browser bugs. The world rushed to ie3/4 because it wasn't garbage. I'm not saying Microsoft didn't abuse their monopoly position or compete in underhanded and illegal ways, but they originally won purely on quality. People shipping serious web apps begged their users to get off netscape.
Suppafly 2y ago
>from the point where chrome positioned itself as a "Libre" alternative to the IE near-monopoly you're misremembering history. chrome was always just faster and had newer features that people liked.

grounder 2y ago

Try Firefox Nightly for the native sidebar vertical tabs. That and native tab containers make Firefox work really well for me.

karteum 2y ago
If you want vertical tabs, built-in adblocker, and more generally are looking for a lightweight and free (as in free speech and as in free beer) browser, you may look at https://www.falkon.org/ https://www.falkon.org/ (made with QTwebengine i.e. Blink)

rchaud 2y ago

Uh, YT on FF is unusable now. They'll show the "adblockers not allowed" message if you have Ghostery enabled. Even if you disable that, they will add tons of artificial lag on things like key input, clicks and screen draw speed. I know it's artificial because it worked fine for years and then one day....

snailmailman 2y ago
I’ve had zero issues or ads lately using Firefox + uBlock origin. For a while I had to update the Adblock lists manually sometimes, but for months now it’s been flawless for me.
satvikpendem 2y ago
Just wait a day and uBlock will update its filters. That's what happened to me initially. In the meantime I had a yt-dlp script for videos I wanted to watch. Tubular on mobile also works fine.
freehorse 2y ago
This is a youtube vs ad-blockers issue afaik, not a firefox one. Still not enough for me to ditch UB-O but prob enough to waste less time on youtube
csdreamer7 2y ago
Disable ublock origin on Youtube, or pay for Youtube. As for artificial lag, I suspect it is because it using the web standard version of Youtube. Had this issue with Google Sheets where paste did not work correctly (forget exactly what it is) and it did work on Chrome. Google uses non-standard things to optimize the experience. It is not acceptable, but it is also an issue that will go away once more people go back to the fox.
- rchaud 2y ago
  I consider myself grandfathered into their 2006 plan.
spauldo 2y ago

Alifatisk 2y ago

Try out Zen browser, built on Firefox but closer to Arc.

scoobydooxp 2y ago
It took a while to get used to vertical tabs but once that took, I have moved completely to Zen. It was good to see it move from alpha to beta recently.
- satvikpendem 2y ago
  Too bad they removed the ability to open the vertical tabs side bar on hover, that was a critical feature that caused me to go back to Firefox proper. I'll go back to Zen once they add it but to be honest, I'm not too sure what extra value Zen would bring me.
  - pa_nic 2y ago
    it's still here the 'left bar on hoover feature', it's just with another name
    - satvikpendem 2y ago
      I am talking about this feature [0], it should have the option to show all the tab icons and expand on hover, not hide the side bar entirely. The creator said this was being dropped due to maintenance concerns, and I haven't seen a community solution like they said yet. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/zen_browser/s/FaQ8Ro6d8r https://www.reddit.com/r/zen_browser/s/FaQ8Ro6d8r
      - christophilus 2y ago
        Well, that feature seems to be showcased on their marketing landing page, so they may want to address that.
  - dghlsakjg 2y ago

Am4TIfIsER0ppos 2y ago

Yeah if you want the same fate in about a year

viraptor 2y ago
Have you got any source for that?
- viraptor 2y ago
  Just in case: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2024/03/13/manifest-v3-manifest-v2-march-2024-update/ https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2024/03/13/manifest-v3-manif... > Support for Event pages, along with support for blocking webRequest, is a divergence from Chrome that enables use cases that are not covered by Chrome’s MV3 implementation. > Firefox, however, has no plans to deprecate MV2 and will continue to support MV2 extensions for the foreseeable future.
- Am4TIfIsER0ppos 2y ago
  The entire history of firefox since version 4 when they first copied chrome

csdreamer7 2y ago

I was never able to leave the Firefox revolution. Chrome kept syncing my bookmarks out of order. I have never had it happen on Firefox.

conartist6 2y ago

I used Chrome for like 15 years now? (since it came out) and I finally switched to Firefox over this.

spacechild1 2y ago

Joined the revolution 20 years ago and never looked back! BTW, Firefox still has over 10% market share in German speaking countries, compared to 3% worldwide. To the rest of the world: stop being lazy and try other browsers!