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For me, the product differentiation of Firefox is a bunch of small convenience features which Chrome in its monolithism refuses to provide, such as: Allowing B

For me, the product differentiation of Firefox is a bunch of small convenience features which Chrome in its monolithism refuses to provide, such as: Allowing Backspace to go back a page. The built-in screenshot tool. Being able to turn off smooth scrolling. Support for a menubar, so that I can navigate the features I want quickly. Being able to choose page encodings (I use a non-Latin charset language). A usable/useful bookmark manager with things like sorting, tags/labels, timestamps, etc. "Restore Previous Session" feature. These are just a few features off the top of my head, I know there are many more. Of course, for certain sites like Google Docs and YouTube, I have to use Chrome for obvious reasons, but for most browsing I use Firefox (and qutebrowser.)

soulofmischief 2y ago
Don't forget the option for sane, standard behavior with shift+tab. Chrome refuses to let you customize shortcut behavior like that
mrec 2y ago
Out of curiosity, what "obvious reasons" issues have you had with Docs and YouTube. I use Firefox for everything, including those, without problems. (Though not in any kind of advanced way.)
- forgotmypw17 2y ago
  Depending on how beefy of a machine you're using, they're much slower in Firefox.
- wpm 2y ago
  I use Firefox on my HTPC, running a 6700K with 24GB of RAM. Not new, but not “slow”. Clicking a YouTube video will cause a three second page load, even if the actual “page” says it’s finished loading. Videos will start to play audio before the page is rendered. Navigating back and forth causes issues like this too. Sometimes I can get it to show a video but not change the title or comments that it renders. If I accidentally click the “Shorts” hyperlink I basically have to close the tab to stop it from endlessly playing shorts in the background of the SPA. It’s awful. The best example I experience on a day to day basis that the SPA as a concept is utterly flawed. YouTube is a fucking webpage that fails to work like a webpage and an app that behaves like a students rough alpha. An utterly painful experience, continually made worse by likely skilled devs who are managed by complete bozo losers. But at least the progress bar has an ugly pink hue now.
- noirbot 2y ago
  Docs just almost entirely does not function for me on Firefox on Linux. As in, I've had it crash the entire browser while just trying to type in a document. In general, Google just aggressively seems to be hostile to any non-Chrome browser using any of their sites. I'm sure they cloak it in "well Firefox just hasn't implemented this spec yet" but when it's functionally enforcing their browser monopoly I have to assume malice at this point. Too many Google sites behave worse on any non-Chrome browser for it not to be intentional.
- jackthetab 2y ago
  I wouldn't call them "obvious" reasons but I recently discovered that in Google Sheets under FF I couldn't duplicate a tab or copy a tab to a new sheet. I had to fire up Chrome to do that. Oddly enough, Chrome had somehow lost my settings since the previous time I started it a few months earlier, as if it were a new install. :-? I've not noticed any problems under YT Premium so far.
kid64 2y ago
> Allowing Backspace to go back a page. I mostly agree, but whoever came up with this shortcut should get choked.
- forgotmypw17 2y ago
  You may not like it, but I don't think it's a good reason to remove the option of enabling it for those who rely on it for daily work, which is what Chrome did.
- kevin_thibedeau 2y ago
  It was added with IE and cross pollinated.
thrdbndndn 2y ago
> Allowing Backspace to go back a page. Easily solved by https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/go-back-with-backspace/eekailopagacbcdloonjhbiecobagjci?hl=en&pli=1 https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/go-back-with-backsp... their first party webext. > Being able to turn off smooth scrolling. Can disable as easily as Firefox -- chrome://flags/#smooth-scrolling Actually, Firefox lately introduced a bug that will reset smooth scrolling everytime I remote desktop to my Windows machine. Which is annoying AF and they haven't fixed it for months. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1912246 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1912246 > Being able to choose page encodings (I use a non-Latin charset language). https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/set-character-encoding/bpojelgakakmcfmjfilgdlmhefphglae?hl=en https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/set-character-encod... > "Restore Previous Session" feature. You can do it since.. forever? Settings -> On Startup -> Continue where you left off Or just press Ctrl+shift+T when you restart Chrome to restore it manually. There are some more feature-rich session manager extensions, but they're usually available across Firefox and Chrome.
- forgotmypw17 2y ago
  >Easily solved by https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/go-back-with-backsp https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/go-back-with-backsp... their first party webext. This only works on pages where extensions are enabled, and only after the extension is successfully activated, so about 30% failure rate for me. >Can disable as easily as Firefox -- chrome://flags/#smooth-scrolling This has not worked for me reliably, and the flag has been renamed several times. For example, on my Mac, it reads "Not available on your platform." >Actually, Firefox lately introduced a bug that will reset smooth scrolling everytime I remote desktop to my Windows machine. Which is annoying AF and they haven't fixed it for months. I'm blessed to not have experienced this. >https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/set-character-encod https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/set-character-encod... Same as the other extension comment above, only works once extension activates successfully. >Settings -> On Startup -> Continue where you left off This is not the same feature.
  - thrdbndndn 2y ago
    I use all the extensions I mentioned for years, claiming it has 30% failure rate is bullshit. They don't work on internal special pages, sure, but they work flawlessly on any "normal" webpages with close to zero load time. And no, disabling smooth scrolling works totally fine as I use it for more than 10 years. If you're going to exaggerate your points to make a statement instead actually trying to find solutions, I have nothing for you, then.
deleted 2y ago
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rendaw 2y ago
Chromium has "restore previous session" - I use it every time I start my browser (I've had a session going for months if not years).
- forgotmypw17 2y ago
  It does not have a command for it. I don’t want it to happen every time I reopen Chrome, but only when I call the command.
worik 2y ago
> Of course, for certain sites like Google Docs and YouTube, I have to use Chrome for obvious reasons Yes, obvious. But left unsaid is that those reasons should lead to the breakup of the (deeply evil) Google ad machine. I struck a case where Googe Meet is the only website I have found that will not work with Firefox and my headset. I am so disappointed by Google, I can taste it
400thecat 2y ago
> A usable/useful bookmark manager with things like sorting, tags/labels, timestamps, etc. which bookmark manager can do that ?
- forgotmypw17 2y ago
  Firefox’s built in bookmark manager can do that, Chrome’s is very basic.

soulofmischief 2y ago

Don't forget the option for sane, standard behavior with shift+tab. Chrome refuses to let you customize shortcut behavior like that

mrec 2y ago

Out of curiosity, what "obvious reasons" issues have you had with Docs and YouTube. I use Firefox for everything, including those, without problems. (Though not in any kind of advanced way.)

forgotmypw17 2y ago
Depending on how beefy of a machine you're using, they're much slower in Firefox.
wpm 2y ago
I use Firefox on my HTPC, running a 6700K with 24GB of RAM. Not new, but not “slow”. Clicking a YouTube video will cause a three second page load, even if the actual “page” says it’s finished loading. Videos will start to play audio before the page is rendered. Navigating back and forth causes issues like this too. Sometimes I can get it to show a video but not change the title or comments that it renders. If I accidentally click the “Shorts” hyperlink I basically have to close the tab to stop it from endlessly playing shorts in the background of the SPA. It’s awful. The best example I experience on a day to day basis that the SPA as a concept is utterly flawed. YouTube is a fucking webpage that fails to work like a webpage and an app that behaves like a students rough alpha. An utterly painful experience, continually made worse by likely skilled devs who are managed by complete bozo losers. But at least the progress bar has an ugly pink hue now.
noirbot 2y ago
Docs just almost entirely does not function for me on Firefox on Linux. As in, I've had it crash the entire browser while just trying to type in a document. In general, Google just aggressively seems to be hostile to any non-Chrome browser using any of their sites. I'm sure they cloak it in "well Firefox just hasn't implemented this spec yet" but when it's functionally enforcing their browser monopoly I have to assume malice at this point. Too many Google sites behave worse on any non-Chrome browser for it not to be intentional.
jackthetab 2y ago
I wouldn't call them "obvious" reasons but I recently discovered that in Google Sheets under FF I couldn't duplicate a tab or copy a tab to a new sheet. I had to fire up Chrome to do that. Oddly enough, Chrome had somehow lost my settings since the previous time I started it a few months earlier, as if it were a new install. :-? I've not noticed any problems under YT Premium so far.

kid64 2y ago

> Allowing Backspace to go back a page. I mostly agree, but whoever came up with this shortcut should get choked.

forgotmypw17 2y ago
You may not like it, but I don't think it's a good reason to remove the option of enabling it for those who rely on it for daily work, which is what Chrome did.
kevin_thibedeau 2y ago
It was added with IE and cross pollinated.

thrdbndndn 2y ago

> Allowing Backspace to go back a page. Easily solved by https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/go-back-with-backspace/eekailopagacbcdloonjhbiecobagjci?hl=en&pli=1 https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/go-back-with-backsp... their first party webext. > Being able to turn off smooth scrolling. Can disable as easily as Firefox -- chrome://flags/#smooth-scrolling Actually, Firefox lately introduced a bug that will reset smooth scrolling everytime I remote desktop to my Windows machine. Which is annoying AF and they haven't fixed it for months. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1912246 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1912246 > Being able to choose page encodings (I use a non-Latin charset language). https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/set-character-encoding/bpojelgakakmcfmjfilgdlmhefphglae?hl=en https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/set-character-encod... > "Restore Previous Session" feature. You can do it since.. forever? Settings -> On Startup -> Continue where you left off Or just press Ctrl+shift+T when you restart Chrome to restore it manually. There are some more feature-rich session manager extensions, but they're usually available across Firefox and Chrome.

forgotmypw17 2y ago
>Easily solved by https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/go-back-with-backsp https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/go-back-with-backsp... their first party webext. This only works on pages where extensions are enabled, and only after the extension is successfully activated, so about 30% failure rate for me. >Can disable as easily as Firefox -- chrome://flags/#smooth-scrolling This has not worked for me reliably, and the flag has been renamed several times. For example, on my Mac, it reads "Not available on your platform." >Actually, Firefox lately introduced a bug that will reset smooth scrolling everytime I remote desktop to my Windows machine. Which is annoying AF and they haven't fixed it for months. I'm blessed to not have experienced this. >https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/set-character-encod https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/set-character-encod... Same as the other extension comment above, only works once extension activates successfully. >Settings -> On Startup -> Continue where you left off This is not the same feature.
- thrdbndndn 2y ago
  I use all the extensions I mentioned for years, claiming it has 30% failure rate is bullshit. They don't work on internal special pages, sure, but they work flawlessly on any "normal" webpages with close to zero load time. And no, disabling smooth scrolling works totally fine as I use it for more than 10 years. If you're going to exaggerate your points to make a statement instead actually trying to find solutions, I have nothing for you, then.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

rendaw 2y ago

Chromium has "restore previous session" - I use it every time I start my browser (I've had a session going for months if not years).

forgotmypw17 2y ago
It does not have a command for it. I don’t want it to happen every time I reopen Chrome, but only when I call the command.

worik 2y ago

> Of course, for certain sites like Google Docs and YouTube, I have to use Chrome for obvious reasons Yes, obvious. But left unsaid is that those reasons should lead to the breakup of the (deeply evil) Google ad machine. I struck a case where Googe Meet is the only website I have found that will not work with Firefox and my headset. I am so disappointed by Google, I can taste it

400thecat 2y ago

> A usable/useful bookmark manager with things like sorting, tags/labels, timestamps, etc. which bookmark manager can do that ?

forgotmypw17 2y ago
Firefox’s built in bookmark manager can do that, Chrome’s is very basic.