5 ms·

I consider this notion of speed being the only important factor pretty stupid. No amount of speed matters when a browser's UX sucks. Firefox is the only browser

by sid0 17y ago

I consider this notion of speed being the only important factor pretty stupid. No amount of speed matters when a browser's UX sucks. Firefox is the only browser where it's actually _possible_ to get a decent UX (vertical tabs and a way to quickly search through tabs are absolute necessities).

dylanz 17y ago
I think it depends on what kind of "browser" user you are. I spend most of my time online, and only use my browser for viewing web pages, and sometimes testing during development. I rarely ever bookmark anything, and if I do, it's a link I "really" go to a lot and just put it in the bookmark toolbar. Basically, I use tabs and hot-keys. In a nutshell, start up speed and browsing speed is most important to me. Take it with a grain of salt though, as I don't mind viewing documents online in lynx/w3m/etc.
- sid0 17y ago
  I usually have around 200 tabs open, and any other browser is a nightmare to use. Firefox + Tree Style Tabs + Ubiquity is the only way I can maintain some degree of sanity. Since I keep my browser open all the time, I don't particularly care about startup speed. Hell, forget about admittedly niche things like vertical tabs. Chrome gets so many basic things wrong, from scrolling to text selection, that it's just a poor joke of a browser.
  - derefr 17y ago
    If I may ask, why do you have 200 tabs open? Are you really using the tab bar as a random-access array of pages, or are you using it more like a queue?
    - sid0 17y ago
      I'm just in the habit of opening tabs and forgetting about them for a few days, then coming back to them when I have time, so I guess it's more like a queue. I'm not saying it's desirable or optimal for everyone -- it's just how I work, and I find it quite effective, and I treasure my workflow a lot more than I care about "speed". I also usually have lots of tabs with API documentation open, so it's important to maintain state such as the position of the scrollbar. Keeping tabs open is a much easier way to maintain this state than creating bookmarks for every function in the API.
      - InclinedPlane 17y ago
        Perhaps you should investigate some sort of bookmarking technology like delicious.
        sid0 17y ago
        I've looked at them and tried to use them before, but the problem with any bookmarking technology is that I always get the feeling that bookmarks are permanent. (When was the last time you deleted a bookmark?) I really don't want most of the links I open to be permanent. With tabs, it feels good to know that there's always an out -- the red X in the top right corner.
        ErrantX 17y ago
        I fear it is not the browser that is the problem: just that your workflow is unique. As an aside I'm surprised you can survive with FireFox and 200 tabs. Once I get above about 50 the memory usage and lag just gets too much for it to be usable. Any tips?
        sid0 17y ago
        I just use Firefox (currently 3.6b4) with a few addons, and don't do anything special at all. Memory usage tends to be 600-700 MB, which isn't enough for me to care. I'm not sure what you mean by "lag" -- I don't use any web apps, so there's very little background stuff running.
        krzyk 17y ago
        Well, this usuage is not so unique, although I don't have 200 tabs, but usually way more than 50. As a side note, untill chrome is ported to linux (with a usable state) and untill adblock is ported to chrome, this browser does not exist for me :)
jsz0 17y ago
Aren't FireFox extensions based on JavaScript? Wouldn't faster JavaScript in FireFox directly benefit the extension developers who are trying to push the browser UI into new places? I agree that speed isn't the only important factor but the Mozillia folks are working hard to keep up with WebKit based browsers on performance so Google's focus on speed will ultimately benefit Firefox users as well.
- sid0 17y ago
  I completely agree.

by sid0 17y ago

dylanz 17y ago

I think it depends on what kind of "browser" user you are. I spend most of my time online, and only use my browser for viewing web pages, and sometimes testing during development. I rarely ever bookmark anything, and if I do, it's a link I "really" go to a lot and just put it in the bookmark toolbar. Basically, I use tabs and hot-keys. In a nutshell, start up speed and browsing speed is most important to me. Take it with a grain of salt though, as I don't mind viewing documents online in lynx/w3m/etc.

sid0 17y ago
I usually have around 200 tabs open, and any other browser is a nightmare to use. Firefox + Tree Style Tabs + Ubiquity is the only way I can maintain some degree of sanity. Since I keep my browser open all the time, I don't particularly care about startup speed. Hell, forget about admittedly niche things like vertical tabs. Chrome gets so many basic things wrong, from scrolling to text selection, that it's just a poor joke of a browser.
- derefr 17y ago
  If I may ask, why do you have 200 tabs open? Are you really using the tab bar as a random-access array of pages, or are you using it more like a queue?
  - sid0 17y ago
    I'm just in the habit of opening tabs and forgetting about them for a few days, then coming back to them when I have time, so I guess it's more like a queue. I'm not saying it's desirable or optimal for everyone -- it's just how I work, and I find it quite effective, and I treasure my workflow a lot more than I care about "speed". I also usually have lots of tabs with API documentation open, so it's important to maintain state such as the position of the scrollbar. Keeping tabs open is a much easier way to maintain this state than creating bookmarks for every function in the API.
    - InclinedPlane 17y ago
      Perhaps you should investigate some sort of bookmarking technology like delicious.
      - sid0 17y ago
        I've looked at them and tried to use them before, but the problem with any bookmarking technology is that I always get the feeling that bookmarks are permanent. (When was the last time you deleted a bookmark?) I really don't want most of the links I open to be permanent. With tabs, it feels good to know that there's always an out -- the red X in the top right corner.
        ErrantX 17y ago
        I fear it is not the browser that is the problem: just that your workflow is unique. As an aside I'm surprised you can survive with FireFox and 200 tabs. Once I get above about 50 the memory usage and lag just gets too much for it to be usable. Any tips?
        sid0 17y ago
        I just use Firefox (currently 3.6b4) with a few addons, and don't do anything special at all. Memory usage tends to be 600-700 MB, which isn't enough for me to care. I'm not sure what you mean by "lag" -- I don't use any web apps, so there's very little background stuff running.
        krzyk 17y ago
        Well, this usuage is not so unique, although I don't have 200 tabs, but usually way more than 50. As a side note, untill chrome is ported to linux (with a usable state) and untill adblock is ported to chrome, this browser does not exist for me :)

jsz0 17y ago

Aren't FireFox extensions based on JavaScript? Wouldn't faster JavaScript in FireFox directly benefit the extension developers who are trying to push the browser UI into new places? I agree that speed isn't the only important factor but the Mozillia folks are working hard to keep up with WebKit based browsers on performance so Google's focus on speed will ultimately benefit Firefox users as well.

sid0 17y ago
I completely agree.