I got a new MacBook Pro. I like to take these times to refresh my application use, and one choice of mine is to go in on Firefox as my default browser.
It's hard to find the time for new habits, even things as simple as browser switching, but this is as good a time as any.
I'm going with Firefox for a few reasons...
- Browser diversity: With Microsoft Edge moving to Chromium, we are that much closer to the mono-browser. This is worth resisting.
- Support for Mozilla: All else equal, I'm excited to be a user of the open source non-profit.
- Privacy: Google and/or Microsoft don't need to know any more about me than they already do.
- Performance and craftsmanship: I get the notion that Firefox is being developed on a solid foundation and making a lot of good longterm choices.
- It's a perfectly fabulous browser all around. I'm not missing anything I had with Chrome.
I think Chrome, V8, etc. have done incredible things for the web. I'm not anti-Chrome in an overly impassioned way, but I'm very happy to be taking the Firefox plunge.
Top comments (82)
I do not mind the mono-browser at all. I think that there will still be diversity because everyone will have their flavor of Chromium and it is open source. Even though it is Google's product, a company like Brave can make its own privacy-focused version of it. Browser diversity has been a challenge for most web developers over the years and with the rendering and feature support being universal, a lot of that will be alleviated. It also will help us as users because big companies will contribute to Chromium and it will be even better. Microsoft has already made some great contributions and I'm looking forward to them continuing to work on it. If those vendors disagree with where Chromium is headed, they can change direction.
Chromium as open source is just a decoy. Google is killing diversity using their licensed DRM. Read more: blog.samuelmaddock.com/posts/googl...
Wouldn't a mono browser weaken an open, standard-compliant, web?
Wouldn't the main developer of the mono-browser have too much control (think Google or Microsoft a while back.)
I think it could happen, but I don't think it will just yet. I think the fears may be based on historical reasons. I do not see any indication that Chromium is adding proprietary, non-standard features in its rendering engines or adding shady things to it (I haven't looked at the source, but I trust that I would see the uproar if that did happen). If Chromium departs from standards, everyone will see it happening because the source code is available. If Google neglects the upkeep of Chromium, there is a community to help. I'm not sure of the licensing for it, but I believe companies can also fork their own version of it and distribute it.
It is definitely good to think about though. From a historical standpoint, Internet Explorer was dominant and from a lot of people's perspectives, that ended up hurting the web. I do not believe it is fair to throw shade on Microsoft for that, they built a browser that shipped with the most popular operating system. There wasn't a great alternative until Firefox and Chrome came around.
Android is another open-source project by Google. Phone manufacturers have their own versions of it. Open-source communities have their own versions. I think Chromium can be similar in that way.
Firefox is fantastic, I love it, it's been my main browser for 8 years of coding. Good choice!
Extra LIBERTY tip, set DDG as your default search and then you can always use bangs (duckduckgo.com/bang) from the search bar. Much more powerful than picking between different search engines!
Happened a couple times to search for a cryptic error message on DDG and found two or three results maximum, and trying with some other search engine found several (a lot) more (not sure how many effectively pertinent). Any clue about this behaviour?
Dunno about that but if you're not aware of this little trick, you can always search through DDG with "g!" tacked at the end of your search query. Will take you to Google search without the tracking (unless you're signed in of course).
There are other shortcuts like this as well for Wikipedia and such.
Duck duck go is great! Search has really improved since the ‘old days’ and privacy for the win! Their browser is good too - Brave.
Brave is not DDG's product. They are separate companies.
Ah ok for some reason i had it in my head they were linked!
Anyway, both great products with a similar privacy-first focus
What makes them better than Chrome devtools?
FF has dedicated tab for accessibility which shows accessibility tool and how each node is behaving.
FF also has dedicated tab with sliders to play with font size, line height, weight etc. With drop down of switching between different css units.
It also gives very dev friendly view of flex and grids. This helps a lot in debugging.
I think Chrome and Firefox each have their own strengths, but Firefox is really great for any kind of layout/styling work. Grid inspector is fantastic.
Lackluster comped to chrome Dev tools. A11y has been a staple feature in cdt for years and keeps getting better. Chrome is by far the best browser in every sense that really matters.
Only point I agree with is the fact that we are going to be in a mono browser world (albiet, being open source is good), and they no longer "don't be evil", quite the opposite. Whatever is good for them comes first, unfortunately. FF is just so damn slow, Dev tools especially. And setting up a Charles proxy?... Ugh
To do unit tests, native integration with different debug tools is better, better integration with the dom
about:welcome @ben 😊 the next battle has been already written in about:mozilla
Haven't seen this before. How metal of them. 🤘
When I got a new machine last year I spent about 6 months with Firefox, but something always felt "off" with it and I eventually ended up installing Edge 2.0 instead.
I still use Firefox as my mobile browser from when I was experimenting 🤷♂️ Not really sure why.
It'd be interesting to get an update on your thoughts after a few weeks/months of using FF 👀
Oh wow, now I may switch to Firefox too.
Firefox is amazing. Very fast, stable, great add-ons. I personally can't live without Tree Style Tabs.
Oh yeah, and also as @citizen428 says:
I can't recall exactly what it was, I think it was mostly because of the interface, although this was also the case with plain Firefox... I guess I will need to give it another go! It feels like a lot has improved since 2/3 years ago :P
Devltools were nice though!
I just tested it a bit, it has definitely changed a lot since I last used it!
Oh yeah, same browser multiple different sessions. Very handy.
This plays nicely with other of my favorites, must-have, extensions: Switch Container
I moved to Mozilla 3 months ago and today only I was thinking to write about it.
Reason which made me to move to Mozilla was security only.
As developer now I m enjoying mozilla experience especially debugging experience.
I've been using Linux exclusively and since Firefox is installed on most distros by default, I don't even need to go out of my way to get a new browser. Unlike Windows, you already have an amazing browser when you're first booting.
Which distro do you use?
Ubuntu, Manjaro, and peppermint os
I tried... Poked around on a fresh FF build, no plugins installed, and everything within dev tools is extremely sluggish compared to Chrome/Chromium. Perhaps my macbook pro just like chrome better(?) There are some pretty views they added, animations make it feel even slower than it already is, and I don't see any feature that chrome doesn't have, just a few less features. Not having ability to perform local overrides is a big deal breaker; once you use them once, you can't go back to not using them [as a web dev]. Mostly it just lags the entire time, and when trying to take a memory snap the tab crashed. I could definitely see everyday (non-web-dev) using it, though. Less capabilities, but without dev tools it seems to perform decently. And like an OS, once you learn you're way around you will be more acclimated to use it.
I hate conspiracy theories, as far as chromium is open source. It's fine. not near a mono-browser scenario, just a more (but not necessarily) consistent user experience on the web. Both for users and devs alike.
For me, the flexbox/grid tool is enough 😀
What about Brave