Firefox v Chrome

[D-Dan]

OK, full disclosure. I’m an FF fan, have been for years. I don’t like Chrome, because Google and spying and stuff.

However, over the past year or two, FF is getting bloated, slow to start, and can’t handle a lot of stuff I use without some serious google-fu. Meanwhile, Chrome starts quickly, and will handle those problematic sites (specifically, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video) without an issue.

I’m thinking it’s time to switch, but the inner paranoid in me says different, so over to you guys. What do I do?????

 

Oh, should add, I love the way I can customise FF. Chrome seems to be more stuck in its ways, so if there’s a plugin I haven’t found that will let me put tabs, search bar, and whatever buttons I fancy onto a single line, whilst still using GTK (Linux user), all the better.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[Dave Rice]

I use Chrome for every day browsing and FF for accessing infrastructure like NAS boxes and CCTV cameras etc.

As for spying, they are all at it in one form or another. There are official Google opt out extensions for IBA and analytics and I run an ad blocker in both.

[blacklion1725]

Yep I naturally prefer the Firefox UI but it is getting slower and slower. I stick with it mainly because of the VideoHelper add-on which is excellent for grabbing stuff from YouTube (I DL lots of documentaries to watch when travelling).

I notice more and more FF doesn’t display a lot of sites properly (e.g. the Sky TV guide here). I still find FF a very good mobile browser but on the Desktop under Windows it needs a kick up the @rse.

[Boris]

Have you considered Pale Moon for Linux ? I use the Windows version.

http://linux.palemoon.org/

Not as bloated as FF, but still very customisable.

Never trust an atom - they make up everything !

[Drezha]

I’ve been using Vivaldi a lot recently. Uses Chrome as a basis (Chromium I guess as it’s open source) and install all the addons from the Chrome webstore. Only issue is bookmark syncing but it runs Xmarks so that takes care of it.

Removes the potential Google issue but still performs quite well, though only issues I’ve run into are having to disable some keyboard shortcuts (such as Ctrl-B as these interfere with webmail, iCloud or Google Docs where normally it would make something bold) and on Linux it doesn’t follow Xubuntu option to reverse the scroll direction.

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[D-Dan]

Do the forks of chrome work with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video on Linux? That was always the problem for me, and whilst I know that FF can now be coaxed into working, it isn’t as well as Chrome does.

Up to now, I have to use the Chrome development version. If there’s an alternative that works as well I’d be happy to try.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[Drezha]

I don’t recall having an issue with it on Netflix, but I can’t recall and I don’t have a Linux install to hand currently.

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Dave Rice]

Well you could install Windows as it just works….  :bye:

[D-Dan]

Dave Rice wrote:

Well you could install Windows as it just works….

LOL – Tell my PC at work that, where every update breaks it.

Anyway, Windows on my home PC isn’t gonna happen.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

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