2y ago

Should I use chromium based browsers or firefox?

Chromium has better features, but with google announcing its plan to 'drm the internet' I 'm not sure if it'd be a good idea.

125 comments

What better features? Firefox has pretty much everything nowadays, and is as fast as Chrome.
- From the comments I'm noticing a trend
  Google Chromecast issues
  Not allowed to do background effects in Google meet
  and from personal experience:
  issues using the store to update add-ons on Google docs
  can't authenticate desktop Google drive
  I use a lot of Google products, but avoid Chrome because of nonsense like this. Firefox works fine for everything else EXCEPT certain Google products. Feels intentional
  
  100% intentional. If you spoof your browser signature most work just fine
  
  Google Meet background effects actually work in Firefox if you spoof Firefox user agent to Chrome, I kid you not.
  
  I have the same experience. At my last company they only used Google meet so I had chrome on my computer just for meetings and nothing else.
  
  The only time I use chromium is to attach a debugger to GWT (yes, the "G" stands for Google). It runs like absolute trash in Firefox.
  Everything else runs better in FF.
- This is exactly why companies spend money on marketing, people remember these ideas and internalize them as their justification long after it stops being true. And Chrome being fast hasn't been true for a long time.
  
  It still wins most benchmarks, so it's technically true. Although not really enough to matter on desktop where it's millisecond differences
- Native procedural dark mode, Developer CSS Overview, browser extension file access.
  I use Firefox exclusively except for when the second one is useful. I really wish Firefox had those three though.
- It doesn't have translations. I use it anyway, but it's a minor inconvenience as I live in a foreign country.
  
  Translations might be coming soon
  https://9to5linux.com/firefox-118-enters-beta-testing-with-the-built-in-translation-feature-for-websites
  Done locally on the device, so no risk of personal info going to some company
  
  I use an extension for translations and it works just fine
- Chromium browsers have only 1 feature I need: access to the Chromecast API. I have 3, Firefox can't connect to them and the last 2-3 times I tried the listed 3rd party methods (fx bridge, etc), I could never get it to work.
  Were it not for that, I'd be back on Firefox.
  
  That's part of why I avoided getting new Chromecast devices 😄
  
  I had a similar need, and it prevented me from moving to FireFox for a long while. Luckily, I did manage to get fx_cast to work, and it's been flawless ever since. In fact, I'd say it work more reliably than Chrome's casting!
  
  Have you tried setting browser.casting.enabled = true in Firefox's about:config settings?
- Edge's vertical tabs and grouping. Every solution on Firefox feels half-baked.
  
  I use the tree style tab extension for that.
- On Android tablets, most non-Firefox browsers support a tab bar, and tablet optimised UI. Firefox is just a giant stretched phone layout. I like to use the same browser on all platforms so I can sync tabs, so Firefox being crap on my tablet rules it out for my other devices too.
  
  I uae Fennec, which is a better (but just okay) android browser from f-droid based on firefox. It has firefox sync. Just fyi.
- Firefox always memory bloats out on me. Mobile app crashes.
  I switched to Brave then moved to Vivaldi. I'll revisit if FF gets more stable.
- even more you can import google addons into firefox ( right now only in nightly builds but it works )

I'll give you one reason where Firefox blows chrome out of the water: multi account containers:
Firefox Multi-Account Containers lets you keep parts of your online life separated into color-coded tabs. Cookies are separated by container, allowing you to use the web with multiple accounts
That way you can seamlessly have multiple accounts for a specific site open side by side (for example, your work and your personal mail with the same mail provider). Especially amazing if you're an IT contractor who works for multiple clients.
- Yeah it is also good for a bit more privacy on the internet. I have separate containers for Amazon websites, Google, banking etc. Even more powerful tool if you pair it up with a VPN - can have different VPN locations on each container so break up attempts at tracking and profiling you across the web.
  
  Yup, and there are dedicated extensions to manage them individually paired together with noscript. I have one of each for the couple major sites I occasionally use to contain all their tracking.
- This is one feature I literally can't do my job without. Used to have 3 separate browsers installed + opened at the same time for all my various Azure accounts till FF saved the day!
  
  This!
- Hi fellow IT contractor, thanks for sharing! That is awesome. Just installed and works like a charm. I was using Chrome profiles for this, but having all in one window is much easier.
- As an employee of an MSP, Firefox containers are a lifesaver. No more incognito mode every time I need to check another client's Office 365!
- This is super useful for any sort of development work - you basically get unlimited, separate private windows that you can log into stuff separately.
  I use it for multi account switching on Reddit, I still do a lot of scam bot fighting over there and being able to easily switch between several users is really helpful.

Firefox
- All day every day

I've been using Firefox at home for as long as I can remember. I've not found anything I can't do with it yet.
If something doesn't work you can always try it in edge of something either way.
- Firefox doesn't support background effects in Google Meet so i can't blur my background during my daily work meetings. That's the only reason i still have to use Chromium browsers
  
  Did you try agent spoofing (which probably won't work in the future because of this). This sounds like things Microsoft (and now Google) does to make their product look better.
  
  Why do you need to blur your background?

Firefox! This is the way!

I generally install chrome to people who have no idea what they are doing. But since you are tech-savy enough to be in the fediverse, I'd recommend firefox without a second thought.
- I generally install chrome to people who have no idea what they are doing.
  Why? It's not like Firefox is more complicated for the end user than Chrome.
  
  True. However, when something goes wrong with an ignorant person's machine, they are quick to blame it on the "unconventional" choice someone else made.

125 comments