10mo ago

Why I use Firefox

I’m interested in HTML, CSS, and making the web less annoying

Questions like “Which browser should I use?” regularly come up on the r/browsers subreddit. I sometimes respond to these posts, but my quick replies usually only contain one or two points. To be honest, until recently I wasn’t even sure myself why I use Firefox. Of course it’s a pretty good browser, but that doesn’t explain why I’ve stubbornly stayed loyal to Firefox for more than a decade. After giving it a bit more thought, I came up with the following reasons.

Firefox @lemmy.ml

Why I use Firefox

xn--ime-zza.eu /3

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14 comments

Because its the best.

My answer would be because it is not from Google, Microsoft or Apple and it works perfectly.

I'm aware there are some more private options, but I feel like ff is enough and is important to keep user numbers up, because once Firefox goes the forks go too.
- What wpuld those be if you don't mind me asking?
  
  Not sure as I don't use them, but look up any browser suggestion thread on Lemmy, besides the chrome forks there's always a couple of suggestion for a more private FF
  
  Waterfox and Librewold are both popular examples.

What's great about native firefox is that you STILL can tinker arround to improve privacy/security and shape it how you want.
Don't know how long it will last though ^^" One day I'm certain I will have to switch and I will really miss my little buddy :(.

I agree whole heartedly with 4 (it's independent) and 5 (mobile ad blocking) as my main reasons, and while I haven't used 6 (picture in picture) much, I like having the option.
I also want to add Container Tabs, which is way better for me than Chrome Profiles. I sometimes have three or four email addresses logged in simultaneously (work, personal, my kid's, and my wife's), and I like having SM sites locked behind a separate container entirely (e.g. all Facebook and Instagram links go to a clean container just for Meta crap).

I use it too and there is much to like. But there is also another side of it. I'm working in Web sites and apps and regularly test sites and Web apps on many browsers and Firefox has by far the most issues. Sometimes really strange issues that we spend way too much time to fix for Firefox users and lately we just don't.
- Chrome doesn't care about closing html tags. If they are mising the document is invalid but chrome will render it anyway and just add the closing tag where it thinks it should be.
  At the other end, Firefox goes beyond the standard and will block certain connections that should be allowed by the fetch standard (the setting to disable that is called enhanced tracking protection).
  So chrome allows things things it shouldn't while Firefox blocks some it shouldn't

I use it because I love how the Gecko engine renders web pages. For some reason, Gecko renders fonts way better than the Chromium engine, that is literally bashing my eyes. There's something terribly wrong with the Chromium rendering... and I don't know what it is 😅
- True

So I started using Firefox in my early teens around 2010, I didn't know/care about online privacy etc and had no idea what open source was, I just picked it because I liked the look and theming options more than Chrome at the time.
I then kept using it because it's what I knew and I can be stubborn to change sometimes. Around 2016 was when I started looking more into online privacy and FOSS stuff it kinda just reinforced my existing use of Firefox.
Recent actions by Google with their anti-adblocking campaign and Manifestv3 have just made me dig in my heels more.
- Any yet Mozilla is still struggling as a company.

14 comments