I haven't used FF in years but I've been so impressed with 57 that I've finally come home. I'm wondering if I'm alone. If you switched, please let us know why you decided to switch.
FF57 still consumes more memory than Chrome? For the same tabs? Or are you maybe experiencing some https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation — opening more tabs because they mostly "feel" lighter-weight?
I opened the same exact tabs in both FF57 and Chrome (7 each) and sorted by memory usage in Activity Monitor. When adding up the main task and helpers, FF57 used significantly more.
The pattern I noticed is that with small amount of tabs Firefox can consume more RAM, but the situation quickly changes in favor of Firefox when opening more of them.
I switched to test it, not sure yet whether or not I will stay using it all the time. I definitely notice the speed and the built in screenshot support is pretty nice.
I really like container tabs (you have to enable them in about:config - privacy.userContext.enabled and privacy.userContext.ui.enabled). It allows me to have multiple AWS accounts open at the same time without having 2 different browsers or one account open in private mode. I have 2 main containers I use: production and staging.
Chrome has this as a first-class feature, "People." I have one window open for personal, and another for each of the AWS accounts I have access to. Sounds from your description like FF can do this at the tab level?
Yes, that's correct. The containers feature enables profiles on a per-tab basis. As someone who does a lot of account switching, it's a killer feature for me. I would imagine some users would not really find it necessary.
Yea, firefox has profiles as well. Containers are different and apply your browsing context based on the tab. Super useful, you can also configure sites to open in a certain container.
I do wish I could just pin an entire window to a container, but overall the flexibility is worth it. (I abhor having more than one window open per app at a time.)
I am unfamiliar with it, but the profile manager in FF does not seem to be on the same level as Chrome. In Chrome you can change the profile and reopen your previous tabs by clicking in the top right.
With FF, you have to quit FF and type in the terminal 'firefox -P'.
Yes and it's color coded so you know what container each tab is associated to. By default all tabs are in the default container. You can long-press the + tab icon to select what container the new tab belongs to (I believe this is FF58+ only) or File > New Container Tab > Select Container. Here's a screenshot of two AWS Management console tabs with 2 different containers.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I think "People" also saves the browser session to a third party server so that you could resume the session from another machine. That's definitely not something I want.
Containers are different from profiles. Firefox has both. Containers are within a single profile (and thus can be opened within the same window) and let you do things like ensure certain sites get opened in certain containers only (at least, I think that feature is still there). Containers are a first class feature as well, however there is an addon for supplementing their behavior.
Firefox also has profiles (about:profiles) but with less UI around it so it's annoying to use.
To enable it in FF57 you have to enable the options in about:config (I believe it's enabled by default in FF58). Go to about:config in your browser and enable the following flags: 1) privacy.userContext.enabled and 2) privacy.userContext.ui.enabled
Once they are enabled, you can create under Settings > General > Tabs > Settings
Do you know what the difference is between this extension and the native support in FF57? It seems to me they are one and the same. Could it be this was an extension that is now natively part of FF Quantum?
Honestly not sure. I just read about it in another thread talking about Firefox and some people there were saying that the extension replaces having to go into about:config.
The decision was made to expose the relevant WebExtension APIs required to build containers uis to add-ons, rather than shipping with a specific containers ui.
With the add-on there's a useful button you can put in the navbar that lets you easily edit the containers and add sites to always open using them. I didn't know you could even do the later until I started using the add-on.
I switched. I really like the performance boost, and it just generally feels "snappier". I also had a long seeded desire to support FireFox, so now felt like a great time to jump ship.
I usually have around 100+ tabs open in Chrome at any given time on my 2014 macbook pro. I have been testing out Firefox 57 for about a month now. I am very impressed by the devtools UI and the customization features. The speed is something I don't have to worry about at all, and makes it easier to compare Chrome to Firefox. I am fortunately not in a situation where any of my addons/extensions are unsupported on either browser. It has been fun to compare them and I think I will be switching completely to Firefox.
I guess I'll start it off. I've done a apples-to-apples compare on memory usage of 7 tabs with the same content and FF57 came in at 514 MG to chrome's 512 so that's basically a wash.
The speed has been the main factor along with being able to step away from Google, if only a little bit.
I have couldn't be more happier. The ability for Firefox nightly to modify requests and resend is a bonus. Also less sluggish and quicker. Ublock origin and last pass both supported with nightly.
I switched a few weeks ago when 57 hit the Nightly channel. The main incentive towards Firefox for me has always been the Tree Style Tab extension[1]; it's just that Chrome's better performance used to be a stronger incentive. Now they're more-or-less equal on that front.
I've been running FF Nightly for weeks now, and I really like it. It feels snappier than Chrome, and I hope it can bring back a significant portion of developers as well.
I switched on my work laptop a few months ago, with the knowledge that 57 was the one to look out for. Got the update yesterday and was impressed enough to switch at home as well.
I've also been using Firefox on my phone for a while now, specifically so that I can run ublock origin and video speed controller, since mobile chrome doesn't support extensions.
I've given it a decent shot - but it still has very average profile support, which I use daily. In Chrome, it's easy to see what profile I'm using (top right corner of the window), and very easy to switch.
In Firefox, you need to go to about:profiles to even see what profile you're currently using.
Maybe you could use a different theme for each profile, or put different buttons or buttons in different order in the toolbar?
Maybe there could be an extension that shows the name of the current profile and/or an image/text chosen by the user in the toolbar or the tab bar?
The extension would have to be installed in each profile, but this is to be done only once.
Please still my idea, whether you are a Firefox or an addon developer!
What? I have hundreds, sometimes low thousands of tabs open constantly - auto shrinking tabs is exactly what makes me despise Chrome. It's completely unusable once you reach circa 50 and mouse wheel becomes the only way to navigate them.
In contrast, Firefox, thanks to no auto shrinking, is somewhat usable out of the box, and works wonderfully with extensions like Tab Center Redux or Tree Style Tabs.
Ha! That's funny! I used to say the same thing about chrome because the tabs shrunk so much I found them unusable. Also, opening too many tabs always gave me out of memory errors.
But maybe you can get it more to your liking by tweaking browser.tabs.tab in about:config?
I've used Chrome continuously ever since it was released, but today I switched to Firefox on both my work and personal laptops.
Both machines are Macbook Pros, one 2012 and the other 2017, and Chrome feels laggy on both. Scrolling is not smooth, and certain web applications are just downright unpleasant to use (notably, Jupyter notebooks and Facebook).
I gave Firefox Quantum a try, and it's an amazing improvement. This is more how I imagined computers to function in 2017 to be honest. There is no noticeable lag on either machine. So I'll be sticking with Firefox for the foreseeable future.
With the exception of casting things to my chromecast, I've switched to Firefox for everything. Performance isn't an issue, development tools are really good, I can be "that guy at work who catches firefox bugs," and I'd rather support Mozilla than Google at the end of the day.
I want to uninstall chrome, but can't find a good replacement for chrome report desktop. It just works so seamlessly on all devices, including mobile. Any suggestions?
I've been using Nightly for about 2 months for personal browsing, and have recently switched to using it for my web development job using containers, and it's been great.
Biggest feature I'd like to see is a keyboard shortcut for opening a new tab in a particular container, as opposed to Cmd+T opening an uncontained tab.
The Developer Tools still have a ways to go before they beat the performance of Chrome (large source files lag), but it's perfectly usable and getting better all the time.
All in all, I've been very happy with my switch, especially when Quantum landed in Nightly: a noticeable increase in speed and snappiness!
>Biggest feature I'd like to see is a keyboard shortcut for opening a new tab in a particular container, as opposed to Cmd+T opening an uncontained tab.
Exactly this. We need keyboard shortcuts for containers.
When using the extension, you can use Ctrl+[dot] to open the container selector and then use arrows/tab and enter to select the container to open a new tab in. It's not as good as a dedicated shortcut, but it lets you open new container tabs without leaving your keyboard.
1. While using the touchpad to go 'back', a page on Safari will show you the page you're going back to. Chrome will at least offer an arrow animation backwards. Firefox offers no such thing, often leaving me confused as to whether it's registered. A couple times so far it has instead scrolled me up the page a bit.
2. I have nothing else open, yet certain actions (i.e. scrolling through Zillow pictures earlier) will result in it sporadically using so much memory that my computer's fans are audibly loud and the computer gets quite hot.
Nonetheless, I still would narrowly recommend it, though some of that is likely to do with wanting to support Mozilla.
2010 macbook, Chrome user. Things are generally slow, but felt like they got a bit snappier after the High Sierra upgrade. I tried FF57 but for me it feels a bit slower than Chrome on this older device.
I switched yesterday from Chrome to FF 57 on my MBP 2014. Chrome was faster, but now FF is the clear winner. On Windows, I have been using FF for the past 10 years. Also, Firefox Sync is just amazing.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 122 ms ] threadI didn't think much about container tabs til I read this. This will be awesome for me. Thanks!
I do wish I could just pin an entire window to a container, but overall the flexibility is worth it. (I abhor having more than one window open per app at a time.)
With FF, you have to quit FF and type in the terminal 'firefox -P'.
They are not at the same level.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-...
Containers are really bad at saving your workspace: tabs with a profile so I can just shut down work at the end of the day or on a weekend.
> Containers are really bad at saving your workspace: tabs with a profile so I can just shut down work at the end of the day or on a weekend.
Sure they are, ensure your "open tabs from last time" pref is selected in settings.
https://i.imgur.com/1gtX1Om.png
Firefox also has profiles (about:profiles) but with less UI around it so it's annoying to use.
Once they are enabled, you can create under Settings > General > Tabs > Settings
Makes it simpler and more accessible.
The speed has been the main factor along with being able to step away from Google, if only a little bit.
[1]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-ta...
I've also been using Firefox on my phone for a while now, specifically so that I can run ublock origin and video speed controller, since mobile chrome doesn't support extensions.
In Firefox, you need to go to about:profiles to even see what profile you're currently using.
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Contextual_Identity_Projec...
They share history/bookmarks, which I'm not a fan of. I prefer my work profiles not to have reddit/hacker news etc. in the auto fill address bar.
Maybe there could be an extension that shows the name of the current profile and/or an image/text chosen by the user in the toolbar or the tab bar? The extension would have to be installed in each profile, but this is to be done only once.
Please still my idea, whether you are a Firefox or an addon developer!
I hit minor compatibility issues on some sites, but it’s rare.
Main thing I miss is auto shrinking tabs. FF doesn’t support the bajillion tabs methodology so well right now.
In contrast, Firefox, thanks to no auto shrinking, is somewhat usable out of the box, and works wonderfully with extensions like Tab Center Redux or Tree Style Tabs.
But maybe you can get it more to your liking by tweaking browser.tabs.tab in about:config?
Both machines are Macbook Pros, one 2012 and the other 2017, and Chrome feels laggy on both. Scrolling is not smooth, and certain web applications are just downright unpleasant to use (notably, Jupyter notebooks and Facebook).
I gave Firefox Quantum a try, and it's an amazing improvement. This is more how I imagined computers to function in 2017 to be honest. There is no noticeable lag on either machine. So I'll be sticking with Firefox for the foreseeable future.
Biggest feature I'd like to see is a keyboard shortcut for opening a new tab in a particular container, as opposed to Cmd+T opening an uncontained tab.
The Developer Tools still have a ways to go before they beat the performance of Chrome (large source files lag), but it's perfectly usable and getting better all the time.
All in all, I've been very happy with my switch, especially when Quantum landed in Nightly: a noticeable increase in speed and snappiness!
Exactly this. We need keyboard shortcuts for containers.
It feels faster, but my two main complaints:
1. While using the touchpad to go 'back', a page on Safari will show you the page you're going back to. Chrome will at least offer an arrow animation backwards. Firefox offers no such thing, often leaving me confused as to whether it's registered. A couple times so far it has instead scrolled me up the page a bit.
2. I have nothing else open, yet certain actions (i.e. scrolling through Zillow pictures earlier) will result in it sporadically using so much memory that my computer's fans are audibly loud and the computer gets quite hot.
Nonetheless, I still would narrowly recommend it, though some of that is likely to do with wanting to support Mozilla.
But I've been using Firefox 57 for a few month, and it's great. I still use Chrome, but I'm probably spending equal time in both now.