Come Browse the Browser Thread

I’d like to know what web browsers people are using and what they’d recommend, for whatever the use case and whatever the platform. There’s so many browsers out there.

Let’s browse them all and discuss the ones that make our hearts throb.

  • Firefox and FF-based derivatives (please specify)
  • Chrome and ditto
  • Safari
  • Edge or IE
  • Opera, including Opera GX the browser for gamers
  • Other not listed (please reveal in comments)
0 voters

In case you might be wondering why this wasn’t a poll in the ask me anything thread or the software that just works thread: the answer is that a web browser acts almost like an OS within an OS now and determines how we interact with the internet and the shape that it takes, and this is a community significantly mindful of how it interacts with the internet. I believe that discussing this in-depth could be of use in developing better online habits and insulating ourselves from insidious web design.

Also people just have very strong opinions on this subject and I want to read them.

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I use Firefox. Aside from using Chrome or other browsers sometimes at work, I’ve used Firefox for almost 20 years now, and I always use it when given a choice. Sometimes people notice I use it and comment on its usability or performance compared to whatever browser they like more. I picked it because it did the tabs good, I like fire, I like foxes, I had a couple of friends in tech who liked it, and now I’m a creature of habit.

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I switched from IE to Firefox the first time I heard of its existence. At that time Firefox was the cool kid on the block among browsers. (And I think it had tabs before IE had those?)

I used that for a good while until Chrome became the in-thing and felt a bit more fresh and modern in some aspects. At work Chrome was my goto browser as well because the developer tools were so much better than those of the others. I stuck with Chrome for a long time but I’ve been on a path towards more mindful technology and internet usage for a while now and that led me back to Firefox. I don’t like that Chrome gives Google more power over my internet usage than it already has and I feel like most, if not everything, that made Chrome better than FF back in the day has kind of evened out over the years.

Extension-wise I’m pretty minimalist:

  • uBlock Origin to make the modern internet bearable
  • Bitwarden as my password manager
  • Yomitan as my Japanese pop-up dictionary
  • As of today: RYS to stop YT from being such a skinner box

Edit:

I also read that you can customize basically everything in FF to your heart’s content. I haven’t felt the need yet but appreciate the option. That also makes it really popular in reddit’s unixporn community, which I’m eyeing with a weird mix of disdain and appreciation.

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I’ve been using Brave for a bit which is a chromium based browser that has a bunch of ad blocking and privacy stuff built into it. I don’t really know much about it beyond what I read in some reviews. It has some build in crypto wallet stuff that you can easily hide/turn off so that’s sorta bad vibes. I might switch to FF.

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on desktop, i used to use opera forever, but stopped when it became chromium based. now i’m using vivaldi, which, i believe is also chromium, but firefox did something to piss me off a couple years ago, i can’t remember what.

on mobile, i’ve always used firefox. i’ve tried others, but i can’t find much reason to care. firefox on android is whatever.

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I want to see a photo of this thread in the Dreamcast browser.

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I’ve been with Firefox back when it got tut-tuted for trying to call itself Firebird.
I’m not a 10+ tab power user but I do dabble in being a privacy weirdo from time to time. I like the spirit of “strict” privacy preset settings, full ublock origin, and am particularly happy with Firefox Multi-Account Containers. I don’t want accounts intermingling, especially with digital work/life sprawl. I think I have some CDN re-director too.

Used Chrome, Vivaldi, Edge, Safari, and Arc too. Just not what I was particularly looking for.

Most recently, very happy with Firefox’s new vertical tab support! No longer need to find extensions or make edits to layout files for this.

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I always post using the PlayStation portable web browser. Can’t believe there is no option for that.

I actually had a buddy in HS who only used his ps3 to browse the web, use fb, etc. but makes more sense in the context of 2012.

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Firefox has the best privacy support, ad blocking support, and mobile extension support. No brainer.

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firefox on (windows) desktop, firefox on iPad, firefox on iPhone. loaded to the gills with privacy extensions, including Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin, Javascript Toggle, DecentralEyes, and DuckDuckGo Privacy thing. Multi account containers is a game changer, like @WanderWhist said.

my actual first browser would have been AOL 3.0, then IE, then Mozilla and Opera and a wide smattering of other weirdo attempts at things, then Firefox, then Chrome, then Firefox again as of like 2010-ish I think. Get a nice Dark theme.

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i like that vivaldi lets me put my tabs on the left-hand side out of the box, which is nice for me because i like my monitor to be in portrait. i also like that it comes with tab groups out of the box, because i use hundreds of tabs, on desktop or mobile. example:

i currently have infinite tabs open, which is rather a lot.

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On desktop I use Firefox with uBlock Origin for most browsing since I prefer the way tabs and bookmarks look/function there, as well as Ungoogled Chromium with uBlock Lite for school and work stuff.

On mobile I just use plain old Safari with the Firefox Focus extension.

And you know I got Bitwarden on everything :100::100::100:

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i had to do a funky workaround to get firefox to work on my old laptop but on my new PC it’s working fine so i expect to keep using it for the foreseeable future.

i now only use chrome for work and vivaldi for one specific job which i use the tab tiling feature for as it allows me to keep a look on multiple tabs at the same time

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just want to recommend to any android users that firefox nightly is great at working with most extensions you would want and it’s what I’ve been using on my phone for a while and I adore the flexibility it gives me

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I switched from Firefox to Opera (not Opera GX, the browser for gamers) a while ago and never looked back. It’s snappy, it’s got the extensions I want, and I don’t know if other browsers have caught on to this yet, but tab islands are a great idea and I wouldn’t want to use a browser without them. I got nothing bad to say about Opera.

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Safari for iOS and macOS. It’s just so well integrated.

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I’m interested in Opera GX, sounds cool for gamers like us.

How many chrome users are too ashaming to vote? I feel somewhat guilty.
I used firefox since back in the days before chrome. When chrome came out I was excited by it and went for it, and never went back. Chrome has me in their claws deep. I like the password manager, bookmarks and tabs across devices, etc. and I don’t see much of a reason not to use it? I mean, I’m already literally living out front of google headquarters in my van for 7 years, which is ironic.

aside for my above post about PSP and PS3 browsing, I also used the Opera browsers for DS and Wii unironically at the time as well! During those years that video game console web browsers were new and super exciting (before iPhone normalized it! and they were better than any mobile phone browser by a long shot), I was going through a custody battle in middle and high school, and having my computer privileges and communications with my father taken away a lot. My authorities had no idea I could browse the web (and even use skype!) with those gaming devices. Yeah, I’m basically a Spy Kid hacker :sunglasses:

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There’s nothing wrong with preferring Chrome! Whatever works.

As for console experiences: The Wii U’s browser was driven on the tablet, but you could control a curtain close, open, and anticipation drumroll before revealing a site on the tv. A fun and maybe dangerous feature.

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here’s how my browsing setup looks, feel free to snoop:


before I lost like 100 tabs last year, I had a lot more tab groups, and I tend to not give them BIG CAPS LABELS like these three, for space I just leave them blank and go by color.

1 Like

I’ve used Firefox for most of my life, I switched to Chrome for a while because Firefox’s CEO was openly homophobic, but that guy is long gone (to Brave) and I ultimately switched back due to privacy concerns.

I know there are some even better browsers for privacy but I like the compatibility and broad range of extensions available using a major browser.

In terms of extensions I am currently using:

  • uBlock Origin
  • Bitwarden
  • Simple Tab Groups
  • Yomitan
  • Tampermonkey
  • Disable Javascript
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