Firefox And Chrome. What Am I Missing?

[alocke79]

I have been working as a systems/network administrator since 2003. I have always been a fan of the Mozilla family of products and it's Netscape predecessors. Currently my goto browser is Firefox and I use Chrome as my secondary. I typically have Firefox on my main screen and Chrome open on my second screen for a few sites I have always open; GMail, Facebook, Guild Forums, etc. Those pages just feel faster and more responsive on chrome and tend to crash or temporarily freeze less. I tend to like the flexibility of Firefox with its huge plugin library and the ability of open a permanent bookmarks tab in the browser window. Chrome's lack of that particular feature is one of the main reasons I have never fully switched. Even on hak5 it always seems to be a Chrome window now.

However, at least in the geek community I follow I seem to a a holdout among IT professionals and geeks alike. I would say well over 90% of my co workers, friends, online contacts, and bloggers I follow have gone exclusively to Chrome. This seems to be closer to 100% when it comes to contacts in the information security field. While some of them have some specific reasons, such as the ability to view and manipulate page source better as one infosec friend commented; most people have just expressed more generic likes such as speed, simplicity, clean layout. Except for a bit of speed, I don't tend to agree with those because you can make Firefox look and feel like Chrome fairly easily using plugins and themes. I have yet to find true replacements in Chrome for several features I enjoy in Firefox. Automatically removing torrent files after completion as opposed to just relocating them, ability to download photo archive pages whether the graphics are images, hyperlinks, or some odd embedded mix of both. As I've already beaten to death, bookmarks management.

So I thought I would ask the Hak5 community across all fields. Developer, network admin, server admin, security pro, or just professional home geek. What is your preference and why? In your own community of contacts, co workers, and friends, what have you seen? Not trying to start a browser holy war here, just curious based on the trend in my own social and media circles.

A.

[xero]

im a web application developer

(php, c#, asp.net, mysql, mssql, js, etc, etc)

personally,

im chrome all the way.

but since i do web work, i need to test my sites

in all the browsers i possibly can.

i like chrome for a few reasons,

1.) fast. like lightning fast. open time, load time (progressive rendering), etc.

2.) lightweight. there's just not much "fluf" to chrome. keeps it so quick.

3.) super simple plugin system. unlike ff, which nags you to death every time you launch it.

4.) extension system is ridiculously simple to code. i bet middle school kids could write them.

i find myself writing a quick extension to simplify my life all the time.

5.) built in flash player. (screw you apple, i like FLASH!!!)

in all honesty, i was a ff user for a long time. but since the release of 3 (or maybe 2.5x)

it seems to get consistently worse, not better with each update.

IMHO.

use what you like.

[Jason Cooper]

I used to use FireFox for many years, then Chrome reached a level for web development that it just took over. A lot of the key plugins that I used in FireFox were catered for natively in Chrome, which is really important as you were never sure if a plugin would work after an update on firefox. OK most of the time you could hack the plugin to work, but in reality I don't want to have to do that every time the browser is updated.

As already mentioned FireFox is still a must for testing webpages, but then so is Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera.

I still use FireFox in a set of Kiosk machines that I am responsible for, the main reason being that I already have a custom plugin created for FireFox that handles a lot of the requirements of the Kiosk mode.

[digip]

I use IE6 cause its the leetest mose secure browser in the WORLD, hands down, and I'm rocking Windows 98 SE like a BOSS!

[bobbyb1980]

Don't do web design but I do enjoy downloading various payload's through the different browsers to see which built in anti viruses detect what. Surprisingly, from what little testing I've done, Internet Explorer catches more payloads than Firefox and Chrome. Firefox has pretty horrible built in virus detection (doesn't even pick up compiled msf shellcode), and found that Chrome was mediocre and had similar detection rates as ESET would.

[keyboardN1nja]

Developer (Java, C++, PHP, MySQL, Python, and a little HTML), IT assistant, gamer, and all around geek.

I use Chrome primarily for its speed and reliability. I also love the sync feature (which Firefox finally caught up to).

I was a big fan of Firefox 3 and 4, but after 5, 6, 7, etc. hit, I quit using it as my primary browser. Each new version seemed buggier and slower than the previous. And don't get me started on the Adobe Reader PDF plugin. I know, blame Adobe, but what happened to that built-in PDF plugin written in JavaScript that Mozilla teased us with?

Firefox just feels clunky and slow today compared to Chrome, especially when opening a high number of tabs (15+ for me). I've never seen my boss with less than 30 tabs open, and he's never complained of Chrome slowing down.

I know browsers are a religion with some people, but I just use what works best for me (and I suggest everybody else do the same). Most of my friends also use Chrome.

[~*L33T_NiNj4*~]

im a web application developer

(HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, etc)

I used Firefox for a long time but when chrome came out i wanted to try it out. I instantly liked chrome for its sleek interface and speed. Another reason i use chrome is because i have instant account to Google services (ie gmail) as i browse and it also syncs my data to my Google account. But one thing Firefox beats chrome at is its Customization ability. Sure both have Plugins,themes,and addons, But Firefox's about:config has more setting you can tweak than chrome's about:flags. As a developer i like webkit rendering engine more than mozillas gecko engine, because it has better CSS3 settings (For example web-kit-box-reflect). But i have to add setting for -webkit and -moz (gecko) for compatibility reasons. But for me the

Winner is:

Google Chrome

[~*L33T_NiNj4*~]

im a web application developer

(HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, etc)

I used Firefox for a long time but when chrome came out i wanted to try it out. I instantly liked chrome for its sleek interface and speed. Another reason i use chrome is because i have instant account to Google services (ie gmail) as i browse and it also syncs my data to my Google account. But one thing Firefox beats chrome at is its Customization ability. Sure both have Plugins,themes,and addons, But Firefox's about:config has more setting you can tweak than chrome's about:flags. As a developer i like webkit rendering engine more than mozillas gecko engine, because it has better CSS3 settings (For example web-kit-box-reflect). But i have to add setting for -webkit and -moz (gecko) for compatibility reasons. But for me the

Winner is:

Google Chrome

[xrpixer]

I'm a web developer.

I mainly use Safari because i'm developing on a mac, but for anyone that asks i recommend Firefox. It's just the best.

[digip]

Opera. FTW!

No, seriously. Opera is the best browser. Ever. Hands down.

Edited June 27, 2012 by digip