@davedavenotdavemaybedave said:
@dhromed said:@davedavenotdavemaybedave said:
Does anyone except /.ers have a reason to use Firefox? I'm continually surprised that people on this site would go near it. I don't have a lot of experience with FF except removing it from
people's PCs so they will work again, but from what I've seen, it's
buggy as hell, slow, unusable compared to other modern browsers, and
tends to break other things for no apparent reason.
Are you posting from this universe? Its only two major issues currently (not counting the 4beta) are the cold startup times, and its memory lunacy. These are good reasons to avoid it. Everything else is good. It is not buggy. It is not slow (opening a new tab in IE takes a full second. Every other browser is instant.). I have no idea what you mean by "unusable". It does not break things.
So, provide specifics, please, or quit constructing an argument out of unproductive vaguaries.
I could detail some things that I think work so much better in FFX than the others, but it's 0:45 and let's just suffice that I'm investigating Chrome's addon collection to see if I can replicate the few must-have addons I have for FFX, because I do kind of like Chrome; it's just an objective matter of comparing features that makes it #2 after FFX for me.
I'm not happy with FFX beta-that-is-really-alpha. It's doing some things very very wrong, interface-wise.
I would try IE9 beta, but I'm stuck on the common issue of the installer going catatonic 30% in. Ugly icon, though.
You? Colour me surprised.
Let's start with unusable. The only benefit of Firefox's complicated and unwieldy interface is that you can feel clever for penetrating it to change whatever simple setting you wanted to change. Otherwise, it's a nightmare. If you're not a geek who enjoys puzzles, Firefox is quite literally unusable.
Which brings us onto the second problem: it just doesn't work. I don't know why, because I've never cared enough to find out. Numerous times, though, I've seen many Windows PCs with all kinds of strange problems that were fixed by uninstalling Firefox. Maybe it's selection bias, but I've never met a non-geek who used Firefox and didn't complain incessantly about it not working. I would hazard a guess that these problems are caused by a combination of the 'memory lunacy' and impenetrable, unfathomably complex options and settings that people who know just enough about IT to install Firefox will think they know how to fiddle with.
However, you've just dismissed my problems with FF. I asked for reasons to use it. Have you any?
Okay as someone with little IT experience (namely none in any industry sense) I can tell you exactly why the average teenager uses each browser (IE, Chrome, FF) and why dhromed is telling you to get FF. IE is the slower of three with longer startup times and IE7&8 were a pain on netbooks due to the the 2 inches of screen space consumed by toolbars that came preinstalled. But it's a browser to use to ensure compatibility. Firefox allows a larger amount of customized addons to extend what it can do. A lot of IT students have it for that reason. (I currently use it to download flash videos using an addon) It is normally faster than IE by a fair margin, but it can quickly become slow if too many addons are installed. This may also be the reason you see so many screwed installations (users installing everything they see can cause issues). Chrome is the fastest browser...normally, and has the lowest memory usage....sometimes. In some cases it can jump far ahead of the others but it normally has less bloat. However it is not know for being perfect as it is the youngest software browser of the three. However it is the best to use on smaller screens as it has the smallest gui. However it too can also have addons (though there is less choice that FF) and these can cause problems with speed as well.
SO that's why each is used:
IE: Typical, preinstalled, compatability, secure, etc
FF: Faster, more customisable so you can ruin it
Chrome: Fastest...sometimes, slightly customisable.
So in summation, each has it's own pros and cons and I use all three for different purposes but mainly use FF and Chrome for my general browsing as they work faster with less bloat. I hope that helps answer your question of why people think you should use FF instead of IE....
Actually, I am ignoring the main reason a lot of people my age install Firefox....Adblock. An addon designed to hide annoying flash adds, but I figured that wouldn't be a suitable reason for you.
I assume dhromed is telling you to get FF instead of IE as FF is NORMALLY (not always) a faster browser when it doesn't have a million addons.