Firefox Myths

[Danad_corps]

Hey guys, i just wanted you to look at this site and check it out for yourselves. I haven't had the time to read it thoroughly so i can't support it 100%, but from what i've seen, its pretty convincing. Read through it and see what you think.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/OptimizeXP/Buttons/FirefoxMyths.gif (http://www.firefoxmyths.com)

[BioAlien]

Yea, it was kinda obvious that most of those stuff about firefox were just myth.

Opera for the Win!


Myth - "Firefox is the Fastest Web Browser" - Example

Reality - Opera (now 100% Ad free) is the fastest Graphical Web Browser in Windows. - Source


Most Secure Web Browser

Myth - "Firefox is the Most Secure Web Browser" - Example

Reality - Opera is currently the most Secure Graphical Web Browser in Windows. - Source


Notes - Presto, the Opera rendering engine puts the emphasis on getting the content of a page (the text) to the user earlier than Firefox, and Opera's cache (especially the back/forward performance ) is simply faster than any other browser. - Source


This trend is growing at an alarming rate. Before users would seek out help to clean their machines now they simply install Firefox and "think" all is well again. If these people were honestly concerned about security they would be using Opera. Actually if most people knew the real truth about all these Myths they would be using Opera for all the reasons they thought they were using Firefox.

[Honoko]

Interesting. I was wondering why I never saw this on Digg until his claim at the very bottom. I got tired of constantly switching browsers so I never bothered looking into Opera. Anyone here use it? I'm a Firefox Mac user but I doubt anyone could label me as a rabid fangirl =P I never downloaded any of their plug-ins.

[BioAlien]

I use Opera ever since it became ad-free.
The only thing i hate, is sometime it want to go too fast, and "skip" some picture in a page, making it either blury, or take some other random picture from the cache to replace it. solution : refresh the page.
I also tried firefox.. for 5 minutes.. didn't like it.

[Ryllharu]

I'd use Opera in a heartbeat, it's a great browser, if only I didn't despise the way it cycles through tabs as you close them.

Go to a site like digg and open a number of articles, each as a new tab. Read a story, close the tab. Where does it take you? Back to the main page of digg that you picked all the articles from. Do I want to see that again? I want them to move to the right, like flipping a page, reading them in the order I opened them in. I do not want to see the same page I chose the articles from 6 times before I switch to the next subcategory in digg.

This isn't how FF works, it isn't how IE7 works, and there's no way to fix it.

I'll take all the rest of FF's faults as long as it uses tabs in a logical manner. I've been against IE for so long, that maybe I'll have to consider using it again with 7.

Though, I've got all 3 installed on my computer, so I can just use whichever one strikes me at the moment.

[Board of Command]

I used Opera maybe...6 years ago? That was when I first saw tab browsing. However I had a really crappy computer and crappy connection and it just didn't seem like a huge improvement over IE. I haven't tried Opera since.

[BioAlien]

I'd use Opera in a heartbeat, it's a great browser, if only I didn't despise the way it cycles through tabs as you close them.

Go to a site like digg and open a number of articles, each as a new tab. Read a story, close the tab. Where does it take you? Back to the main page of digg that you picked all the articles from. Do I want to see that again? I want them to move to the right, like flipping a page, reading them in the order I opened them in. I do not want to see the same page I chose the articles from 6 times before I switch to the next subcategory in digg.

This isn't how FF works, it isn't how IE7 works, and there's no way to fix it.

I'll take all the rest of FF's faults as long as it uses tabs in a logical manner. I've been against IE for so long, that maybe I'll have to consider using it again with 7.

Though, I've got all 3 installed on my computer, so I can just use whichever one strikes me at the moment.

When closing a Tab, opera goes back to the last OPEN page.
If you just close the main page, it won't go back on it.


It's not That annoying.

And you can just do, click and hold Right button on the mouse and scroll up/down with the wheel to change page.

[Death13a]

I use firefox. I used Opera but i am more comfortable with Firefox and having 3 browsers were too much (IE default and used mostly for updates or IE only stuff).

[Ryllharu]

When closing a Tab, opera goes back to the last OPEN page.
If you just close the main page, it won't go back on it.
It's not That annoying.
And you can just do, click on hold Right button on the mouse and scroll up/down with the wheel to change page.
That's kinda the whole point. I don't want to see the last open page, I want to see the page I haven't seen yet. It's really annoying to keep seeing the same directory page over and over.

The point is that I shouldn't have to do anything special to get to the next tab. It should close an old one and move on. I could cycle through them with Shift+Tab too, but the point is that I should not have to.

A lot of the problems with FF are easily fixable with add-ons. Sure, that may slow it down even further, make it drain more resources, but I can deal with those for the trade-offs I'm getting from the add-on itself. Opera is closed source, and is not alterable. The tabs issue may not be important to you, but I find it to be a large enough fault with Opera that it shadows all the good features of Opera.

[masamuneehs]

if only I didn't despise the way it cycles through tabs as you close them.

isn't that the biggest pain in the ass?

i also use Opera, but I keep IE (the latest version of which has tab browsing) and Firefox on my computer as well.

somehow reading those myths reminded me of those crappy, holier-than-thou Mac commercials trouncing the PC...

[complich8]

I stick to firefox because of adblock. I like having the power to regex-match and strip out whole structural components of webpages. I haven't seen an ad in months, except in safari.

I would use opera (and acknowledge that it's better than firefox in a lot of ways), but there's about half a dozen UI quirks that I really really hate about it, with fixes ranging from a couple minutes (finding the right option in the prefs) to a couple hours (finding the js widget that changes the behavior to what I want it to do) to unfixable (the general feel of the ui, the tab ordering).

What's interesting, though, is that firefox is slowly trying to adopt some of those quirks that I hate -- like close buttons on the tabs instead of a single fixed close button by default.

[Okyd]

I have tried and used IE, FF, and Opera.

IE, I got rid of fast...

And When trying both Opera and FF. I preferred FF.

Opera still has far too many sites that it does not display properly.
Now, I do understand that this is not opera's fault most of the time, but more the other browsers not following specs, and then developers making their site work on those "more popular" non-spec following browsers, but the fact still remain, that there are more sites that do not work with Opera then FF. We have IE to blame the most for that, but FF has it's little share in the blame too.

As mentioned before, many prefer FF's tabs as well and the way they change.. ect.

Firefox and NoScript, IMO is the best way to go. It is quite safe IMO.

[PSJ]

I prefer Opera simply because it was the browser i tried after IE which i hated. When i tried FF i didn't have the interest to use it enough to get to know it since i already had Opera which worked fine.

[Assertn]

As a web developer, I have to stick with whichever browsers are the most popular.

[Spiegel]

Personally, I like firefox better. Worked the best on Dialup for me since I used to have dialup (On cable now). Tried opera on my laptop, it laoded faster when starting the browser on my laptop but when I tried to view a page it was much much slower. So I guess Firefox for me!

[Danad_corps]

i haven't used Opera yet, but i plan on trying it out after i'm done slipstreaming my OS and reinstalling it (it's why i didn't have the time to fully read the site yet either). My favorite things about FF is that you can change the theme's, put add-ons, and customize it to fit you're liking. I guess I'll find out if i value customization over performance and safety within the next week.


As a web developer, I have to stick with whichever browsers are the most popular.

hahaha, doesn't mean that you can't have a personal favorite.

[complich8]

if you're doing slipstreaming anyway, you should consider tossing in the RyanVM Integrator (http://www.ryanvm.net/msfn/) post-sp2 update pack. Pulls in all the windows updates since sp2, up to current. Currently that's something like 70 patches, and will save you like an hour of downloading.

There's also add-ins you can use to pre-install software, and switchless installers for common apps (like acrobat reader and the sun jre). In my sysadmin role, that pack has saved me probably 15 hours of boredom over the course of the last 4 or 5 months.

[Assertn]

hahaha, doesn't mean that you can't have a personal favorite.

Browsers, like all other applications, are tools. Whichever tool accomplishes my needs the best would be my favorite app.

[Danad_corps]

if you're doing slipstreaming anyway, you should consider tossing in the RyanVM Integrator (http://www.ryanvm.net/msfn/) post-sp2 update pack. Pulls in all the windows updates since sp2, up to current. Currently that's something like 70 patches, and will save you like an hour of downloading.

There's also add-ins you can use to pre-install software, and switchless installers for common apps (like acrobat reader and the sun jre). In my sysadmin role, that pack has saved me probably 15 hours of boredom over the course of the last 4 or 5 months.


I did that already. I'm creating at least 2 batches. One was with Ryan's VM stuff and some add-ons that i found. It worked perfectly on the VM that i set up (this will probably be used to help my bro when he wants to re-install his OS). I am trying to do the other one on my own so that i can customize it the way i want to. Hopefully i'll be able to have a disk that installs not only the Critical updates and some addons, but also any drivers i might need as well as all programs that i usually install upon reinstallation of my OS. It'll take me a while to get it done tho since this week and next are my exam weeks.

[Danad_corps]

Sorry about the double-post, but this had to be brought to your attention. Due to me not doing my homework on this page, i have led you all to a page that is almost pure slander. If you read through http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=33&threadid=1759805&arctab=y&frmKeyword=&STARTPAGE=1&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear
you will understand. The author of this website is just trying to make money by getting ppl to visit his site. If you read through the forum on anandtech you will see that he is Mastertech (a known internet spammer). He has posted in numerous tech sites and has been banned from all of them for being a total retard. Once again, sorry about this and PLEASE TAKE THOSE FIREFOX MYTH'S THINGS OFF YOUR SIG!

[BioAlien]

Lets see, take the Acid2 browser test,
http://www.webstandards.org/action/acid2/

Opera get a "perfect" picture, IE get a ... thing... i don't even know what the hell that thing is suposed to be, and firefox.. i don't know, but i heard it was not perfect.
(the "perfect" picture is this:
http://www.webstandards.org/files/acid2/reference.png )

[Danad_corps]

If you haven't already read the topic posted on Anandtech forums, I will concisely tell you what it said. If you like customizations, go with FF. If you want performance and safety go with Opera. The discussion about IE is split between people who have never gotten any viruses/malware and those that have. It is good measure, however, that if you are using IE you must practice "safe browsing" (i.e. no p0rn/warez sites). Since i like my p0rn, i will go with Opera. When i am not browsing on p0rn sites, I'll split my time between Opera and FF for a test period to ascertain which best matches my tastes. The winner will obviously be my browser of choice.

btw BioAlien, that link is really outdated. It was made when FF2 and IE7 were in beta so its results may not reflect current situations.