this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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I’d largely like to agree. My main issue is as others have said, some websites don’t work on Firefox due to Chrome basically being the standard. It’s annoying. And I do think people should still switch and try their best to stop using Chrome. Because IF we could get to a point where Firefox has a larger audience than it already has, the problem may end up stopping due to developers having more of a need to make sure their stuff is cross compatible with other browsers.
I've been using Firefox as my main browser for a long time. Sites that don't work in FF are very rare. If it's something I really need to access, I just use chrome/edge for that particular site. But as I said, it happens rarely, and there's an easy way to work around it.
I actually encountered the opposite. A site I've been using for roughly 7 years actually has massive issues on chrome that makes it unusable.
On Firefox? No problem at all.
Which site? Just curious. I've never encountered any issues whatsoever with either browser.
Chatzy. However the site is intensely archaic to begin with.
There's a lot of unique chrome exclusive bugs. Like the fact that opening the command menu or replying to hidden messages, deletes your chat windows contents.
Or the fact that the chat would just suddenly freeze up entirely. GUI elements deciding to randomly not display anymore. Bold messages sometimes breaking formatting. hangups that require a forced reload. Etc.
Decades old Firefox user here.
In the last week or two both Discord as well as Google Maps started not to work, they basically freeze up during/after they load, almost freezing up the whole browser as well (struggle to close the tabs they are on).
The weird thing is they both always used to work great up to just very recently, and nothing else has changed on my desktop, except for the normal OS updates semi daily.
(Speaking of the desktop version, on Fedora Linux.)
Used discord on Firefox within the last week, no issues detected.
Disable all your plugins and check if this still happens, a few months ago I ran into an issue where every tab would load for a good few seconds before actually opening, even super lightweight stuff. Turned out to be caused by an addon that was umantained because the maintainer passed away.
Don’t remember which addon it was, but I can try and remember / search if you are interested.
Google already confirmed they were causing deliberate delays on YouTube videos for people detected using adblock. Extending the enshitification is all they have now, sold their soul to steal a buck.
That’s fair. Firefox hasn’t sprung up too many issues for me either. But it does occur and occasionally adds some annoyance if it’s a site you need. For me especially Firefox on IPhone is annoying to work with at times. Which is why I have other browsers on my phone as well. But for desktop, generally works fine.
I honestly don't think I found a website that doesn't work in Firefox for years. But I agree that it can be really annoying, I hope more people adopt Firefox (or it's engine at least).
As for your iPhone issue: Well Apple doesn't really allow any other browsers on iOS, AFAIK it's all just Safari under the hood with a skin on top.
I hope people do too. I am a Waterfox lover myself and it works great for the most part.
And huh, interesting. Good to know. Might just be a safari issue then. Idk. I for some reason thought that had changed, but could be wrong.
That's interesting to know. Maybe that's why add-ons don't work in Firefox iOS or iPad OS.
iPhone's Firefox is still safari under the hood, but without the support of being a native app on top of it.
At the moment, it's ok, I also have problems, but it'd be great if iOS opened up more and allowed a real Firefox browser to exist.
I see. Alright.
But yeah, would be great to see that. Maybe if they get through with side loading being natively supported things will open up a bit. Tbh I am just waiting to get my android fixed or a new android device or Pinephone.
Yeah that'd be great. Then we could get extensions on mobile.
I just use whatever phone is cheaper, and a family member had just upgraded their iPhone. Gotta say, it's been reliable at least.
It's funny that you say that, because all browsers on the iPhone are just rebranded Safari, due to Apple's policies. So the web engine is just the same as Safari, or iOS Chrome or Opera or whatever. Literally the only platform where Firefox can't have compatibility issues because it's just a re-skinned Safari.
Are you sure? Is there a list of these websites? I've been primarily using FF for a decade and haven't encountered any.
Same. Usually it's a case of "the site is broken on both", or a hard refresh is needed, so switching browsers feels like it works
I've had a couple straight up tell me I had to use Edge/Chrome recently.
I've had some map sites that just refuse to work on ff
Have you tried spoofing your User Agent to Chrome with a user agent switcher extension? The site might actually work in Firefox.
I never had that issue, untill starting last week. Now Google Maps won't work, for some reason.
It worked for years before that, it's a recent thing, in my case at least. Makes me wonder what's going on.
Unfortunately there really are websites that don't work in Firefox. Not a nice list, but issues should be reported here: https://webcompat.com/issues?page=1&per_page=50&state=open&stage=all&sort=updated&direction=desc&q=label%3Abrowser-firefox%20usable
Personally, I have been using Firefox for years and will continue using it.
Firefox also has a builtin list of overrides at about:compat
I've ran into a few in the last year or two. I also can't flash things like ESP32s (ESPHome) using Firefox for some security reasons, but this is fine as I'd rather be safe than sorry with my main browser.
I don’t have any specific list. But I have ran into a few issues with Firefox. (mostly on my IPhone) In my experience Firefox on Mobile is just up to par with Desktop.
Last I checked all browsers on IOS are required by Apple to be basically a reskinned Safari.
Firefox on iOS is Safari under the hood.
Almost every web developer I've met tests if their site works in Firefox and other browsers. The problem is when websites (aka Google sites) deliberately design their sites to not work in Firefox to get people to switch to Chrome
Ive had website that require chrome work perfectly fine in firefox when I switch my user agent
Ive had website that require chrome work perfectly fine in firefox when I switch my user agent
I've been using Firefox since the beginning. I do not understand any of the complaints people have about it. And I cant remember the last time I visited a website that wasn't compatible with it. It was definitely before the pandemic and probably longer before that.
I agree, run Firefox as your main and then a privacy focused fork of Chromium as your second if you need it for specific website.
Personally I barely ever encounter issues with websites running FF.
This is probably the way to go imo. And make sure that it can’t run in the background either. Since at least if your computer is anything like mine. Gotta shut that chromium based stuff down to have enough ram to actually do much lol.
This is not as nearly as bad as the old days of IE6's tyranny. If anything, we should stick to FF now that the situation is still bearable - before it becomes completely unbearable.
Can you list the websites? I feel like this issue is sufficiently rare to be inexistent for the vast majority of users.
People always say “MUH WEBSITE BORKED ON FIREFOX” and never give examples.
Which sites are you referring to?
They’ll never tell because they’re not telling the truth.
I use Firefox. If a site doesn't work depending on my OS I use Edge, Safari or Chromium.
As someone who used to do web design when there were around 5 different rendering engines, I found having multiple browsers to design for was often a good thing. You could easily build something that worked 90% of the time on the primary testing browser, and hit a wall trying to fix the remaining bugs, but then testing in a different browser would reveal something obviously broken with your solution, and once you fixed that, would fix some of the minor quirks you were having a hard time solving in the primary testing browser. 5 was probably too many engines, and I'm thrilled to see Trident (IE) in the grave where it always belonged. But if you aren't testing in multiple browsers, you're making your life harder, not easier.
You can file web compatibility bugs on bugzilla.mozilla.org or webcompat.com
There are different ways how bugs are fixed. But someone might reach out to the page itself, find and fix a bug in Firefox or change the web specification if the incompatibility arises from ambiguity around the feature definition.
Firefox can also ship an intervention, basically injecting code into certain websites to fix broken ones.
Some incompatibilities can arise from missing features in Firefox, the web constantly evolves and the Devs sometimes don't catch up. But bugs might still help, as high compatibility-risk features might be implemented more quickly.