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Comment by mariusmg | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, you're switching browsers not 3D modelling software.

It's easy people. Switch to Firefox today.

Absolutely monster analogy.

After working for a year in 3DSMax, back in the day, someone asked me to show them something in Lightwave. I couldn't find my way about anything.

There is also a far far bigger difference between IDEs than between browsers even if compare only the big names. Compare Visual Studio, IntelliJ and Eclipse.

All the browsers are same. They were all the same for 10 years. Single window or MDI. Then Opera came with tabs, then everyone got tabs. That's it.

Basically, if we accept the notion that it's hard for someone to switch from Chrome to Firefox we accept the notion that it's hard to move anyone from any ecosystem just on the grounds of them not wanting to touch their muscle memory even a bit. You get to the same option in three to four clicks through different menues. Is it that hard?

> Basically, if we accept the notion that it's hard for someone to switch from Chrome to Firefox we accept the notion that it's hard to move anyone from any ecosystem just on the grounds of them not wanting to touch their muscle memory even a bit. You get to the same option in three to four clicks through different menues. Is it that hard?

As an emacs user in large part to avoid this, yes it us that hard.

It pains me to say that though since I want people to switch to Firefox so it can win against these spyware-laden browsers.

We are all creatures of habit. Even if something is not good in our current experience we often say "yeah, it's bad, but it's a bad I know. Who knows what will be bad in the other software?" - which shows the incredible high threshold this shitty decision by Google has reached for people to seriously consider going back to Firefox (seriously, as in "I've seen more posts about switching (back) to Firefox than in the last 2 or 3 years together")

> All the browsers are same.

Which really is a shame. Even worse, browsers (including Firefox) keep erasing whatever differences they do have in a vain attempt at attracting Chrome users while ignoring that their existing userbase chose them for not being Chrome.

I don't use 3D modeling software, but I use a browser for like... 95% of my day. Any minor UX differences are going to be like nails on a chalkboard, given that.

It's no wonder why people don't want to switch, really.

yet huge ux changes between chrome updates are fine? *ponderingfaceemoji

It's also happening with Firefox. Stupid redesign, felt, each new version. It's not about the design.. but it is, because less readability, less contrast, less visible difference between active/inactive tabs.. and so on.. but you're right. Changing browser is a no-go, but having suddenly different UI is not???? Lol.

Are there UX changes? I haven't noticed any.

exactly. odd uh.

most firefox changes are actually to copy what chrome is doing.

like removing the search bar and forcing sending everything you type in the address bar to a search engine, having a logged in account in the browser, etc

Do you not see the irony in this? By admitting that you don't notice the (real and fairly recent and large) UI changes in Chrome you've just dropped all credibility from any argument you might have had about caring about the UI being different.

Firefox is really not that different. Even the keyboard shortcuts are the same.

I use a browser a lot too, but I almost never interact with Firefox UX. Firefox just displays a website and I interact with that.

I took my muscle memory a couple of days to readjust. Switching away from vim to anything else would take me years!

I went from Netscape to IE to Firefox to Chrome and back to Firefox. Sure they're different, but it's not jarring. It's like switching to another car. You can just hop in and drive away. Then you gradually adjust the seat just how you like it and install your favorite air freshener in a natural progression, and so on.

The car analogy doesn't quite work that way.

Disliking one browser's UI/UX over another is like trying to drive two different cars: one with a touch screen console and another one with an analog console. There are genuine reasons to want one over the other and it will color how you use it day to day.

Sure, but at the most, having to put up with a touch screen is a minor annoyance, and for the most part, you really don't need the functionality that's gated behind those controls. It's a little annoying, yes.

You might consider it minor whereas others will base a car purchase around it. Different strokes for different folks.

For example if a car refuses to work with ad blockers I'm going to be buying a different car instead.

Browsers are just a window to display web apps and pages, though. And these display identically in Chrome as they do in Firefox. Hence the interactions, which 95% of the time are with the web app, not the browser, are practically identical for the most part as well.

The differences are bigger between Chrome on Windows and Chrome on Mac than between Chrome and Firefox on one OS. At least all of the keybindings are the same.

I don't know.. but.. it's the way people may use the computer. A former colleague used exactly one window, no matter if it's word or any other software. And most important: the other programs have to be closed, firstly, before switching to eg. browsing. Even my 85y old grandfather who bought his first computer with 73y is capable to use more then 2 windows at once.

So for me, i work with chrome, edge and Firefox (main) at the same time. Firefox is 3 Windows with 150 tabs each. Chrome for quick and dirty - when I visit or do something I know I won't need it later anymore - and edge is used for being chat and/or differential search with goog and bing and other search engines (I know, it's easier to use a meta search engine, but it's ok like I do)

So.. basically. Each window is a room space in my brain for me and I store knowledge in separated rooms, so I know exactly where the tabs are I'm searching for. It's like a library where I always can look up something. Using favorites within the browser is not possible for me, because I just forget about them. Not so if I work with all the thousands of tabs open :)

So, it's possible to use different browsers without saying "maehhh.. but, I .... "

If you just like the mental separation but don‘t want Chrome, you could also create Firefox profiles with different themes. You can even tweak the browser icon, so I found that sufficient for mental separation

Yea, of course.. thank you for mentioning this, never considered..

450 open tabs? I really have to think it would be worth the time to adapt to using some kind of clipping/note-taking software instead.

No it's ok.. but you're right here. There are better suited tools for me. But I'm too lazy haha

Just got used to it and I fear notes will be the same like favorites in the browser :)

The big difference for me is that with clipped notes the full contents are searchable. I agree that browser bookmarks are generally poor for reference material, as you tend to forget what you've bookmarked. But by clipping the whole page you essentially build your own searchable database. I use Evernote for this because I started in 2012, but I would look at alternatives first if I were starting today.

>So.. basically. Each window is a room space in my brain for me and I store knowledge in separated rooms, so I know exactly where the tabs are I'm searching for. It's like a library where I always can look up something. Using favorites within the browser is not possible for me, because I just forget about them. Not so if I work with all the thousands of tabs open :)

I have a similar thing.

Firefox as the main browser for everything. I don't like Electron apps and since Firefox doesn't do PWA anymore, Edge hosts all those. Chrome for all the Google apps I have to use and streaming services (Chrome has a media hub in toolbar which can control multiple streams/PiP windows).

If you can't replace your handheld drill to another model because no other model "fits your hand that well", all the other carpenters in the market are going to have an edge over you.

How nice to not be a carpenter.

I use 3D modelling software in the browser

What like when chrome updates it for you and changed the ux? At least with firefox you have powerful user configurable scripts you can do whatever you like to how things render in the browser. Treestyle tab that fades away when you mouse off of it? Done.

All Chromium-based browsers have a feature that I can't get through my day without. I can write click on any website and say "translate this page into English".

I use this feature around 20 times a day, sometimes more. It's painstaking to do this in Firefox, even with extensions.

Once every year or two I try switching to Firefox, then I remember this is the reason why I don't use it and I go back to Chrome.

The day they add this feature is the day I will switch to Firefox.

It's build into Firefox. If you're on a page not in your default language, a translate icon will appear in the URL bar. Click, done :)

Yeah, I see they added that in the last but one release. However it's only for a tiny number of European languages, and not the one I need which is Vietnamese.

Shame, though I'd watch that space because I think they're adding more languages.

The latest Firefox now has that functionality. Firefox translations also have the added benefit of being 100% on-device, your data doesn't have to go to a Google server somewhere.

... for an extremely limited number of European languages. Great to see progress though.

Yup - it's definitely not perfect yet. Getting there though :-)

Afaik they do have an official offline translation extension Forefox Translations that would cover your usecase(maybe) Ff also does have a Translations setting in their settings page(not sure if it's by default or appears when you install the extension) and you can predownload some offline language packs.

ask and you shall receive (as of firefox 118)

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/website-translation

if you need a language they haven't developed a production model for yet, you can install the beta version of the add-on, which supports more languages

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-translations-ad...

I really hope it's getting to mobile Firefox soon.

… and it’s done locally, unlike the chrome version which uses googles servers.

Some of us handle sensitive content that must not be uploaded to Google.

Oh nice! Good to see they are working on it. Unfortunately it's only for 8 European languages to far, and the beta version only adds 4 more.

I need Vietnamese. I guess I will have to wait another few years for that. But still, it's progress.

I wonder if they will add the option for cloud providers. While I love the idea of the added privacy of doing it locally, pretty much everything I'm translating is publically available so privacy is not important to make compared to the quality of the translation.

I use this extension, it even lets you highlight text and translate just that too.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/traduzir-pagi...

Wow, thank you! That actually works really well.

I've tried quite a few firefix translation extensions and all of them either open a new tab or a popup, this is the first one I've seen that translates in place.

OK, sold. Switching to Firefox today :)

For my daily use, Firefox needs built-in passkey support. Can't switch for all uses yet. In the meantime, I'm running both.

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