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submitted 3 months ago by BrikoX@lemmy.zip to c/firefox@lemmy.ml

Let’s try LibreWolf, Floorp and Zen until Mozilla decides they want to make a browser again

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[-] HouseWolf@lemm.ee 29 points 3 months ago

Been using LibreWolf for a few months and before that just regular Firefox with the ArkenFox user.js.

Basically the exact same experience just with the peace of mind I won't end up with some weird Ai crap after an update.

[-] henfredemars@infosec.pub 6 points 3 months ago

Just downloaded it now with flatpak. I’m pleased that it looks and feels pretty much the same. Just more to the point. Exactly what I want.

[-] Moah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 3 months ago

Last I know they were still debating whether they'll remove the AI or not

Here's the issue of the discussion:

https://codeberg.org/librewolf/issues/issues/1919

[-] tetris11@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 months ago

Ethics is just politics with a less unpleasant name. Personally, I don't feel a browser should be political. Anything that's political forces a choice, or perhaps the lack of choice, on the user. IMO the user should always have a choice.

So for me, AI should be opt-in and disabled by default, BUT I'd like the option to enable it when I choose, whether that's through the AI or through 'librewolf.overrides.cfg' doesn't matter.

The one sane voice in that thread

[-] jangdonggun@lemmy.ml 16 points 3 months ago

Forks are pretty valuable to Firefox development, and it's helpful for Firefox marketshare too because they use the same UA as Firefox, so website must support Firefox.

Even Firefox devs said they observe Firefox forks to see their idea and bring back to Firefox, just compare recent new features of Firefox to Zen/Floorp, you would see that the idea of:

  • Profile Manager is from Zen/Floorp
  • Vertical Tab is from Zen/Floorp
  • Sidebar is from Zen/Floorp

And many small things.

[-] kitnaht@lemmy.world 16 points 3 months ago

Everyone always whines about anything Mozilla does with Firefox. These additions are at least much less intrusive than their addition of Pocket.

[-] Ephera@lemmy.ml 10 points 3 months ago

And Pocket isn't very intrusive either, is the point you were trying to make, right?

To my knowledge, it's the recommendations on about:home, which can easily be disabled, and then just a glorified bookmark to access Pocket. If you want it gone from the UI, set extensions.pocket.enabled to false in about:config.

[-] yournamehere@lemm.ee 1 points 3 months ago

yeah sure. so why no default enabled ai, sync, translate, stt? because its shit. always has been.do one thing and do it good. a doctrine ruined by lennart peottering, seems to be the same source of fail. if i want an addon like pocket or ai...lemme install that myself. moz can eff off with their shit mindset.

[-] independantiste@sh.itjust.works 15 points 3 months ago

Zen is really good but I've found it likes to crash my Gnome session when it's open at the same time as regular Firefox. It also likes to crash my Gnome session at random. Other than that I really like it, I'll try it again soon

[-] 1984@lemmy.today 9 points 3 months ago

I had a girlfriend like that. She liked to beat me up and give me a few kicks in the ribs, but other than that, she was lovely.

(just kidding)

[-] LWD@lemm.ee 2 points 3 months ago

For a second, I thought you were a shounen fighting anime protagonist

[-] Mwa@lemm.ee 3 points 3 months ago

Gnome moment /hj

[-] Ephera@lemmy.ml 12 points 3 months ago

I'm glad that forks are becoming a thing, again. The community (including myself) have slacked off for far too long, just taking it for granted that a browser was provided to them.

And people got seriously offended by any choice Mozilla made, even though the source code is right there. I get that not everyone has the skill to modify the source code, but enough people do that we should be able to cover various different preferences.

Would be even cooler, if the grassroots community started pushing the browser forward more, rather than just doing things different from Mozilla, but it's a good first step.

[-] buzz86us@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

Palemoon was a thing for a long time before Librewolf and such

[-] Ephera@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 months ago

Oh yeah, I wasn't trying to say no forks existed beforehand. There just weren't as many active ones.

[-] otter@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I've been running into more and more bugs with Zen, often around tab management.

  • The other day I tried moving some tabs between windows and the tabs just disappeared. They were still accessible with CTRL+tab but otherwise hidden.
  • It seems to make new tabs randomly when closing other tabs.
  • The workspaces are confusing and linked to individual browser windows. If you move out of a workspace, you can't get it back unless you open it in the same window you left it from.

Might switch back to Firefox and wait for more development, or Firefox's native vertical tabs.

Cool experiment nonetheless

[-] thoralf@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 3 months ago

If any of those would be available on iOS, I would.

[-] BrikoX@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 months ago

It literally doesn't matter what you use on iOS, as everything uses WebKit.

[-] thoralf@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 months ago
[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 months ago

Only in the EU which only happened because Apple was forced to do so

[-] BrikoX@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 months ago

Only in EU, the rest of the world is still stuck with WebKit. Apple geo locked App Store, so it only works for EU users.

[-] thoralf@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 months ago

Good enough for me. Maybe pressure your politicians to follow suit?

[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 months ago

Or I could not use iOS

[-] Firoaren@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 months ago

Been using Floorp for about a year. Been good so far, though I'm definitely just a casual user.

[-] dmega@lemmy.imagisphe.re 1 points 2 months ago
[-] MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I just wish it had normal top bar tabs (or maybe it does and I haven't found the option), because I love the overall style, but vertical tabs take up too much space after widening the side bar enough to see the tab names easily.

[-] dmega@lemmy.imagisphe.re 1 points 1 month ago

Then try Foorp, it's something like Zen but with tabs on top. I've used it before, but it's not very smooth for me.

P.S.Maybe something has changed in 2 years.

[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 months ago

Those are all Firefox based...

[-] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

You currently only have three choices in web rendering engine, unless you want to go REALLY esoteric:

  • Blink

  • WebKit

  • Gecko

Blink is Chromium, meaning Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, Arc, Vivaldi, ug-c, Konqueror, etc. It is built, maintained, and controlled by Google, and currently has an approximately 81% market share on the internet.

WebKit is Safari, and is only really usable on Apple products (and is the only engine available on Apple's mobile products outside the EU). It enjoys about a 9% market share as a result of its wide install base.

Gecko is developed by the Mozilla Foundation for Firefox, yes. But if you want any sort of web independence, you have to have a browsing engine that is not controlled by a major corporation. Otherwise, you're just going to have a duopoly that can make whatever web decisions they want to.

[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 months ago

I don't really consider Firefox soft forks to be alternatives. I use librewolf but I consider myself a Firefox user. In reality you could make Firefox work exactly like all of these browsers with just config changes

[-] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Maybe so, but I would say they're more alternatives to Firefox than any of the Chromium forks are to Chrome (except Arc, I guess) by nature of the fact that you don't have to strip telemetry out of the Gecko codebase in order to ship a private fork.

this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2024
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