Tired of Firefox? – Get Google Chrome!

Published On March 15, 2011
37 Comments Leave a Comment

Chrome vs All

Today I have divorced Firefox once and for all (once upon a time, it used to be my hero browser). I was tired of the various issues (choppy scrolling, slowdown of webpages, bloated memory usage) that I had been facing with Firefox for a long time now. I tried making as many fixes as I could (changing profiles, removing cached files, deleting all the extensions) by searching through the Internet, but nothing helped at all. Over the time, it went from bad to worse. It was a tough decision but it had to be taken. So, Goodbye…..Firefox (Though it still resides on my hard-drive, but I am not going to use it anymore)!!

As a replacement, I downloaded Google Chrome (Ver 10.0) and WOW! Just WOW! It really beats Firefox hands down. The browser installation was a breeze, and, orgasmic feelings took over soon after (BTW, this post is being written using Google Chrome). There was no slowdown at all and the pages were scrolling smoothly (thanks to Google for making such a light-weighted browser).

Here are some things that I noticed when I launched Chrome 10.0 browser for the first time :-

Better window size vs Firefox

Window Size

List of 8 most visited Websites

When you open a new tab in Google Chrome, it displays a list of your 8 most visited websites with screenshots. So, its a neat way of quickly accessing your favorite websites.

Incognito Browsing Mode

Google Chrome gives you an option to browse in the Incognito mode (I call it the secret agent mode). Pages you view in this window won’t appear in your browser history or search history, and they won’t leave other traces, like cookies, on your computer after you close the incognito window. Any files you download or bookmarks you create will be preserved, however.

Incognito Mode

Faster Page Scrolling and browsing speed

All the pages that were slow in Firefox 3.6.15 are much faster when browsing through Google Chrome 10.0. The page scrolling is smoother and there is no choppiness at all.

No Restart of Browser after Installing Extensions

In Firefox, my biggest irritation was the restart of the browser window whenever a new extension was installed. Its not like that in Google Chrome. All you have to do is install your favorite extension and continue working.

Quick Import of Bookmarks

If you worry about backing up and importing your bookmarks, Chrome gives you a one-click option to import all your bookmarks from another installed browser. Its a breeze.

Better Crash Handling

Chrome is built for stability. If an individual tab freezes or crashes, the other tabs are unaffected. In Firefox, the whole browser window had to be closed down in case of a crash.

Chrome Experiments (Not your mother’s JavaScript 🙂 )

Chrome Experiments is a showcase for creative web experiments, the vast majority of which are built with the latest open technologies, including HTML5, Canvas, SVG, and WebGL. All of them were made and submitted by talented artists and programmers from around the world. The experiments include games, Physics demos, Interactive Emulators, Utilities etc.

Conclusion

Google Chrome has taken the lead from Firefox in many aspects. Most notable are :- Fast loading, Smooth Scrolling and a better looking browser.

But since Firefox was launched much before Google Chrome, there are a lot of extensions that have been developed for Firefox that are not available for Chrome. Although now, Chrome’s library has also expanded and contains almost all the extensions that you need for a better browsing experience :- https://chrome.google.com/extensions/?hl=en

What Next?

Here is a list of some cool Extensions that I use on Google Chrome (had alternative extensions on Firefox for the same purposes) :-

Eye Dropper :- Eye Dropper is open source extension which allows you to pick colors from web pages, color picker and your personal color history.

Awesome Screenshot :- Capture the whole page or any portion, annotate it with rectangles, circles, arrows, lines and text, blur sensitive info, one-click upload to share. Support PNG and shortcuts.

MeasureIt! :- Draw out a ruler that will help you get the pixel width and height of any elements on a webpage.

SmoothScroll :- Scrolls the websites smoothly when scrolling with the mouse wheel or the keyboard.

Downloads :- Access the Downloads window directly from the toolbar

37 replies on “Tired of Firefox? – Get Google Chrome!”

Anurag Reply

Google Chrome is the best browser currently on all the platforms, be it Android, iOS or Desktop. I <3 the bookmark and password sync features of Chrome 🙂 The speed offered by Chrome browser is top notch and still way ahead of every browser !

The only thing that's really annoying me is the UI changes that they have done with the latest update. Moved recent and "opened in other devices" to the menu that opens when you click on the "wrench" menu. I think they should fix it soon to make the UI more seamless and easier to navigate.

Dvdrip Reply

It was a tough decision but it had to be taken. So, Goodbye…..Firefox (Though it still resides on my hard-drive, but I am not going to use it anymore)!!

ABC Reply

I have gone the opposite way. I found so many websites do not work with Chrome and Chrome takes forever to open when a number of tabs are open. Often, Chrome would crash for no reason. Firefox is far from perfect but it is better than IE and Chrome.

http://www.theuscoachoutlet.com Reply

It was a tough decision but it had to be taken. So, Goodbye…..Firefox (Though it still resides on my hard-drive, but I am not going to use it anymore)!!

Joops Reply

Just wanted to point out that most of the advantages you listed for Chrome over Firefox are actually available in Firefox.

I’m saying this even though, like you, I have abandoned Firefox for another browser. I really don’t understand how people continue to defend Firefox as the browser of choice. Since at least version 3, it was bloated and hogged system memory. But the last straw for me was when they started releasing new “versions” every few weeks, and went from ver. 4 to 9 within a year. Not only is this a childish attempt to look like they’re keeping pace with the competition, but it actually increases the chances that your addons will not be compatible with upgrades… and anyway it’s just a pain in the a$$. It’s a shame.

charlescl Reply

I used to use Internet Explorer, but I feel Chrome browser is faster and easy to use, but I need IE to test some web pages, so I use both of them. I don’t like FF.

Tommy Barred Reply

Hello, i think that i saw you visited my website so i came to ?return the favor?.I am attempting to find things to improve my website!I suppose its ok to use a few of your ideas!!

Jingles Reply

I have been using Opera since v5, i.e. I have been using it for years and years ever since I ditched IE. I have never had a problem with it.

Success in Life Reply

To success in life it is essential for piking right things.So I will use chrome instead of firefox.Firefox is too slow for me.Thanks for sharing.

fake tan girl Reply

I’m afraid that FF still wins over Chrome. In my experience Chrome appears to have somewhat of a memory leak.
Thanks for your post,

handyfinder Reply

I agree with yasmeen,… they really put a lot of effort into Firefox 4 recently,… I think I’ll stick to it as well, especially because of all the add-ons provided by the community and developers… can’t spare them.

Ambrose Reply

I would make the switch myself, but chrome doesn’t have all the little extras like personas and morning coffee, so for now i’m stuck with the crash prone fox.

Rio Reply

I love Google Chrome too! And recently I installed iReader extension. It’s great for reading blog without any distraction. Hehehe..

Btw, nice blog. I bookmarked you.

Shamrock Reply

I’m nearly sick and tired of the latest Firefox update. It is nothing but a magical pile of crap. I click the firefox icon and then wait 10 seconds for it to open. Then if I open 8 firefox windows, they start hanging. It is getting on my nerves now because I’m habitual of opening 20+ windows while browsing the internet. I’ll give Firefox a little more time and it will be a final goodbye if I don’t see any improvement.

Christine Blythe Reply

I’ve been a blogger for a whole three months and already have 4 blogs on the go. After one month of struggling I switched to Chrome and I haven’t looked back. As a matter of fact, I gave it a rave review on one of my own blogs.

Aaron Kay Reply

Chrome really is amazingly awesome. A good portion of my site is actually dedicated to it and yet I still see most of my visitors use Firefox. I’m glad to see you’re promoting it, it is great for bloggers/developers. I have done many posts on all the great extensions out there for it. Viva la chrome revolution!

Adam Reply

I’m right there with you on Chrome. I use it for 90% of my browsing now. Less bloat alone makes it worth it, but the other things you mentioned (love those 8 most visited) are icing.

One thing I have to use Firefox for is posting on my wordpress site. For some reason, Chrome hangs when I’m trying to insert photos in my posts. It uploads just fine. I can add captions just fine. But when I try to insert it will just hang and never return. This happens the majority of the time. Maybe 8 tries out of 10. I got tired of re-writing the image caption every time this would happen (I have to close the popup to get back to my post), so I just quit using Chrome for wordpress duties. Alas.

Still. I love Chrome.

Ben Reply

Although not as fast as Chrome, (by a few milliseconds:) Firefox more than makes up for that by its stability. Firefox 4 has never crashed for me. (I’ve been using it for 5 months). Firefox’s extensions’ are also more mature than Chrome’s, and Chrome has no UI customizability. With Firefox you can move basically anything on the interface around and, of course, there’s the awesome about:config. I use about:config to change anything I don’t like. Firefox 4 is a major upgrade to 3.6.x. I would advise you to try it out:)

yaviza Reply

Thanks so much for this information. I have to let you know I concur on several of the points you make here and others may require some further review, but I can see your viewpoint.

Jai Reply

I know about Firefox 4 but it isn’t available as an update so most people don’t know about it. Then I guess I have made my choice 🙂

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