This article discusses the browsers used in daily life and the experience of poor translations, along with various complaints.
"Firefox" Browser#
The main daily browser, escaping the pervasive surveillance of Google, with privacy protection and customization that is commendable, providing a sense of freedom.
Other reasons for use:
- Excellent memory management
- No issues in 99% of scenarios for daily use
- Different profiles can be used for different tabs, with different proxies
- A small act of resistance against the Chromium family’s monopoly in cyberspace
- Reading mode can bypass some paywalls
- Managing tabs with the Simple Tab Groups extension is very convenient
- ...
In 2014, Firefox held a global browser market share of 35%-40%, but now it is less than 3%. As its market share declines, compatibility issues with websites will become increasingly prominent.
Currently, Firefox is most criticized for compatibility issues. As its market share decreases, websites are becoming less compatible with it, leading to an even lower share—a death spiral; if you don’t use me, I won’t use you, and then it’s really over.
Complaining about the current support for Firefox by the two major AI giants, "Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer" and "Claude," is quite poor, often crashing inexplicably and high resource usage, leaving daily use reliant on Vivaldi.
If you are interested in using Firefox more deeply, here are some suggestions:
- For daily use, the ESR version is recommended, along with a "delayed upgrade" strategy
- Be careful not to download the "China special version"; if a website ends with
firefox.com.cn, it is "maliciously manipulated by China" - Recommended reading:
- "How to Choose and Switch Firefox Versions Based on Security Considerations?"
- "2020 Firefox Security, Privacy, and Practical Extension Guide"
- If there’s an opportunity in the future, I might write an article based on various identities about Firefox privacy protection experiences.
"Vivaldi" Browser#
Many years ago, I got into it from a post by Hassan on Zhihu titled "Why Vivaldi is the Best Desktop Browser," and I have been using it as my second browser for daily access to some websites/plugins that Firefox does not support well.
Vivaldi may still be unfamiliar to many; its name comes from the famous violinist and composer "Antonio Lucio Vivaldi."
This name not only has a subtle connection to the founding team's former employer, the "Opera" browser, but also implies that "users can tap the keyboard like playing music to navigate the web" (I’m just making this up).
Vivaldi's default configuration is simple, beautiful, and user-friendly, and its design respects user privacy. Moreover, it offers high playability with various customization features and shortcuts, making it suitable for those who love tinkering, earning it the title of "the Emacs of browsers."
If I could only choose one Chromium-based browser, it would definitely be "Vivaldi."
As we all know, the code of browsers has become extremely complex today, and "Vivaldi Technologies" is a small team, so it inevitably has some minor bugs, especially in the Linux version, but they can be resolved or tolerated. The only unmet need for me is:
- It still does not support HID (Human Interface Device), which means the browser wallet plugin cannot connect to hardware wallets.
The development team is not very enthusiastic about fixing this feature, believing that those who need it are just a small group of "crypto traders."
Every year, someone brings up this demand, and the latest progress (in 2024) is that it used to crash when reading HID devices, but now it has finally been fixed (it doesn’t crash, but still cannot read HID devices).
Fortunately, FIDO2 does not rely on HID, meaning it does not affect the use of hardware keys like Yubikey, so it can still serve as a daily backup browser.
Easter egg:
- The official Vivaldi also runs a Mastodon instance, allowing direct login with a Vivaldi account.
"The Onion Router" Browser#
Used for some special yet not particularly special tasks, without an additional proxy layer, TOR connects directly to the internet.
Advantages:
- Out-of-the-box TOR solution
- Built-in several security-related extensions and privacy settings
Disadvantages:
- The exit node is TOR, and the traffic characteristics are obvious, leading to many websites intercepting and requiring additional verification or outright blocking
- This can be resolved by adding a proxy layer, but I didn’t do it to increase the proportion of normal non-malicious TOR users for the target website; I help everyone, and everyone helps me.
- It is already a heavily modified browser, making further customization on top of it somewhat troublesome and unnecessary.
- As Programming Thoughts said:
TBB (Tor Browser Bundle) is aimed at the general user. Often, "the needs of the masses" do not match "the needs of geeks."
"Chrome" Browser#
Used with a pinch of the nose.
In today’s so-called web3 industry, everyone is focused on making money, and it seems that no one cares about privacy.
Tornado has been sanctioned, Wasabi has been sanctioned, XMR has been delisted from major exchanges, and the privacy protection of EVM systems is like a child’s play. The various issues in this industry are practically shouting at you:
"Privacy is a crime."
I’ve accidentally complained a bit too much; what does this have to do with browsers?
- Too many blockchain projects have very poor support for the Firefox family, or they crash/ban outright.
- Project parties are generally not privacy-friendly, collecting too much information. Because my main browser has strict privacy settings, if I accidentally disable a certain permission, the project’s website crashes, which is exhausting.
- Many wallet plugins do not support Firefox.
- Most importantly, after MetaMask abandoned connecting hardware wallets in Firefox after version 114.0, there is no longer mainstream wallet plugin support for connecting hardware wallets in the Firefox family, and I also completely gave up on MetaMask.
Initially, I didn’t want to compromise at all, which helped me avoid the collapse of UST.
Later, when it comes to making money, I didn’t mind, and I was too lazy to argue. I simply threw all these websites into Chrome, using a cleaner proxy for the exit, creating a dedicated crypto browser, which in some ways also follows a certain security practice.
Others#
Other browsers that are not primarily used or not used on PC, along with some minor experiences.
Firefox Family#
"DuckDuckGo" Browser#
A heavily modified Firefox, with out-of-the-box friendly privacy settings, mainly used on mobile.
I remember it initially only had a mobile version, and later a desktop version was released, but the desktop version still does not have a Linux version.
If you don’t want to share sensitive content with "Mr. Incognito" 🥷, then use DuckDuckGo’s self-destruct feature 🔥, which works very well, thumbs up.
As a giant in the privacy protection field, the "DuckDuckGo" browser is still trustworthy.
I am a heavy user of many of their products, such as DuckDuckGo’s disposable AI, DuckDuckGo’s privacy email, and DuckDuckGo’s search engine; I love this rebellious duck!
"LibreWolf" Browser#
Works well, with many out-of-the-box privacy protection settings optimized, but my customization in Firefox better meets my needs.
If you are lazy about tinkering with privacy settings and want to try a different browser, I recommend giving it a shot.
The reason I initially tried it was that I had a long-term modified Firefox based on ESR 115, which had a strange and annoying bug that I wanted to try to solve.
The reason I didn’t continue using it is that LibreWolf is also based on the ESR 115 version, and it surprisingly has the same bug, making it completely useless for me.
In the end, I went back to the official ESR version of Firefox, and everything was fine, but I will still prioritize using LibreWolf as my daily browser.
Recommended reading: Dayu's article "After a Long Dilemma Between Chrome and Arc, I Ultimately Chose Librewolf."
"Zen" Browser#
Mainly redesigned the UI of Firefox, and has vertically aligned tabs by default, along with some optimizations for tab usage.
It seems to have made some default privacy setting optimizations as well.
The main reason I didn’t continue using it is that, compared to the clunky Z icon, I still prefer the little fox; who can resist the cuteness of a little fox? (🦊
Additionally, I always confuse its icon and name with the so-called fastest code editor "Zed."
Chromium Family#
"Arc" Browser#
If it had been born in the 2010s, it would definitely be rated as "the most beautiful browser of the year."
Very good at marketing, decent UI design, lots of flashy features, and a strong paternalistic attitude (users don’t know what browsers are, closing all expired tabs for you).
It’s okay; among the Chromium family, aside from Vivaldi, it’s the only one that is still usable, and light use can basically replace Chrome.
The downside is that it only supports Mac, slowly adding Windows support this year, while the Linux version is still a long way off.
"Brave" Browser#
Record for the fastest uninstallation. It was originally used on a work computer to log into some websites that do not support Firefox well ➕ as a backup browser for trying new things, but it doesn’t even support WebAuthn, meaning it cannot use Yubikey at all.
The biggest highlight is probably the built-in IPFS gateway, but it doesn’t compare to Vivaldi in aesthetics, doesn’t match Arc in stability, and is even less privacy-friendly than Chrome; it’s just trash.
And it has too many dark histories, including but not limited to:
Continuing to use it indeed requires courage.
"Edge" Browser#
The default browser on a PC dedicated to gaming, too lazy to set it up, can’t open it more than twice a year.
It will pop up ads just as you are about to reach a high point, very Microsoft, very Edge.
"Safari" Browser#
Although I don’t want to, I can only set it as the default browser on my phone for convenience. Some idiotic services (like you, perplexity) require sending a login link to the email, which then must be opened in the app for authentication.
Once a third-party browser is set as default, it’s difficult (90% of the time there are bugs) to open the app for authentication from the browser, and even pasting the link from the inbox into the browser doesn’t work.
The usage scenario for the Safari browser is basically just that.
Oh, and sometimes I use it for shopping on Mac, as some points-reward websites need to track cookies and various tracking links, which get blocked in other browsers. I’m too lazy to set special rules or whitelists for them, so I just throw everything here.
Apple recently paid tribute to Hitchcock's "The Birds" with a new ad "Flock," the first half of which is true:
Everything you see and do is being watched; the privacy of ordinary users is constantly being violated.
But the savior of your privacy is definitely not some company or software, and certainly not Safari (escape).
Postscript#
It’s not just Firefox, a non-Chromium family browser, that faces discrimination/neglect.
Due to the arrogance, ignorance, or pure malice of website developers, many (more than you might think) websites only accept visits from "Big Players" (browsers).
Thus, Vivaldi, starting from a certain version, changed its UA (User Agent, a type of identifier that tells the target website what browser type is being used to seek a better experience). When accessing websites, it no longer defaults to telling them it is Vivaldi but claims to be Chrome instead, optimizing part of the user experience.
However, this approach has an obvious drawback:
Vivaldi will disappear from the popularity rankings of third-party browsers because Vivaldi users will all be identified as Chrome users.
It’s touching that the official statement said:
But this is a price we are willing to pay to provide our users with the best website compatibility.
Although
If you drop the right name, you can get in anywhere.
And I also often spoof UA to protect privacy, but I usually spoof the operating system, version, and browser's version, not the browser type—for example, Firefox is Firefox, Vivaldi is Vivaldi, when using Chrome, I also pretend to be Vivaldi.
This is to show them that I won’t compromise, to make even a faint voice heard:
Not everyone will willingly accept your bloated, boring, and privacy-infringing so-called mainstream browsers.
There are indeed people using Firefox.
There are indeed people using Vivaldi.
Even if often intercepted and discriminated against, there will still be people who refuse to compromise.
Fuck You! 🫵
Original article link, for a better reading experience.