Question to the public:
Firefox, Iron, or Opera in Portable form?
[Edit]
That's what I get for posting a 1 word post. 
My requirements:
- Really, really, fast (over time, unlike firefox) on a 9mb/s flash drive
- Customizable
- Fun/Slick default interface, I don't want to mess with themes
- Lots of inter-browser capability so I can test it fairly well
So far I'm leaning towards Opera's default customizability (what a word) and slickness (and speed), but Iron (as in the privacy version of Chrome) is also a very tantalizing choice.
Wondering: How well do extensions/userscripts in Chrome/Iron work as of now?
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Things have got to get better, they can't get worse, or can they?
Hands down, easily configurable to the flavor you want via addons. Iron and Opera are okay, but I prefer Firefox.
My vote goes to Opera. I didn't even know Iron.
I hope this does not derive into another browser-war.
Mir prepairs the ICBM's.
my vote goes to the latest chromium builds (or firefox nightlies)
lynx rocks
/me finds some very large rocks
Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world
That one with the red and blue icon that blocks all the ads. Really like that one. Pretty sure I got it here.
Never heard of that.
I use the (now unsupported) AdSweep userscript to block ads.
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Well, Firefox blocks most of the ads with help from an extension, Adblock Plus.
What does an unsupported userscript have over a supported extension? My last EasyList update was 25 September 2009, that's just 3 days ago.
Curious, do you actually have a Greasemonkey script that turns that text in your signature into something else, or is it just a clever sig?
I actually got it from the level name of one of the Supertux Bonus Levels (insert original title here).
BTW, Adblock Plus doesn't block (most) text ads (I know about NukeAnything Enhanced, but Firefox gets slow).
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That's what Element Hiding Helper is for.
Vintage!
I got sick and tired of how Gmail isn't up to spec with Opera, so for now, I'm thinking about using Firefox with a bunch of the really cool Opera stuff on it. I'm concerned about the build-up though.
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I recommend firefox.. Sometimes though gmail may have issues with firefox but not realy most of the time.
Jessa
[Link in signature removed - See forum guidelines - Moderator RM]
Yeah... gmail works fine on FF/FFP.
Opera is horrible though... you should ditch it. Just use ChatZilla for IRC, Simplemail for Email accounts.
Both are extensions found at the official addons site.
My big concern is that Firefox is slow... at least on my computers. I exported all of my Google Bookmarks into Firefox, and now it takes about a whole minute for it to even draw a window (even after I found and ran SpeedyFox on it).
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I recommend IceCat but that's not available on Windows... lol
By all means, go with Firefox. It's the browser that actually feels right and makes you feel good using it
And it's the one of the few browsers that have not cheated in the browser war. Firefox 3.5's default theme is awesome.
Firebug will let you rest websites, and CSSStyles will let you modify CSS for a page.
And Firefox is a lot faster than Opera. Better crash support (never crashes for me, since I updated to 3.5). And... you Firefox is Portable, Opera-USB is horrible. Chrome/Iron has no extensions or userscripts... and Chrome is evil!!!! It ripped off from Chromium (OSS application Chrome was recompiled and renamed from). Firefox is the only non-evil browser out there (other than IceCat... which is taken to the next level of non-evil (freedom software!!!) :P)
As I said in the previous post. Firefox can do anything Opera can.
AND!!! Firefox looks amazing with the Glasser add-on in Win 7 and Vista.
Hope you make the switch!!!
I thought for a second that Google created Chrome...then released a majority of the code as Chromium...
BTW, I did an acid3 test. Opera scored 28 points higher than Firefox (100 vs. 72). The thing that's really swaying me towards Firefox is the addons. But I don't know if it really passes my needs with Opera's Userscripts, buttons, and default features.
Finally, IceCat=Firefox-TM.
But yeah, I'm probably going to end up going back to Firefox...
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I belive you are right about Chrome. seems the person who posted prior to you digitxp didnt do their homework.
Firefox is fast!
The new 3.5 that was released is 2 times faster than the old 3.0.*
Your new SanDisk Drive should have not problem running it at top speed, especially with session store disabled.
[Edit: BTW, just did that acid3 test, my browser scored 93]
[Subject line deShouted and de!!!ed by mod Tim, unlike the irc, forum guidelines still apply, even in the Off Topic Forum]
Yes, 3.5 is twice as fast, but my flash drive goes at 9 Mb/s, so it must be slow (Iron manages to be the only browser on my drive not to crash :-). FF 3.5 also gives me that extreme urge to put in add-ons, that make it slow even on a hard drive :(. I wish there was a FF-Addon compatible browser for me to play with.
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Mod TIM, thankyou.
Also, general rules of civility apply in the IRC. So, no shouting there either. (We @'s have very itchy fingers :D)
Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world
Won't use anything except Firefox Portable, except for web development - I need to test my pages in other browsers, or I'd ditch Chrome & Iron in a heartbeat.
btw, not sure if anybody else has heard, but Chrome has a unique, personally identifiable ID number built into it... Iron is much like Chrome (uses the same rendering engine, IIRC, and much of the same code) without the privacy issues.
Anyway, back to FFP... the addons are impressive, the speed is impressive (browser speed differences are VERY noticeable on my 56kbps dialup connection!), and the fact it's free, portable & (mostly) open-source is icing on the cake...
MS and IE can eat FF's dust, I don't care
"The question I would like to know, is the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. All we know about it is that the Answer is Forty-two, which is a little aggravating."
Sadly enough, Chrome happens to be the ONLY program that has not crashed on me as of yet. Which I find saddening because my mom is doing a lot of PIM stuff and now I want to try out Zotero really badly but my FF install is severly bloated and I don't dare touch it.
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Computerfreaker, meet Google. Google, Computerfreaker.
Some say Google is evil, but they're just an advertising company which happens to be very good at making programs with adware tendencies that people want. They didn't like that so many Firefox users use Adblock Plus, so they rush out their own browser, which is actually good, but you don't get to skip the ads. I like Google, so long as I can use their products and services in Firefox. And I use Chrome as a backup browser, used it earlier as a matter of fact, but a few ads reminded me why I use Firefox.
That's when you make the bold move of backing up your bookmarks and deleting your profile. Then you start a new one, import your bookmarks, and start again with nothing. As you encounter annoyances on the Web, you slowly rebuild your extensions catalog, but you're only adding what you need, not stuff you thought you needed, only used once, and/or don't ever use.
Also, I for one believe in upgrade corruption. That when you upgrade something, it degrades a little. Portable Apps are exempt because they don't upgrade, they overwrite, and that's fine. But like, my graphic drivers at home? Whenever I upgrade my nVidia Forceware drivers, I always feel like I've lost more than I gained. But after a reformat, I install just the latest drivers, and it's fine again. This is why I maintain a software repository on a secondary hard drive, so that following a reformat, I have all my goodies, the latest versions, ready to be installed.
When you put it that way, I should probably keep using chrome
because then I don't have to worry about extension corruption.
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What the heck??
EDIT: oh, I see. You're introducing me to Google and its adware-inclined tendencies... lol
I'm actually used to this, which is why I replaced Google search with Scroogle search and Chrome with Iron, why Google is blacklisted in NoScript, and why AdBlock Plus picks up so much Google trash... just warning those who might not already know, as that news came as a big shock to me after I'd already used Chrome for some "private" browsing...
"The question I would like to know, is the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. All we know about it is that the Answer is Forty-two, which is a little aggravating."
For what I use my set of portable apps (family/friends tech support mostly), Iron does it best for me. Very fast and straightforward to use while still having necessary functionality (basic adblocking and flash) built-in.
BTW, my name is Ryan and this is my first post here at PA.
Hi.
"Save us, Porta-Jesus!"
(because "Porta-John" was already taken)
I have to admit that I've never been a huge fan of Firefox (up til now). It always seemed like to me that many people used it just because it isn't Internet Explorer. To me, it's always a bad thing when you're using something defined by what it's not.
Anyway, PortableApps and the shear people power of the Firefox user-base convinced me to persevere with it, as unconvinced as I was. Gradually, I saw improvements in speed, where I actually began to believe that it was indeed faster than IE.
Now, I actually like using Firefox and am happy with all aspects of its performance. I use about 5 add-ons; ad-block plus, firegestures, greasemonkey, new tab homepage (not even sure if I need this anymore)and firebug. It does all the things I need it to do and some things that I don't!
Like Nathan said, I quickly remember one of the reasons why I like using Firefox when I start using other browsers and see all the ads that I don't normally see (Yes, I'm evil).
I do use Google Chrome as a backup, but there are certain things about it that annoy me like no full-screen mode (as lean as it is) and little-to-no cookie management, and of course it's a pain to get add-ons working with it (at least for the time being). Google Chrome will undoubtedly catch up to Firefox but I'm happy with what I've got for now.
Hit F11 in Chrome.
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I haven't found a browser yet that doesn't support F11 for fullscreen mode... sometimes focus issues get in the way, but for the most part F11 will full-screen any browser, FF and IE included. (Although why anyone would use IE, I don't know :P)
"The question I would like to know, is the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. All we know about it is that the Answer is Forty-two, which is a little aggravating."
Has it always had it? I thought I read somewhere that it didn't have it because the interface was minimal enough already.
Even so, one keystroke is not enough to elevate to my browser of choice.
Choose "Full Screen" under the wrench icon.
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I hate portable Firefox because it is slow when you launch it... it always has some type of freezing problem.
i tried the about:config things not much help!
there are some people that create their own web browser by using visual basic
-ben-
If you want to know how to get free things like itouch or mac book(many more...) PM me!
Did you try disabling the add ons, some of those can be sluggish.
what about luna, a very cross browser, browser.
it also gives you a portable install option in the main intaller
ps: not sure how portable it really is!
website = http://www.lunascape.tv/
Go PORTABLES
Just joined, and I have to go for Google Chrome. Very fast, and that's needed for crappy P3's at my school!
Currently using a SanDisk Cruzer Contour 16GB USB drive.
Chrome(Iron) wins. They have extensions.
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