this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2024
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Everyone says “problems with websites in Firefox!”
Nobody has examples
I use Firefox on Linux and FreeBSD for my daily driver.
I was not able to book flights on Thai airways website 6 months ago until I loaded it in chrome/chromium instead.
It's really really rare imo but that's one example in recent history.
That sounds more like an issue with them using some proprietary browser bullshit than a problem with Firefox.
But what, practically, is the difference? If more and more websites use shit that only works in Chrome or Chromium based browsers, the effect is the same. The web doesn't work as well for Firefox users.
One is a browser following web standards and the other is a shitty company adding non-standards based development features intended to lock users into there browsers.
It was shitty when Microsoft did the non-standard features to lock in with Internet Exporer and it is shitty that Chrome does it now.
It's shitty for sure, and I definitely think Chrome needs to die, or at least have better competition. Sadly, not enough users are using non-chromium browsers, that they don't see a problem with using chrome only features. It sucks, and it's going to lead (is leading) to the further enshitification of the web. I'm doing my part by using Firefox, and any web application I develop is guaranteed to work in Firefox.
100% this. People loose the wood for the trees with these kinds of things. If something doesn't work in one browser but does in another then 99% of people are not technical enough to understand or care why not. They just know it doesn't work. That makes it a problem for Firefox. Whether it's by their own making or not.
Very possible and even probable that they're using some chrome specific behaviour. Just like back in late 90s early noughts when so many websites were IE specific making is impossible to use without a windows installation. The effect is though that unfortunately Firefox isn't usable everywhere. Sometimes you need chrome for some specific websites. This is especially true for some self hosted "enterprise" web apps, I need chrome for one of those too.
Can you prove that right now? I can’t test that without a link
Not a very big website, but the service my therapist uses for teletherapy doesn't support anything outside of chromium.
try switching your user agent. it'll likely work fine.
red medical will act up if you don't use a chromium browser.
I don’t want you to post personal stuff but that’s still just “it doesn’t work” with no proof
Well, it's a specific example, even if I didn't give any way to test it. Better than just saying "some websites don't work" since I'm actually indicating the particular one that doesn't.
I guess your two options are to trust that I'm acting in good faith when I say it or to assume I might not be and disregard the example. Either way doesn't affect me much; I've already submitted tickets to the service asking for Firefox support, so with any luck it won't even be an issue for too long.
After a ton of “Firefox sucks because a website doesn’t work but I won’t tell you which one”
I don’t care to think anyone saying they is saying it in good faith
No one said Firefox sucks
I mean I did tell you which one. I just didn't tell you how to find it.
They're saying the websites suck, obviously it's not Firefox fault if the webdev behind the site is a dumbass/actively works against Firefox.
Wow, that random news article I hit 16 days ago where the page kept flickering and reloading, but didn't do that when I copied the URL into Brave... I really should've recorded that domain so I could defend myself against some stranger online!
Sarcasm aside, I don't think it's generally the major websites that you bump into this with, however, there are many edge cases that occur for plenty of folks, whether they're in college and have to use that "secure browser" extension that only supports Chrome, or the fact that some websites, especially in business, that simply refuse to support browser and will prevent access otherwise.
I'm a Firefox user, so this isn't to say that Chromium is the way by any means, but hopefully to shine a little light on the fact that we're all on different parts of the web with different experiences, questioning their experiences so that you can hopefully find an extension or something to pin the blame them does not absolve them of their experience, just a show of elitism.
Firefox HAS gotten much better, but unfortunately, Capitalism's gonna Capitalism
Oh noooo a random shit news site doesn’t load good cuz they don’t do web design good
Still no examples
why are you being so abrasive?
Of course web sites not working on firefox is an error on the web sites part, was that even in question?
Because I’ve seen this over and over again and it’s always the same. Nobody has replied with a single URL, just vague anecdotes.
Here's a list https://webcompat.com/issues?page=1&per_page=50&state=open&stage=all&sort=created&direction=desc&q=firefox
I couldn't submit a support ticket for id.me (the IRS' stupid commercial partner for Identity verification) when using Firefox, the submit button literally did not work. Worked fine when switching to edge (blegh).
I never had a problem verifying on Firefox a few years back so maybe it's a more recent bug?
I can’t test that but that's the closest thing to proof so far!
Oh, and I can't seem to get tiktok videos to play on Firefox on Android? Not a major issue, but my sister keeps sending them to me in particular for some reason, so...
I’ve always had TikTok blocked so I maybe o idea about that
Also a privacy browser not allowing the least private thing ever? Colour me shocked
I mean, yeah. I'm none too bothered by that one, but it's still an example.
Yup I've noticed that too. I don't have tiktok personally but I get links from friends and sometimes I have to open them in the duckduckgo browser (chromium based)
Example: The meeting webservice my bank uses is for whatever reason blocked for Firefox. Not sure if they just User-Agent check but they consciously block out Firefox users. I alerted my bank person about that but I doubt that's going to be any different next time I have a meeting with them.
Are you sure that's not an ad/tracker-blocking issue?
I've seen this on twitch, for example. Trying to log in with trackers blocked will throw up a dialog saying "your browser is not supported," but if you allow tracking, it works fine. And once logged in, you can block trackers again and the site continues to work normally.
Nope they explicitly state in their support forums that they do not support Firefox and the Error Message you get recommends using Edge or Chrome. This is not an Ad-Block problem
I remember whipping out Vivaldi (which is Chrome-based) for booking a ticket on the Interrail website: https://www.interrail.eu/en
I haven’t fiddled much with weaker privacy/ad-blocking settings though, because I didn’t have the patience for that.
I was about to say this. I never find any websites that doesnt work with Firefox so I'm genuinely curious.
I bet it's their ad blocker, or they have set their Firefox settings to the privacy level that says "this will break some web sites".
I just gave you an example of menus not expanding.
I'm not dogging Firefox I'm saying there is a consorted effort made to reduce it's usefulness.
I haven't come across a menu that didn't expand in Firefox. Which website(s) have this issue in Firefox?
It was a local regulatory site that didn't work on mobile, I did the desktop toggle and it worked.
Okay where
That’s not proof
And proof isn't an example, I'm not giving you my browsing history for sites of businesses local to me.
The search in the Walmart site has only been working on and off (mostly off) in Firefox, but consistently in Chrome. There's also some webpages for my university that only work in Chrome
Edit: looks like the Walmart search is working now though for me. The only reason I even have duckduckgo browser is because walmart.com was giving me issues on Firefox
It happens rarely to me, and when it does 99/100 its the adblocker blocking something it shouldnt.
MS Teams. Works for chat, but not for receiving audio/video calls/meetings.
I can think of 2 websites that didn't work right over the past 10 Yeats. Both were credit card payment sites and just had weird issues like couldn't hit the submit button. I figured it out and just used edge for them. I never found any site that I use often that has issues yet.
“I can think of”
no proof
No personal stuff obviously but nobody actually has proof
Samsung bill pay which is a tdbank site and joss and main furniture credit payment site... didn't think I had to list them to be taken seriously. Plus I am for Firefox, it's all I have used for 15 years now.
Create any website with an element that is fixed on the bottom of the page and try to move the page in the mobile Firefox then.