Over the last few years I’ve made a couple attempts to switch from using Firefox as my primary browser to Chrome. Each time I’ve attempted to transition to Chrome, I’ve found myself crawling right back to Firefox. Granted, I’ve been a loyal user of Firefox since version 1.0, and in the past have done my fair share of evangelizing its adoption to those willing to listen. However, in the advent of Firefox’s rapid release schedule, the last two releases (Firefox 17 & 18), drove me to give Chrome another try. Why? Because in the last several months I’ve been required to use another browser in order to properly use or view some website more times than I can remember in the span of the last ~9 years, all due to the latest release of Firefox breaking something that worked in the previous release. Not cool.
While my latest attempt to fully transition to using Chrome has also failed, I’d like to note (as best as I can remember) some the reasons why each attempt failed:
First Attempt (2010):
- Features & Extensions - When I first tried Chrome, there was a lack of built-in functionality or extensions which could completely replace the majority of extensions and features that I’d become so accustomed to using Firefox.
Second Attempt (2011):
- UI Customization - I just couldn’t get past the extreme lack of customization and extensibility afforded to extension authors and the user. So while I could compromise and do without many obscure Firefox extensions that I use once in a blue moon, the limitations of where Chrome extensions can be accessed from (via browser action icons to the right of the OmniBar) posed a major annoyance if I have 5+ extensions I use on a regular basis.
Third Attempt (2013):
- FTP Browsing - Although minor, my most recent attempt to transition exposed to me that the built-in FTP browsing functionality of Chrome is lacking in comparison to Firefox. For example, the inability for me to sort by column (i.e. Name, Size, Date Modified). It looks like I am not the only one that misses this functionality from Firefox.
- Find on Page - Chrome lacks the ability to perform a case-sensitive search for words/ text on a page. This might as well be a deal breaker for me, because I use this feature in Firefox a lot more than I realized. Again, it seems that I’m not alone, and that it doesn’t look like it’s on the radar to be implemented in the near or foreseeable future!
Alas, this most recent attempt has motivated me into starting a new project of developing Chrome extensions to compensate for Chrome’s inadequacies. More to come as I progress in the development of said extension(s).