Chromium vs. Iceweasel

corenominal · 2012-05-15 13:21:40

I know this is one of those topics that gets discussed over 'n' over, but I really would like to read your comments regarding these 2 browsers. Personally, I have been using Chrome/Chromium for a while, but every now-and-again I like to switch back to Iceweasel. I think I mentioned something about Chromium being a personal preference in the latest Waldorf testing release notes, but in truth, I like both equally (I'm typing this within Iceweasel).

So, given the choice between the 2 (note, you can suggest alternatives to Iceweasel and Chromium, but I will most likely ignore them), which one do you think makes the best default browser?

I am beginning to side with Iceweasel. It has been interesting to give Chromium another run, but in its current state, I think Iceweasel wins on quality. Also, I have no real metrics with which to prove this, but Iceweasel just feels a whole lot snappier to use.

el_koraco · 2012-05-15 13:25:38

1. Webkit font rendering with Freetype - fail
2. V8 being too fast for its own good and choking on simple websites -fail
3. Fugly Chrome interface with no customization options - fail
4. Chrome not being designed for Linux in the first place (see 1, 2, 3 and many more) - fail

hinto · 2012-05-15 13:29:09

Bookmark synching with Chromium has been problematic for me. Since I run OSX, Win7 and #!, I use this feature a lot.
That's why I stick with Firefox/Iceweasel.
-H

mikhou · 2012-05-15 13:30:09

I have always felt that Chrome/Chromium was faster, but I could go either way. I must be honest that I haven't used either very much in the new Waldorf version. I have only had a little bit of time to play with it, and I have heard that Iceweasel has greatly improved from the current Stable version.

Be that as it may, I always have both installed. I typically surf with Chromium and download with Iceweasel (because I really like the DownThemAll plugin).

mikhou

TitanMech · 2012-05-15 13:31:41

Ive noticed facebook doesnt work in chromium on both statler and waldorf, there are no messages in the bottom left status bar to indicate errors with the page, but all i get is a blank white window.

A vanilla Iceweasel however works perfectly on all pages, except it sometimes lags when scrolling large web pages such as news articles.

So i keep chromium round for news reading, and iceweasel for facebook, it would be nice to use one browser for everything.

Awebb · 2012-05-15 13:32:21

I was a loyal Opera user until Opera 10 (or something), when my Opera profile got damaged and the browser ran like crap for a while. I then decided to switch to Chromium, which ran good for a while, with and without extensions. It eventually started to behave weird and quirky, so I gave that Firefox thing, every damn page on the intertubez seemed to be designed for, a try. Since then, Firefox has yet to fail, it works well with and without addons and when it crashes, it's usually flash.

I tried returning to Opera, but it doesn't feel like a good browser anymore. I have not tried chromium in a while now (let's say not since february), but I think both are okay. What do you do anyway in the live session?

Edit: Okay, it feels faster for me, but on the other side there are no addons in my chromium yet. Hmm.

Last edited by Awebb (2012-05-15 13:34:25)

el_koraco · 2012-05-15 13:38:59

Awebb wrote:

Edit: Okay, it feels faster for me, but on the other side there are no addons in my chromium yet. Hmm.

That's like how Arch feels faster to first time users, on a fresh install, before they find out how to start system daemons.

sagesparrow · 2012-05-15 13:55:51

Iceweasel
When dealing with small screen real estate (12" screen), the Theme Font and Size Changer extension is essential and there is no equivalent for Chrome/Chromium.

Last edited by sagesparrow (2012-05-15 13:56:18)

Jabroneous · 2012-05-15 14:10:13

sagesparrow wrote:

Iceweasel
When dealing with small screen real estate (12" screen), the Theme Font and Size Changer extension is essential and there is no equivalent for Chrome/Chromium.

By the same token, Chromium's extra space up top with fewer rows of menus does wonders for visibility on my netbook. I've never had trouble simply resizing pages and adjusting the default font size to get an optimal view.

Speaking of netbooks, even with the same versions of Flash and Java, Chromium somehow handles video playback far better than Iceweasel on my EeePC.

Iceweasel initially launches quicker than Chromium, but doesn't feel as quick as Chromium once it's active.

Iceweasel has more plugins to choose from, but Chromium's defaults are superior, in my opinion. Anyone who wants Iceweasel for its superior customization probably wouldn't be too inconvenienced by having to download the browser itself before jumping into dozens of plugins.

I always download both, but I'd vote for Chromium as the default, especially since the bugs that corenominal brought up should be more than fixed by the time Wheezy becomes stable.

CBizgreat! · 2012-05-15 14:15:57

ANOTHER THIS BROWSER OR THAT BROWSER THREAD !?!?! OMG !! Corenominal ... dood, you're fired ! neutral

Everybody realizes of course am kidding. Think #! is a kickbutt distro and am grateful to Corenominal and the #! community. For helping a newb learn how kewl gnu/Linux can be. Having said that ... be warned, much babbling is gonna follow ... If ya don't like babble TURN BACK NOW ...

I vote for all of em, let people pick what ( or which combo) they want. Somebody said you'd put an "install opera" entry in the right click menu. Can't be that hard to either make a script for it or just have latest versions of all of them preinstalled and ready to go with a minimum of fuss ?

Took me awhile, eventually got sick of friggin iceweasel 3.5 that was default. But wasn't hard figuring out how to install all the major browsers. Atm iceweasel 12, Firefox 12 ( running from a hidden folder in ~/), opera latest and google-chrome latest are all on this OS. Easy keyboard shortcuts to launch em all here. Control + Up ( symlinked to launch FF 12) Control + Down iceweasel 12, Control/left Chrome and Control Right Opera. Getting off track sowwie.

More than that, could even see going a step further could be good mojo w Fireweasel, pre-tweak that sucker. Default mozilla isn't bad ... but could be better too. Maybe a choice in the script ? ie: Do you have highspeed internet .... or: Other ? Ok ya'll were warned. There's my babbling 2 cents on the topic. PS ... Given a choice between the two, I'd go w Iceweasel every time btw. But why da heck not let folks choose or have it all ? Shrugs. tongue

Vll and Vl#! and #! community ! smile

Last edited by CBizgreat! (2012-05-15 14:23:27)

machinebacon · 2012-05-15 14:21:43

I, too, have two browsers in rotation (FF and Opera). I don't like either, but IW/FF gets my vote as default if that matters (except of being unable to open mails in hotmail, but that's Claws job). The add-ons on FF are more useful to me than the extensions in Chromium.

Awebb · 2012-05-15 14:22:37

Jabroneous wrote:

especially since the bugs that corenominal brought up should be more than fixed by the time Wheezy becomes stable.

Yes, we will all enjoy Wheezy stable in the retirement home. "Once the next Debian version goes stable" used to be our cute punchline to indicate the unlikelyness of an event.

sano · 2012-05-15 14:25:19

Iceweasel. I have to admit that Chromium feels faster, but I like my highly customized Firefox/Iceweasel. With the amount of extensions I am using Chromium would probably also start to slow down.

Jabroneous · 2012-05-15 14:36:08

Awebb wrote:

Jabroneous wrote:
especially since the bugs that corenominal brought up should be more than fixed by the time Wheezy becomes stable.
Yes, we will all enjoy Wheezy stable in the retirement home. "Once the next Debian version goes stable" used to be our cute punchline to indicate the unlikelyness of an event.

We are talking about which version to include in the next stable version of CrunchBang, aren't we?

august · 2012-05-15 15:04:45

I use Iceweasel.

pvsage · 2012-05-15 15:20:32

Midori. (Oh, wait - that one wasn't on the ballot...don't wanna waste my vote on a write-in...)

Iceweasel.

hinto · 2012-05-15 15:24:50

Less filling/Tastes great!!! wink

As long as it's Debian, it's only an apt-get away.
There's even a spiffy UI (galternatives) to set the default one if the WM/DE doesn't support setting a default.

#! could punt an not even have one... In classic #! style, though, choose the browser based on either 1) size on disk or 2) size in memory.

-H

Last edited by hinto (2012-05-15 15:25:15)

VastOne · 2012-05-15 15:35:13

Iceweasel.. it does what I need it to do and has anything I need that renders correctly

I can never get any brand of Chromium to look and work for me the way I need it... Simple tasks such as remembering site settings and page font sizing have always been an issue ...

If I am spoiled by the add ons that do these things in Iceweasel seamlessly, then so be it, at least they are available

I also like the control of the configuration I have in Iceweasel

If there is a speed difference, it is so minute to be of little matter IMHO

Thanks for asking...

vicshrike · 2012-05-15 16:48:09

Iceweasel. The first thing I did after installing Waldorf, were to install Iceweasel. And jolly joo, to my big pleasant surprise it became the default browser without me doing anything. smile Thanks boss. I have stopped using other browsers than FF/I, except when I take a little turn on xp, there I use IE, just for the fun of some good old self-torture lol

SabreWolfy · 2012-05-15 16:48:13

I vote for Iceweasel as the default browser.

corenominal · 2012-05-15 17:27:08

Thanks for all the comments so far, I appreciate your thoughts smile

falldown · 2012-05-15 18:00:53

corenominal
I myself prefer The Weasel, but I think a nice cb-welcome "Which Browser do you prefer IceWeasel/Chromium" selection would be nice addition. big_smile

SabreWolfy · 2012-05-15 18:04:09

^ There still needs to be a default which is actually installed. Prompting the user for which software choices s/he wants is probably not the route to go though, as we all customize #! ourselves anyway.

Last edited by SabreWolfy (2012-05-15 18:07:54)

hinto · 2012-05-15 18:11:11

^how about the cb-welcome ask you your preference and apt-get install it then instead of having both on the cd/iso?
-Hinto

SabreWolfy · 2012-05-15 18:13:02

^ I don't think it's a good idea for the script to start offering these kinds of options, because where do you stop? We all customize our #! install anyway, so it's easy enough to purge iceweasel and install another browser.

CrunchBang Linux

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#1 2012-05-15 13:21:40

Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#2 2012-05-15 13:25:38

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#3 2012-05-15 13:29:09

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#4 2012-05-15 13:30:09

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#5 2012-05-15 13:31:41

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#6 2012-05-15 13:32:21

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#7 2012-05-15 13:38:59

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#8 2012-05-15 13:55:51

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#9 2012-05-15 14:10:13

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#10 2012-05-15 14:15:57

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#11 2012-05-15 14:21:43

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#12 2012-05-15 14:22:37

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#13 2012-05-15 14:25:19

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#14 2012-05-15 14:36:08

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#15 2012-05-15 15:04:45

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#16 2012-05-15 15:20:32

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#17 2012-05-15 15:24:50

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#18 2012-05-15 15:35:13

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#19 2012-05-15 16:48:09

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#20 2012-05-15 16:48:13

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#21 2012-05-15 17:27:08

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#22 2012-05-15 18:00:53

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#23 2012-05-15 18:04:09

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#24 2012-05-15 18:11:11

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

#25 2012-05-15 18:13:02

Re: Chromium vs. Iceweasel

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