Some reasons why I prefer Firefox as my default browser.
In no particular order...
It uses Gecko as its HTML rendering engine, not Blink. And the ubiquity of Chromium-based Web browsers is becoming a sort of security problem. The current situation: gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share
It is maintained by a larger entity (foundation, company, administration, etc...) than Brave.
For the general public, offering too many alternatives to Chrome is not good (--> psychology).
In the advanced settings, it is possible, for example, to disable disk caching (a relic from the 1990s, very useful at the time), thus allowing the SSD to be used less:
In the address bar, enter about:config and accept the warning. browser.cache.disk.enable --> false browser.cache.disk.capacity --> 0
And to choose the size of the RAM cache: browser.cache.memory.capacity --> in kilobytes
Finally, note that this is also valid for the Thunderbird email client.
Zorin is, in my opinion, one of the best alternatives for Windows 10.
Brave is probably a good choice for the average user coming from Windows 10, as it comes with Brave Shields built-in (Privacy Protection & Security Features | Brave), requiring no specialized knowledge for customization.
True, but Zorin was one of the first distributions to offer a browser chooser which was copied by Feren OS and Zorin dropped it around Zorin 9 if memory serves. The problem for me is Firefox and Thunderbird are reliant on Google and Thunderbird has a Google backend that cannot be removed. I am currently using PCLOS Debian "trixie" and does not have a default browser installed at all leaving the end user to choose from a plethora of Browsers via an app called Browser Installer written by a lead community dev, Upgreyed. I've installed 3: Zen (a fork of Firefox); IceCat; and Pale Moon. Looking forward to trying ladybird browser which will not be using any current browser engine, it is being built from the ground up and expected to be released next year.
Zen = Modernfox
GNU/Icecat = Obscurefox
Palemoon = Ancientfox
I have 6 forks of Firefox & Firefox but not really using Firefox or Mulvad the other 5 I use as well 3 Chromium forks including Brave so of the 10 browsers installed I am actively using 7
They have worked on something for Zorin 18. Normally when You install Firefox on an Ubuntu-based Distro, You get the Snap Version - even when choose the APT Version - when the Mozilla-own Repo isn't added.
Now, it is so that the Zorin Team will make a Workaround. When You install Firefox as APT in Software Store, You should get a Window like this:
I feel like the primary reason to use Firefox (or some fork of Firefox) is so you can use the uBlock extension (I combine this with SponsorBlock for YouTube videos).
That said with the bad press Firefox has had in recent months I feel like an easy alternative is LibreWolf which seems to be essentially Firefox but more privacy. For several months now I've been enjoying Zen because of how it provides the maximum amount of viewing space; anything that reduces the need to scroll is highly appealing to me.
Not just for scrolling, but for displaying. With the rest of the browser interface hidden its possible to display more information than would otherwise be possible without scrolling.
Honestly any browser nowadays gives me enough screen real estate to do my work in. We've gone long past the days of having 5 or 6 toolbars at the top of the browser that would eat up a good 20-30% of the screen haha. For the most part, browsers keep it fairly minimal now (for better or worse) in regards to the user interface.
I actually tend to enable a few more things here and there, as I use a lot of stuff when using my browsers. Although I do also understand how some people don't like that as well.
I often am working on files that have a few thousand lines of code.
When I think of pages I visit, the vast majority have lengths that far exceed scrolling. Github.
Or eBay.
My browser page has the addressbar and tab bar at the top. I kind of need those. But... if on a kick of maximizing Screen real estate, I disabled them... I would gain maybe one or two printed lines... Before I needed to scroll again. And when I do... I won't be anywhere near the bottom.
If I really wanted to minimize scrolling, every webpage would be a wall of text.
There are such a large number of browsers these days, it varies with how much screen real estate they can consume depending on settings (for example using vertical tabs would take up a chunk of screen space if the panel isn't hidden by default). On top of that take into account the size of the window and resolution.
One thing I've done in the past with two monitors of equal size is turn one vertical, this is great for browsing the web as you often are able to see twice as much information at a time without scrolling. Of course if you have OCD this monitor configuration would drive you crazy.
I 100% agree! The trick to gaining more screen real state I've learned, is accomplished by simply buying a larger monitor. Once you have a 32" screen, whether 1440P or 4K, you're not going back, trust me, its a world of difference over 17" notebook screen!
