browser: alternatives to Firefox 57

[H.Remedy]

Firefox was the most customizable browser, but apparently that is not what the majority of users want (FF = 8% ?!).
I've put FF on ignore as of v56 and trying out Chrome (ouch).

FF57 is definitely less customizable than FF56, but I wouldn't call it less customizable than Chrome. There are still a lot of exposed settings in about:config.

In terms of the extensions you mentioned:

• NoScript is scheduled to be released as a WebExtension for FF57 this week, so there's no need going to Chrome for a less powerful alternative.
• Probably the best cookie handler for FF57 (so far) is Cookie Autodelete, which tries to do what Self-Destructing Cookies used to do. It cannot periodically delete indexeddb and dom entries, however, but at least you can do that on shutdown with other extensions.

If you're interested in privacy (as your comment about Windows 10 suggests), I think it's best to stick it out in Firefox. You can turn off all the telemetry (mostly in about:config), you will still have access to a lot of privacy extensions, and there is no creepy Google in the background.

[MintBean]

Is there any other option than .deb for installing Slimjet? Something that updates without a manual re-install like PPA or Flatpak? If there is I can't find it.

[aes2011]

... If you're interested in privacy (as your comment about Windows 10 suggests), I think it's best to stick it out in Firefox. You can turn off all the telemetry (mostly in about:config), you will still have access to a lot of privacy extensions, and there is no creepy Google in the background.

But http://www.zdnet.com/article/googles-ba ... ahoo-deal/

[Teksonik]

Memory hog, though not as bad as FF

Looks like FireFox 57 uses about 310 megs here. Is that a problem in the day when 4 Gig or 8 Gig systems are pretty much the norm ?

32-bit ESR FF in my XP virtual machine uses about that. But on 64-bit OSes it eventually hogs 4GB or more.

I'm using the 64 bit versions of Mint and FireFox. When you say eventually what do you mean ? Memory use here doesn't appear to change over time. It shows 280 Megs right now.

[jglen490]

I have it, I use it, and so far I like it.

Vivaldi is good, Chrome is O.K.

Pick what you want, eliminate what you don't want; with Linux you are in charge of what goes onto your machine.

[xfrank]

Chromium is also good (if not for the lack of video codecs support).
I'm actually testing Vivaldi on a daily basis, to find if it could be "the" replacement for FF. In general, this browser is OK (amazing customization options and unique features), I've found only few bugs like the "freezing" of some tabs, and it is not the fastest browser around, for sure.

[Ascaris]

I'm using Waterfox 56 (test version) in Mint right now!

This version, like Waterfox in general, is outstanding. It's a Firefox fork that will continue to support XUL and the old addons (as well as the new ones), and a few other changes (pocket removed, telemetry removed, NPAPI plugins are still supported, and some other things). It has the controversial Australis UI, but since it supports Custom Theme Restorer, that can easily be remedied.

In terms of speed:

I just tested Waterfox 56 with my full addon complement (23 atm) on browserbench.org's Speedometer benchmark, and it scored 81. Firefox 57, with those addons that still work or have Mozilla-suggested alternatives (about 7 or and the same settings on the same PC, scored 88. That's an 8.6% performance increase, which is pretty trivial.

The "twice as fast" comparison (which used the same benchmark I cited in this post, I believe) uses a Firefox build from some six months ago to compare to 57, and that older build does not have the many performance improvements Firefox and Waterfox have received in the months leading up to the release of FF 57. At best, removing the XUL addons would be responsible for no more than 8.6% performance gain, by my numbers, and possibly less (maybe not all of the gain was from dropping XUL, but from other optimizations made since FF 56 was released).

[Benedetto]

I have used Opera for a good number of years now, here on Linux and on Windows XP onwards. I am more than happy with it. Prior to that I did use Firefox. I detested IE and AOL.
Firefox is a second string for me - just in case I guess - and have upgraded to their newest offering, 57, though have not used it yet.
I tried Vivaldi both here on Linux and Windows 10 but I found that whilst I liked it it did appear to be harnessed to Google in some manner. So removed it. Google Chrome I tried when it first came out but felt it was no advance on what I was using.

[Drygar_2016]

If you ask me it's high time Linux Mint (and Ubuntu) moved to Firefox ESR for their repositories - Firefox ESR as a main primary browser for their LTS releases.

That automatically fixes (almost) everything.

[Night Wing]

My two main browsers which I use in both linux and windows.

1) Pale Moon (default browser)
2) SeaMonkey (backup browser)

After looking at Firefox 57 and playing around with it, it wasn't my cup of tea because one extension I liked will remain Legacy so I removed Firefox 57 and I will no longer be getting any packages for Firefox. But I decided it would be prudent to have a third browser so I went on over to the Mozilla site and looked at the newest ESR version and I installed it in both linux and windows:

3) Firefox 52.5.0 ESR

All the old Legacy extensions will work with the Firefox 52 ESR versions until June of 2018.

[ArtGirl]

If you ask me it's high time Linux Mint (and Ubuntu) moved to Firefox ESR for their repositories - Firefox ESR as a main primary browser for their LTS releases.

That automatically fixes (almost) everything.

Unfortunately, I'd not be able to use Mint if that happened, and would be at a loss about an OS.