Agility or Ability – Which Is Better?

When it comes to your web browser, do you think you can choose agility over ability? I’ll give you my own answer at the end of this post. First, let me rant about my recent decision to switch to Google Chrome and the abrupt end of the honeymoon.

Agility

Chrome definitely loads pages more quickly. It seems to make better use of computer resources. These features were the initial attraction and I still find them to be very appealing.

Flock and Firefox are misnomers, unless we’re talking about waddling geese and burnt creatures writhing in agony. I know I’m writhing in agony whenever the browsers cause the CPU usage to hit 100%.

Ability

The unadorned browser does nothing for my productivity. I have been accustomed to using several extensions on Flock. I’ve never had any problems with them.

Chrome accepts a mixed bag of extensions; some are good, some are bad. Here’s what I think of the one’s I’ve installed:

AdBlock (Enabled)
The closest I could come to NoScript for Firefox, AdBlock is not my favorite extension. The Chrome sandbox security model is supposed to protect me. But what about the ads and pop-under pages? I guess I shouldn’t expect any help from Google!

Alexa Traffic Rank (Enabled)
I just glance at the current page’s stats from time to time.

Awesome Screenshot (Disabled)
@Ileane told me all about this extension, here. I’ve noticed that it is sensitive to keyboard shortcuts, which can’t be disabled, despite violent demands for such a capability. Luckily, TechSmith’s Jing is a pretty awesome screen capture utility, too.

Delicious Bookmarks (Enabled)
The only reason I use this juiceless, link-hating website is that its bookmarking metaphor beats the socks off of any browser’s attempt to organize my favorites.

Feedly (Enabled)
Feedly is a wonderful aggregation tool. It is indispensable for keeping up with all of the feeds I’m subscribed to from BloggerLuv.com.

RoboForm (Enabled)
I need RoboForm so much, that I’m willing to stop using Chrome if the integration doesn’t improve. I can live with the bottom-docking, but not the constant crashes and disappearance from non-web pages, such as the extensions page (chrome://extensions/).

RSS Subscription (Enabled)
This has become an essential extension. I’m glad it works well with Feedly.

StumbleUpon (Disabled)
I automatically highlight text for inclusion in my review. In Flock, it just works. In Chrome, it just doesn’t. For now, I keep Flock open while I stumble around the web.

Wikipedia Companion (Enabled)
This is a great mini-browser! No need to open a new tab, unless I want to. I also like the random Featured Pages.

   

Agility or Ability: A Delicate Balance

A fast browser is nice, but a full-featured browser is more important. I can make concessions on most of the extensions, like using Jing instead of Awesome Screenshot. However, I depend on RoboForm too much to switch to another password manager. I’ll stick with Chrome, but forgive me if I step out with Flock from time to time.



Image by Mitch

12 thoughts on “Agility or Ability – Which Is Better?”

    • Thanks, Sharon. Which shortcomings bug you the most? I’ve adapted to the RoboForm quirks, for the most part. But they still are bad enough to stop me completely.

      Cheers,

      Mitch

  2. I may have to follow suit soon, and give Chrome another try. I installed it when it was fresh on the scene, and couldn’t stand it more than a week. I went back to Firefox, but it has turned into such a resource hog, that I found myself needing to run it with most of my extensions disabled. It finally got so bad that I switched to Flock. Happily, most of my critical extensions function well with it, but again, I find my resources gobbled up when I most need them. Is Chrome any better on that front, Mitch?
    I’ve heard it’s improved since its launch, and I’m willing to give it a try, if there’s some benefit, other than just speed.

    • Hi Doc!
      I have noticed something interesting about Chrome: whereas Mozilla-based browsers churn CPU cycles, Chrome does not. However, Chrome can feel unresponsive to clicking.

      To be fair, we are sharing a wireless network across two laptops and I’m not certain that the connections have been optimized. By the same token, even when I have Flock open under this setup, it seems to respond more quickly to clicks.

      I am just going to use both :)

      For what it’s worth, I find Flock to be more capable for certain tasks:
      1. saving my TiddlyWiki cookie settings
      2. playing vimeo videos (Chrome just “sits” there, looking dumb)

      If you want to compare browsers on that second point, try Firefox’s Tab Candy , a relevant video that wouldn’t play in Chrome. (Reminds me of the days when Internet Explorer used to block certain content…)

      I’d love to hear your feedback.

      Cheers,

      Mitch

  3. On Stumbleupon, on delicious – this is really thorough! I can’t say I’ve contemplated switching to Chrome even though I’ve used it, and it is very fast. Firefox with Stumbleupon and delicious and a few other extensions is working wonderfully. And a friend is testing Firefox 4.0 beta and he claims it is incredible.
    ashok recently posted..Maimonides- “Letter to Obadiah the Proselyte”My Profile

    • Hi Ashok, thanks for promoting this. I might wind up delegating surfing to Chrome, while leaving the heavy lifting to whichever Mozilla Monster comes first that doesn’t hog resources :)

      Can you suggest a specific Delicious plugin for Firefox? I find myself reloading links in Chrome more often than is productive :)

      Cheers,

      Mitch

  4. I have to try Chrome for browsing. I keep saying that..but I keep opening Firefox out of habit. I just love my plugins even though it is a resource hog. Firebug keeps me with Firefox. I’m using the Delicious Bookmarks and like it. There is more than one choice?

    I have never used Flock. I’m downloading it now.

    Of course I also have…gasp…IE…gag..for testing sites only. If I ever accidentally open it for any other reason or see a friend using it…it causes instantaneous, uncontrollable screaming in horror. :)
    Melinda recently posted..Get into a home maintenance routine with a scheduleMy Profile

    • Hi Melinda,

      You made me laugh with the image of screaming in horror…until I realized that my software uses IE in an internal browser. Dang.

      Chrome, like its name, is a shiny object that I keep come back to. Eventually, I’m going to have to make a decision. Earlier, Doc asked about the resources (CPU). I told him that Chrome was better but, upon reflection, I should have added a disclaimer:

      Chrome’s superior management of CPU resources is nullified by a supremely buggy RoboForm plugin, which freezes the browser for up to 30 seconds before crashing.

      I wish I knew how to interrupt whatever was going on. This is the one issue that will cause me to uninstall Chrome – I have nearly 900 passwords and other data stored in my RoboForm folder!

      Let me know how you make out with Flock :)

      Cheers,

      Mitch

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  6. I switched to Chrome one year ago and since then I never had a problem. In time a got to install a pretty big number of useful (at least to me) extensions which are great by the way. Firefox just seems like an old software I used back in the days and whenever I see people still using it I get melancholic because I used to love Firefox and its addons.

  7. I really appreciate this article you have shared Mitch, for me i prefer to use the Google Chrome than other browser, as you can see it is more advance in speed than anything. this is my only opinion.