Vimperator

FireFox is a great browser. I've been using it as my primary browser for years but recently I have strayed a little. I installed Chrome on my laptop at work and I have used Arora and Rekonq at home. I haven't installed Chrome on my home computer simply because the 64-bit builds have been lagging behind the 32-bit builds and I don't have any 32-bit systems at home right now. I will once I get done rebuilding a couple of laptops that I have laying around but that's a project for another post. Yet, while I think all of these other browsers have their own unique advantages, I continue to use FireFox as my main browser -- Why?

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Quick Detour

Interestingly, all of these "other" browsers are Webkit based browsers. While none of these browsers are ready to be my primary browser, I have been impressed by each of them. Arora and Rekonq look nice on my KDE desktops (work, home, everywhere). While I don't get hung-up on the need to use only QT/KDE apps, I do think it's nice for a program to integrate itself well with the broader desktop. Open-desktop technologies have made this better than it was in years past, but we've got a long ways to do before the experience is everything I want to see. Let's face it. Desktop integration is nice and is increasingly important as both KDE and Gnome really move forward on integrating their various applications. Rekonq integrates itself with Konqueror's bookmarks which is extra nice.

Google's pet-browser, Chrome shows real promise but is a little wonky. It's stable but the desktop integration is not up-to-par. For some reason it refuses to accept my chosen GTK theme. This is true even when I tell it to use my GTK theme. I have nothing against GTK (as long as I don't have to program against it) but I do want my GTK apps to use the same GTK theme. Chrome also refuses to use my KDE icons, which is probably directly connected to my earlier problem. In contrast, other GTK apps like GVim are quite happy to use the correct GTK theme and icon-set. Chrome is the only GTK app that behaves this way. The Linux desktop established open-desktop standards for a reason. Chrome should use them too. But, thematic concerns aside, the browser works well and it is fast. (Chrome is much faster than either Arora or Rekonq from this end-user's informal, experienced based testing)

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Now that we've completed our little detour, we come back to the original point I want to make -- Why do I continue to use FireFox? There are several reasons. For starters, I do not want to try and maintain multiple sets of bookmarks, password files, etc. Doing so would be a pain and not something I want to do. If I switch to another browser, I want to be sure that it is ready to become my primary browser before I import my settings. Switching to Chrome is almost too easy, it will import everything. Moving to Arora or Rekonq would require an investment of some time to move passwords and what not over to the new browser.

More importantly, I use multiple computers and I like to mirror most of my work-settings (browser, bash, R, python, etc.) across all my computers, without needing to manually change each little setting. I developed a rync based system (alias, links) that lets me keep my various systems in-sync with one another and FireFox is already part of this system. Changing to another browser would require me to integrate it into this system. Obviously, this isn't hard, but it does slow me down enough that I consider my options before switching things up too much.

Another important consideration is the future. If I switch browsers and set everything up to work on multiple systems, I don't want to read a blog post next week about the project being canceled due to lack of developer interest. This is highly unlikely in the case of Chrome, but who knows about Arora or Rekonq? If Rekonq becomes part of KDE this becomes less an issue, but right now they are relatively small and immature teams. Do these projects really have legs?

But, I'm a geek and problems like that can be (and often are) overcome with a little bash-fu and geeky stubbornness.

Lately, the real reason I've stayed loyal to FireFox is because of Vimperator. Several weeks ago (OK, over a month ago) I installed Vimperator onto FireFox and I am absolutely hooked. It feels as though I opened up Vim and hit:

:source /usr/bing/firefox

It's cool like that. I have more screen room, FireFox is imminently easier to use and I've been able to remove a few duplicate extensions and get what I want via Vimperator. After adding a few extensions onto Vimp, I am more than happy. There's even a Vim extension to provide syntax highlighting for the .vimperatorrc file.

If I switch to Chrome or Arora, I would have to give up on Vimperator, which is fine, but I would also have to return to a world where I am expected to use a mouse to interact with my browser. Right now, the only browser flexible enough to act like Vim is FireFox. The others just aren't able to do this.

Ironically, Vimperator does not store it's settings in ~/.mozilla, so I have had to update my rsync system to include ~/.vimperator/ and ~/.vimperatorrc but this is a small price to pay for Vim goodness. And, I don't have to export/import my passwords, log-in cookies, etc. into a new browser which is also nice, but Vimperator is the real thing keeping me loyal to FireFox.