Firefox Vs Chromium As Ubuntu Looks All Set to Dump Firefox, Mayank Sharma Wonders Whether It’S Time We All Made the Switch to Chromium?

Reviews Web browser Firefox vs Chromium As Ubuntu looks all set to dump Firefox, Mayank Sharma wonders whether it’s time we all made the switch to Chromium?

lthough it still isn’t set in stone, In brief... it’s very likely that Google’s A open source Chromium The two most browser will take over Mozilla’s Firefox popular and as the default web browser in Ubuntu feature-rich web browsers. See starting with the 13.10 release. also: Opera and Canonical has explained that the Konqueror. foremost reason for selecting a default browser is the end user experience for a general user. The company doesn’t zero in on a browser based on the number of features that it has compared to the competition but rather the quality and stability of its releases. This makes sense, as both Firefox and Chromium have almost identical support for open internet standards such as HTML 5, CSS 3, ECMAScript 5 and DOM 3 etc. Starting with Chromium 28, the browser now uses the Blink engine instead One difference between the two is of the popular WebKit engine, while Firefox continues to use the Gecko engine. that while both browsers support the NPAPI plugin, only Chromium supports Could it be because of Chromium’s Then there’s Chromium’s address the PPAPI plugin. The plugin is superior performance? Historically, it’s bar, which is called ‘omnibox’ because it developed by Google, and Adobe has been the faster of the two, but of late also doubles up as a search box that announced that it will distribute Linux Firefox has been cutting the flab and can trawl through the web, as well as versions of the Flash player in the future feels as fast as Chromium. your bookmarks and history. The Firefox using this plugin only. Mozilla has said navigation bar, known as the ‘awesome that it has no plans to implement the You say potato, I say… bar’, can also do the same. In fact, the plugin in Firefox. The best way to install the browsers is added advantage of Firefox’s separate If you look at the numbers, Firefox is to rely on your distro’s package search box is that you can change to a still leading in terms of usage. But that manager. All major desktop distros different search engine in one click. can be attributed to the fact that it’s include both browsers either in their The New Tab page of both browsers pre-installed on most Linux distros. official repos or ancillary ones. Firefox is also very similar with subtle The more important trend, however, is has the added advantage of being the differences. Both show thumbnails of that more and more people are going default on the majority of Linux distros. the most visited websites. In Firefox you It’s easy to out of their way to replace their default If you rely on your distro’s package can rearrange the order in which they find settings in browser with something else, most manager you might not be running the appear and also pin a website. In Chromium. notably Chromium. latest stable browser version. In that Chromium, in addition to the new tab case you can download the latest stable page, you can switch to Apps, which release (or bleeding-edge dev builds) lists web apps installed from the web from the browser’s project page itself. store. However, if you take this approach, Talking of app stores, both browsers Firefox, with the convenience of its have their own, although Firefox’s self-contained archives, wins hands Marketplace is young and doesn’t have down over Chromium’s cumbersome as many web apps compared with build process. Chromium’s. Also Firefox houses Chromium thinks of itself as a plugins, themes and extension in a ‘tabbed window manager for the web’ separate add-ons website, while and uses a minimal user interface. Chromium has a unified store. You’ll find That’s fancy talk for removing the menu the popular extensions and plugins in toolbar and clubbing the search box both stores. and the address toolbar. If you hide the Once installed, Firefox web apps are menu toolbar in Firefox, it rolls up all its available from within the Applications functionality inside the Firefox menu menu in the OS as well. However, to and frees up as much screen real-estate launch Chromium apps from your host as Chromium. distro you’ll have to right-click on the

20 LXF176 November 2013 www.linuxformat.com Web browser Reviews

installed web app in the browser and Web apps select the Create Shortcuts options to installed place them on the desktop and the via Firefox’s applications menu of the distro. Marketplace Both browsers have well laid-out and open in chromeless organised Settings sections. Chromium windows just like has a Search Settings box that helps in Chromium. you hunt down embedded settings. For example, if you type ‘password’, it will bring up options to manage passwords as well as the option to clear browsing data and clear saved passwords. Security & privacy One of the most important things you can control from the Settings menu is your privacy. Probably in a bid to impress users paranoid of everything Google, Chromium has more controls for managing privacy than Firefox. multiple devices, but it’s quite a In terms of performance, Chromium With Firefox you can control how the complicated process to set up. By hasn’t slowed down as much as Firefox browser handles the files you download, contrast, setting up sync in Chromium has sped up. A couple of years ago, the the data you enter in forms, your involves simply signing into your Google difference in performance forced the browsing history, how the location bar account. The browser will then Lubuntu distro, which targets older PCs, uses this history to suggest matches, synchronise your bookmarks, to switch to Chromium. Lubuntu has and lets you clear individual cookies. preferences, extensions and other now switched back to Firefox and, You can also select one of the preset browser data with your Google account. generally, Chromium, with its multi- tracking options to either prevent To get these on any other Chromium or process feature, performs better on websites from tracking you or not. Chrome browser simply sign into the newer multi-core PCs with oodles of In addition to these, Chromium can same Google account. Changes on any system resources. block images, JavaScript and pop-ups browser will be replicated on the other One of the reasons for Firefox’s from all or particular websites. You can as well. popularity is that it isn’t tied to a for- also deny websites access to your Both Firefox sync and Chromium will profit corporation like Google. Also webcam and microphone and control encrypt your data before transmission. Firefox runs on more devices and how they use plugins. Both browsers By default, Chromium will encrypt the platforms than Chromium and the also let you adjust cookie and data with your Google account browser has been constantly adding permission settings for a particular credentials but you can optionally new features, albeit, in some cases, specify your own sync passphrase. following Chromium’s lead. It has also “Firefox runs on more Both Firefox and Chromium will keep restarted work on project Electrolysis the encryption keys on your computer. that’s designed to separate processes devices and platforms One notable advantage with Firefox for the browser UI and the web content. Sync is that you can setup your own Even if Canonical switches to than Chromium.” sync server. Chromium, our recommendation is that If you share your computer with you don’t. If Firefox works for you, then website that you are visiting by clicking others, you’ll appreciate Chromium’s there’s no reason to look elsewhere. But on the padlock icon in the address bar. ability to create multiple profiles. Firefox if you’re looking for a change, Both browsers have malware and also has a profile manager but it’s not Chromium has come of age and is a phishing protection. Furthermore, you as usable as Chromium’s. wonderful option. LXF can also prevent Chromium from using other web services to improve your browsing experience, such as by Verdict Verdict resolving navigation errors and using a prediction service to help complete Firefox 23 Chromium 28 searches. When it comes to managing Developer: Mozilla Foundation Developer: The Chromium Project Web: www.firefox.com Web: www.chromium.org passwords, the one major difference Licence: Mozilla Public Licence Licence: Various free software licences between Firefox and Chromium is that Features 9/10 Features 9/10 the former lets you lock all your Performance 8/10 Performance 9/10 passwords by encrypting them with a Ease of use 8/10 Ease of use 9/10 master password. Documentation 9/10 Documentation 9/10 Another feature that both browsers Firefox is the more customisable Chromium feels faster, is better have is brower data synchronisation, browser of the two and has much suited to contemporary systems, and but both go about it differently. You can improved performance. is a good option for everyday users. use Firefox’s sync option to access open tabs, bookmarks, history, Rating 8.5/10 Rating 9/10 passwords and preferences across