• kalkulat@lemmy.world
    2·
    7 days ago

    After many years of using FFox, I just tried a Zen install on Linux. It did not turn out as well as I hoped.

    I did not have FFoxesr installed in the way the OS would have installed it (though it was still in the user folder). This meant that Zen did/could not see my bookmarks, extensions or passwords … and the options it offered didn’t work out. (It wanted an HTML bookmarks file … I had them saved as JSON … and a ‘CSV’ (??) passwords file … wherever that is … and it found no extensions folder.) So, for starters, years of customizations had to be manually restored.

    But, fair shake, I did manually re-install bookmarks AND a few extensions that had saved databases (e.g. UBO, NoScript, Block site). (It ignored the sub-folders in the JSON bookmarks folders, dumping all bookmarks into the top-levels.) And I had to re-create all the settings. (Most of which exist in the .mozilla folder on Linux … easy to find.)

    I played for an hour with what I put there (without a menu bar … or a tab bar, all URIs are shoved together -by name- in a sidebar … I did figure out how to see a bookmark bar). I could discern no -truly useful- advantages to it. None. That was not offset by some pretty cosmetics. So even if you do get all of your customizations past the one-size-fits-all install, for long-time FF users I see no substantial advantages to the Zen browser.

    • phorq@lemmy.mlEspañol
      5·
      10 days ago

      Yeah, reads more like a wikipedia article than a news article, like someone took several sources and told ai to combine the info. Facts are great, but they don’t make for a captivating read on their own. There’s a sweet spot for opinion/reflection without too much bias that makes news sources worth reading.

  • kalkulat@lemmy.world
    94·
    10 days ago

    One thing that seems to be missing from most Zen promotion is that Firefox has a huge collection of add-on options/extentions. Hard to beat of you’re reliant on several of them. Keeps me from even trying it.

    • czl@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      15·
      10 days ago

      Zen supports the add-ons and extensions from FF. (Source: been using it for about a month)

    • voracitude@lemmy.world
      5·
      10 days ago

      Zen is a fork of Firefox, supports Firefox extensions, and retains the built-in access to the Mozilla extension/theme stores from vanilla Firefox. If you go to install an addon, it even gives a popup to “Add to Firefox”.

      It’s a good browser with only minor issues. I’m on Win10; automatic updates don’t always succeed, and it seems like it blocks some communication between the 1password desktop app and the browser extension because I have to sign into each separately. Otherwise, I prefer it to Firefox in pretty much every way.

    • MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      4·
      10 days ago

      It would be good for them to make sure it’s clear that it’s a fork of Firefox and supports addons in their marketing! Right now it’s quite a ways down the home page.

    • MonkCanatella@sh.itjust.works
      22·
      10 days ago

      While like other have said, extensions do work, I wouldn’t expect zen to prioritize extension compatibility. I’ve been following development and it seems like a personal project