SeaMonkey vs Firefox

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by mattdocs12345, Jan 18, 2014.

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  1. mattdocs12345

    mattdocs12345 Registered Member

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    What is really the difference between SeaMonkey and Firefox?
    - any compatibility issues with websites or should all websites that work for FF also work on SM?
    - any addons not working on SM?
    - what really is a difference between FF and SM?
     
  2. noone_particular

    noone_particular Registered Member

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    I can't compare directly to FireFox but can compare to Palemoon. There's no difference that I've seen in how they render pages. Many FF addons work on SeaMonkey. Some don't. Pick up the Disable Compatibility Check extension before trying too many FF addons. It does allow a lot more of them to work. The extensions I prefer all work on SeaMonkey. Extensions I have used on SeaMonkey include Request Policy, Ghostery, Better Privacy, PrefBar, BB-Code, Show-IP, HTTPS everywhere, FlashBlock.
    The main difference is that SeaMonkey is a package. It contains an e-mail client and address book, an IRC chat component, and a basic webpage composer. They're not as feature packed as some stand-alone apps, but IMO they work quite well. The browser interface, options, and menus are a bit different but functionally they're quite similar.
     
  3. MisterB

    MisterB Registered Member

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    Firefox is a bit slicker looking and simpler. Seamonkey is more complicated with more options. It is old school in the modern dumbed down world of chromium browsers. Some of us still like menus and bookmarks because we grew up on them. I'm glad that Seamonkey is being developed and updated, especially since Opera went the chromium route.

    Every extension and add on that I use with Firefox, I use with Seamonkey. No problems at all. All the websites render pretty much the same as well. The underlying engine is the same in both browsers.
     
  4. mattdocs12345

    mattdocs12345 Registered Member

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    How about stability and bug fixes are they the same for both FF and SM or is FF more stable than SM?
     
  5. MisterB

    MisterB Registered Member

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    They are about the same. That being said, I use Firefox more but I use it on a restricted list of sites and I use Seamonkey for a wider range of sites. Seamonkey will usually render sites that other browsers have problems with as will Firefox but I use Firefox for email and eBay selling and I don't want an unknown site causing problems with it. It has adblock plus and noscript as the main security extensions.
     
    Last edited: Jan 19, 2014
  6. mattdocs12345

    mattdocs12345 Registered Member

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    Im liking SeaMonkey so far. I gave it a nice gnome theme, added all the extensions that I used in Firefox and everything is working fine BUT...there are 2 problems with it:
    1) No easy install in Linux Mint. You have to add repositories which I have no idea what they do.... I may have to overcome my laziness and finally learn more about Linux, still I don't understand why the software manager doesn't have SeaMonkey in it...
    2) No easy way to close tabs...
    I don't know. I might play around with it for few more days and see if I can figure out how to get SeaMonkey automatic updates in Linux and maybe I will get used to the lack of close buttons on tabs.
    I just really wanted to find a browser that is backed by a better corporation than Mozilla.
     
  7. noone_particular

    noone_particular Registered Member

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    That was one of my issues with linux, installing software that wasn't in the vendors repositories. It reminds me of an old joke. "You can eat anything that you like. Here's a list of what you like."

    If I recall correctly, the tabs behave different on linux than they do on Windows. No idea why. On Windows, a middle click closes the tab. A right click gets a menu with close tab as one of the options. Maybe someone on their forum could give you a better answer.
     
  8. MisterB

    MisterB Registered Member

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    The tab close is the same in Windows. Instead of an X in each tab, there is one X on the side of the tab bar that closes the current tab. That is a bit of a pain, I agree. Seamonkey has made a lot of small interface improvements over the last few years and changing the tab closing procedure would be a good one to add to the list.
     
  9. mattdocs12345

    mattdocs12345 Registered Member

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    It's not only a pain but it is unfortunately a deal breaker for me. Too bad, because that's pretty much one of the only issues that seems to be unsolvable. The automatic update option is possible in Linux.
     
  10. Alhaitham

    Alhaitham Registered Member

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  11. noone_particular

    noone_particular Registered Member

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    mattdocs12345
    Are you certain that your choice of themes isn't causing the problem? I'm surprised that the interface behaves so much differently on linux than it does on Windows but haven't looked in some time. Lost interest in linux.
     
  12. Nanobot

    Nanobot Registered Member

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  13. Wroll

    Wroll Registered Member

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    Never liked this browser on Linux. Very erratic behavior.
     
  14. prius04

    prius04 Registered Member

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    Thank you for that!

    I now have Sea Fox, NoScript, and Lightning (which, when combined with Lightbird, produces a functional calendar).

    With due consideration to the fact that this thing incorporates a browser, address book, email, and calendar, why would I want to keep Thunderbird and Firefox hanging around? At this point, I'm feeling an inclination to dump the latter two and just use SeaMonkey.
     
  15. noone_particular

    noone_particular Registered Member

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    For normal browsing and usage, you probably don't need both. If you use more than one browser, there's reason to keep it. I keep 2 browsers, one for normal usage and one that's routed through Tor. You could use one for everyday usage and one for more sensitive purposes, financial, etc. If nothing else, make sure that SeaMonkey works as you want and has all the features you need before you dump the other.
     
  16. mattdocs12345

    mattdocs12345 Registered Member

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    Yeah I feel like it just works better on Windows.
     
  17. prius04

    prius04 Registered Member

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    Yeah, that's sound advice. I've been using Chrome with increasing frequency over the last several months so I suppose I'll keep SeaMonkey, Chrome, and Fx for the time being.
     
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