How To Import Bookmarks from Firefox to Chrome

Image via CrunchBase

“That’s easy, right? All you need to do is find the option in the menu and it should be done automatically! Why would anyone need to read your post?”

Well, you’re right. Sometimes, it is that easy. You would normally go to Options, Personal Stuff and click on Import Data From Another Browser. Chrome would suggest your default web browser and with another extra click, you would have all your bookmarks where they were. Normally. If you were not using version 4 or 5 of Firefox that is…

I was clicking and clicking and clicking but no bookmarks were to be found. At first I thought it had something to do with Windows Vista (I always suspect Vista on any problem that comes up…) but as it proved later, Windows was not the issue here.

This is a known problem with Chrome developers. They will probably fix it in some future version, but in the mean time, we need to find a workaround don’t we? What I chose to do, was to downgrade Firefox to version 3.6.19 and then Chrome was able to import my bookmarks, browsing history and saved passwords. In order to do that, you can go to Mozilla’s FTP and download the latest 3.6 version. After installation is complete, you will be able to import everything normally.

There might be other ways to achieve the same result, without messing with your Firefox installation. One thing that comes to mind, is through X-Marks, but you need to make an account with them in order to do that.

Facebook Won’t Let You Like Anything

Just a quickie, because I’m having a little problem here and thought I might share.

It’s been a few days now, that Facebook decided I do not really want to like anything my friends post, or comment or share. I’m lying and you got me… The truth is, that I can’t like anything on my home PC, but while using other computers,  I don’t seem to have any trouble. At home however, every time I click on “Like” this is what I get:

Looks familiar? If it does, try cleaning your browser’s cache… Not really sure what or why, but as soon as I cleared Firefox’s cache and history, everything seems to go much smoother. I’ve gone on a “Like” spree and while it sometimes takes a while to appear, in the end it does. So clear away…

Switching to Chrome?

Almost two years ago, I wrote an article, explaining why I would not use Google Chrome. I added a “yet” to the title, because I was sure I would someday reconsider. The time came dear reader, and before you move any further, know this: I still haven’t reached a definite conclusion “yet”!

What I did, was using Chrome while at work and Firefox at home. That way I could easily compare the two on various tasks. My work PC, is kind of old (a plain P4 @ 2,8 – not dual core), perfect for most of the tasks I have to do there, but it started showing it’s age with Firefox and that was the main reason why I started thinking of trying out Chrome.

So, I installed the latest version of Chrome, not the beta, and I have to admit I was impressed. At the download page, Chrome promises these things:

Fast start-up
Google Chrome launches in a snap.

Fast loading
Google Chrome loads web pages quickly.

Fast search
Search the web right from the address bar.

And these things it does. Lighting fast start up, even with multiple (ie, more than ten) tags to restore, fast page load, especially the Google stuff and one place, fast search. No need to type into the little box at the corner. There’s the address bar for everything: Typing web addresses, searching Google (obviously) and searching your history.

But these things, are not new. Chrome was supposed to be fast and secure right from the start, that’s what we had been told back then. If you remember, or if you just clicked the link to my previous post and read it, my biggest problem with Chrome was the lack of extensions and more specifically the lack of No Script. Now, Chrome supports add-ons, so you can safely assume that the first thing I did was to search for No Script for Chrome. Unfortunately, although No Script’s developer is thinking to port it to Chrome and has in fact been contacted by Chrome’s development team,  it is nothing more than a plan for the time being.

To many users out there, this does not seem to be a concern since you can still block annoying adds with AdBlock in Chrome and as for the rest of what No Script does, they seem to be pretty sure that Chrome is more secure than Firefox, so no need to panic over a few java scripts here and there. I am not a browser security expert, so I have no opinion on that matter, but I can tell you that No Script is damn convenient when browsing sites with a ton of scripts and adds and whatnot. Still, for the purpose of my tests, I decided to overlook that and stay with Ad Block.

Another problem I had to tackle, was my bookmarks. I could easily import them to Chrome from Firefox, I knew that already but I wanted to be able to sync my bookmarks between work and home. When there’s only one browser involved, that is no biggie. In fact there are quite a few options to accomplish that. I chose to use Xmarks, a nice Firefox add-on that also has an option to sync your passwords between different computers (though I do not use that feature).  Well, “fortunately”, there’s Xmarks for Chrome, so I installed it and all of my bookmarks appeared just fine. What didn’t work as expected though, was the syncing part. I added a new bookmark on Chrome, but it was nowhere to be found later on Firefox. Since Xmarks is still in beta for Chrome, minor glitches are to be expected, and I believe this will be fixed pretty soon (if not already). For the record, should anyone use Chrome exclusively, there’s built in bookmark syncing, using your Google Account, but I’ve never tested it, so you’re on your own on that one.

Lastly, another (kind of) useful add-on that I’ve started playing around with, is Read It Later. It creates a list of web pages you save to read at a later time and I mostly use it to keep close at hand post material and ideas. One could achieve something similar with a separate bookmark folder I guess, but still, Read It Later also exists on Chrome and works just fine. Oh, mind you, that I do not use the syncing feature that R.I.L. provides, since I need to keep my lists separate.

So, all my major requirements were covered, right? So, the speed tests over at Life Hacker show that Chrome is indeed faster than Firefox, right? So, that means that I can switch, right? Wrong… Unfortunately, wrong…

You see, there’s a bug in Chrome (or at least I think it’s a bug) that made my daily routine unbearable. For some reason, it cannot work well with WordPress. Apart from the fact that posting and moving around in dashboard is slow as hell, when I tried to upload images, they would not show at all in the post preview. When I published a post, all was the way it supposed  to be, but you understand that, writing something without actually knowing how it will look like, is major. I don’t know if that’s relevant, but Sun does not officially support Chrome yet.

Well, maybe, at a later time I will return with a third post on the subject, but for now I’ll stick (once more) with the Fox 😉

PS: Keep what I said about bookmark syncing, there’s an idea that I want to try, and I will get back on the matter…

Why I will not use Google Chrome (yet)…

I like Google… I mean come on, few don’t like Google… I will not feel guilty because I like Google, I tell you! I will also not feel guilty writing about Chrome, everybody does these days…

I was more than happy when I read about the release of Google Chrome, and did just what the marketing experts expected me to do, downloaded and installed. Being a Firefox junkie, I had some thoughts about whether Chrome could actually replace Firefox, even though I have not heavily customized it. Since Chrome is something between Firefox and Safari (closer to Firefox) and since I have used both in the past, I had no problem adjusting, all my bookmarks, even my browsing history (hmmm) was there.

I was almost ready to throw Firefox away and use Chrome all the way, but I decided to leave it alone for a couple of days, to get a better feel of browsing with Chrome, you know, visit all my regular sites, do the stuff I usually do and in the mean time, read some opinions about it, see what other users think.

The complaint I heard most often, was the lack of add-ons. At fisrt I thought that this did not concern me at all, I use only No Script and Gmail Notifier, no themes, no Greasemonkey scripts, no fancy add-ons, I could surely manage. Except that I couldn’t…

I don’t mind that I can’t have the notifier within my browser, I could always install the program Google offers, but the script thingy, well, I just couldn’t live without.

Then I happened to read about the dark spot in Chrome’s Terms of service. Now, I am not one of those Big-Brother-is-watching-you fans, but you have to admit, when someone says that whenever you use one of their products, they have access to any information you exchange, it is something to trouble you, even a little. People have always suspected one company or another, sometimes rightfully, sometimes not, and this could be another such case, but it was right there, in their EULA, until they changed it.

The fact that the source code is right there for everybody to see, will clarify things in a little while, in the mean time, all those who want to use Chrome but are worried about Google finding out you’ve been surfing for porn, there’s always Chrome Anonymizer.

I think I will stick with the fox for a little longer… Now if you excuse me, I’m off to surf for porn…