You are probably all aware of Firefox's dwindling market share in recent months. If you are persistent Firefox users you would also be well aware of the main reasons for that; high resource usage and and slow rendering speed (when compared to the opposition). Mozilla has been trying its level best to come up with a faster browser which is kinder on resources and reports are that yesterday
Last time I tried Firefox 4 Beta out, it was at build 4 which rendered more than half my extensions incompatible. Maybe it's time to give it another whirl. Luckily, there's a portable version available for the current build through portableapps.com.
[quote:erc8ehrn]high resource usage and and slow rendering speed (when compared to the opposition)[/quote:erc8ehrn]
That's generally true (though even 3.6.12 shows some signs of improvement, mostly through releasing RAM), but when you have like 30+ extensions enabled and open as many tabs, you can't expect Firefox to be that snappy or spare your resources.
Anyway, can I add a personal dislike?
A while ago, Firefox introduced "Crash Protection" via plugin-container.exe. That thing kicks in when needed on a site, but it doesn't close even after you're done with it. Only way to get rid of it, is to either manually kill it or close Firefox. And though resource usage drops significantly after some time (not immediately, like it's waiting to see if it's going to be used again), it should close completely when you're done with it.
[quote:erc8ehrn]Hopefully this new version 4 will set good old Firefox back on the right track[/quote:erc8ehrn]
I hope so too, though I'm not very pleased with the 'look like Chrome' path, fortunately you can change that.
I am human
Hey FD,
[quote:2i56sq61]That's generally true (though even 3.6.12 shows some signs of improvement, mostly through releasing RAM), but when you have like 30+ extensions enabled and open as many tabs, you can't expect Firefox to be that snappy or spare your resources.[/quote:2i56sq61]
I have version 3.6.12, a mere four add-ons and the maximum number of tabs I would ever have open at one time would be three. Can't really talk about resource usage because I have never made those comparisons but I[i:2i56sq61] have[/i:2i56sq61] compared speed with other browsers. FF 3.6.12 is significantly slower than Chrome and much slower than IE even. I love FF and probably would not ever change but they definitely needed to at least try and match the rendering speeds of the other major players.
BTW: I installed Pale Moon browser on my laptop. It's Firefox minus some of the 'extras':
[quote:2i56sq61]A few, carefully selected, features have been disabled that are not in high demand, and that do not interfere with the way web pages are displayed or function;[/quote:2i56sq61]
It looks and operates just like Firefox, all the normal themes and add-ons seem to be compatible and it is definitely faster....I like it. Hope they update it based on Firefox4.
[url=http://www.palemoon.org/:2i56sq61][b:2i56sq61][color=#0000BF:2i56sq61]Pale Moon Home Page[/color:2i56sq61][/b:2i56sq61].[/url:2i56sq61]
Hi Jim,
[quote:3g1fuqyk]BTW: I installed Pale Moon browser on my laptop. It's Firefox minus some of the 'extras'
...I like it.
Hope they update it based on Firefox4[/quote:3g1fuqyk]
Pale Moon 3.6.12 is based on Firefox 3.6.12. If you read the FAQs, they only build on final releases of Firefox.
It's an optimized for Windows only Firefox Clone. One of the latest improvements is that it has stopped sharing your Firefox profile which makes using Firefox and Pale Moon on the same machine safe.
I keep the portable version to check its progress. I also like it, need to find some time to "tweak" it the same way I've done Firefox in order to compare them performance wise.
I'd never make it my prime browser as it's not supported by SpywareBlaster, unlike K-Meleon which is another nice Firefox Clone that comes with some nice goodies and I sometimes use.
I am human
[quote:34nwsdvq]Pale Moon 3.6.12 is based on Firefox 3.6.12. If you read the FAQs, they only build on final releases of Firefox.[/quote:34nwsdvq]
Yep, realise that mate. What I meant was (and put somewhat clumsily); I hope they quickly update the Pale Moon browser once the final version of Firefox 4 has been released.
I too started off checking it via portable version on USB stick but once I was satisfied with everything I decided to install it as my default browser on a laptop. That way one can make a [i:34nwsdvq]true[/i:34nwsdvq] speed comparison.
[quote:34nwsdvq]I'd never make it my prime browser as it's not supported by SpywareBlaster[/quote:34nwsdvq]
FD, It is quite common knowledge that SpywareBlaster's protection mainly concentrates on Internet Explorer and offers only very minimal protection for other browsers. So, you really shouldn't let that influence your decision:
[u:34nwsdvq]Extract from CNet product review[/u:34nwsdvq]:
[i:34nwsdvq]"SpywareBlaster's defenses are most useful for Internet Explorer users. Firefox and Netscape-specific protection only offers cookie blocking."[/i:34nwsdvq]
Don't get me wrong, I am not knocking SpywareBlaster, it is very good software for Internet Explorer users, nowhere near as effective for those of us who use alternative browsers though.
Cheers....Jim
[quote:161ywih4]I hope they quickly update the Pale Moon browser once the final version of Firefox 4 has been released.[/quote:161ywih4]
Until some time ago, Pale Moon used to be a couple of builds behind. It did catch up with Firefox quickly after 3.6.9 or so, but those were not major updates of Firefox either. I could alwasy be wrong of course and it could be a sign of quicker updates from now on.
As for SpywareBlaster, I know only too well how it works. So to make things clear, my previous statement should read:
[quote:161ywih4]I'd never make it my prime browser [u:161ywih4]on my Win XP machine[/u:161ywih4] as it's not supported by SpywareBlaster[/quote:161ywih4]
And that's because on Win XP I can't get rid of IE
I am human
Some feedback.
Gave Firefox 4 Beta (build 7) a whirl.
It still doesn't like all of my add-ons, but that will change until the final release, so no real worries.
Disappointing was the fact that this new build is as resource hungry as Firefox 3.6.12 and not one bit faster in anything, when I set it up exactly as my 3.6.12 - and that's minus the not working add-ons.
I know that Firefox is tested "bare" and reported doing better than the 3x builds, but still disappointed.
I also had a rather hard time managing that tab organizing thingy without closing all working tabs in the end.
As for Pale Moon, it's not noticeably lighter when I set it up as my Firefox 3.6.12.
[quote:5kwvhllg]a mere four add-ons and the maximum number of tabs I would ever have open at one time would be three[/quote:5kwvhllg]
What's the secret of managing this, especially the tabs?
I am human
I jumped ship.
We are doing a hardware refresh at work - both my laptop and my workstation got replaced. This time around I didn't even install Firefox (granted, I will have to when I start developing again....)
Instead, I installed Chrome. I've been running Chrome now for three weeks with no adverse affects. Thanks to a handy plug in (IE Multi) and Xmarks I have everything I need, plus speed.
I would love to see Firefox make a resurgence, but at this point it doesn't seem likely.
Firefox did do something wonderful though -- it knocked IE over the edge and opened the market wide for competitors. i'll always remember Firefox fondly...
Well, I have been disappointed in Firefox for awhile because the lack of new features that Chrome seems to have. I tried Chrome a couple of months back and fell in love with some of the features in it especially the address bar and the fact that it is so fast but..............I couldn't help but shake that creepy feeling that Google is somehow some way keeping track of me more than usual. So I ended up going back to firefox and trying the beta out and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at Firefox finally catching up with the features.
It still is not as fast as chrome is but at least I don't get creeped out when I'm online.
Just my two cents
Jim Hillier
Richard Pedersen
David Hartsock
Carol Bratt
dandl
Jason Shuffield
Jim Canfield
Terry Hollett
Stuart Berg
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