5 ms·

You're not lying - I just downloaded it, and it is crazy fast. GMail (maybe not the best metric, but an important one for me) loads about twice as fast as in Ch

by JoBrad 9y ago

You're not lying - I just downloaded it, and it is crazy fast. GMail (maybe not the best metric, but an important one for me) loads about twice as fast as in Chrome, and scrolling has no stuttering at all, even on very long pages. I may actually make the switch.

criddell 9y ago
I was actually thinking about switching to Chrome because of GMail (or rather Inbox). When I open Inbox in Firefox, it can take 20 to 30 seconds for the cursor to stop spinning and I have a 300 Mbps connection.
- andrew3726 9y ago
  on which firefox version? have you tried nightly?
  - rhelmer 9y ago
    The first Quantum release (57) is now on Beta, so if you want something a little more stable than Nightly it's a solid choice. It's always a good idea to back up your profile first (where your bookmarks/passwords/etc. live), especially when downgrading: https://support.mozilla.org/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles https://support.mozilla.org/kb/back-and-restore-information-...
  - pivotal 9y ago
    I've been running Nightly and experienced the same thing with inbox. If I attempt to interact with it before fully loaded, inbox will freeze up for minutes at a time. Love everything else about nightly, this is my biggest issue.
    - mconley 9y ago
      Hi! Firefox engineer here, and I want to understand why your Firefox is misbehaving. Would you be willing to provide us a performance profile? Instructions are here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Performance/Reporting_a_Performance_Problem https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Performance... Feel free to email it to me if you don't want to post the link publicly. I'm mconley at mozilla dot com.
      - lightedman 9y ago
        Make FireFox work with FaceBook's Live Video feature - as in both viewing and broadcasting. You'll have me switch back from Chrome in a heartbeat.
        Santosh83 9y ago
        Seriously, when we talk so much about the Web's portability, why is a major feature from a major website not even working on identically on the two biggest browsers? Since it's Facebook we can't accuse them of browser favouritism as they're browser neutral. I wonder what APIs are missing from Firefox that makes FB Live Video broken?
        Manishearth 9y ago
        > Since it's Facebook we can't accuse them of browser favouritism as they're browser neutral Favoritism isn't the only reason for these things. What often happens is that the website devs all use one browser and nobody tests it. It's not like Google wants their sites to be broken on other browsers either (I presume), it's just that many teams at Google aren't bothered. IIRC Firefox has the same WebRTC APIs as Chrome, so this might be reliance on browser-specific nonstandard behavior. (Or it might not. It's worth looking into, but I can't because it seems like you need to ask for an FB live invite to investigate) Edit: Figured out how to do it. Seems to work fine in Firefox Nightly.
        pferde 9y ago
        > Favoritism isn't the only reason for these things. What often happens is that the website devs all use one browser and nobody tests it. That is exactly the point the GP post makes. These things are supposed to be standardized and the standards well described, so basic things should work everywhere without any testing. But somehow for web, it is acceptable and accepted as status quo, even after years and years of smashing our heads against the wall of nonstandard, browser-specific features.
        9y ago
- mconley 9y ago
  Hi! Firefox engineer here. Check out this reply: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15371068 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15371068 If you're interested in helping me figure out what's going on here, feel free to send me a performance profile.
3131s 9y ago
Damn, I am commenting right now from 57.0b4 and it's so, so fast. It properly recovered the 50 or so tabs I had open from the prior version, and even as I rapidly clicked from tab to tab Firefox didn't skip a beat. I never left Firefox though, it's been my primary browser for ~12 years. Fuck Chrome! I can say without a doubt that 57.0b4 is more performant than any Chrome / Chromium version that I've begrudgingly used to check if my client's sites are cross-browser compatible.
- mda 9y ago
  Fuck chrome? Whoa what did Chrome do?
  - JoelTheSuperior 9y ago
    In fairness I (and I suspect many others) refuse to use Chrome on privacy grounds.
    - mda 9y ago
      Serious question, you think firefox has any quantifiable privacy benefit over chrome?
      - qkls 9y ago
        It's a benefit that it's not owned by a company that collects your data to sells ads.
        mda 9y ago
        Are you sure it sells 'your' data? Or Chrome somehow acts as a tool for this purpose?
        qkls 9y ago
        Google doesn't officially tell that Chrome tracks you more than other browsers do, but an ex-Google employee has said that "Google definitely uses Chrome user data and can track every click within it". https://www.siliconbeachtraining.co.uk/blog/ex-google-employee-brighton-seo https://www.siliconbeachtraining.co.uk/blog/ex-google-employ...

by JoBrad 9y ago

criddell 9y ago

I was actually thinking about switching to Chrome because of GMail (or rather Inbox). When I open Inbox in Firefox, it can take 20 to 30 seconds for the cursor to stop spinning and I have a 300 Mbps connection.

andrew3726 9y ago
on which firefox version? have you tried nightly?
- rhelmer 9y ago
  The first Quantum release (57) is now on Beta, so if you want something a little more stable than Nightly it's a solid choice. It's always a good idea to back up your profile first (where your bookmarks/passwords/etc. live), especially when downgrading: https://support.mozilla.org/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles https://support.mozilla.org/kb/back-and-restore-information-...
- pivotal 9y ago
  I've been running Nightly and experienced the same thing with inbox. If I attempt to interact with it before fully loaded, inbox will freeze up for minutes at a time. Love everything else about nightly, this is my biggest issue.
  - mconley 9y ago
    Hi! Firefox engineer here, and I want to understand why your Firefox is misbehaving. Would you be willing to provide us a performance profile? Instructions are here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Performance/Reporting_a_Performance_Problem https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Performance... Feel free to email it to me if you don't want to post the link publicly. I'm mconley at mozilla dot com.
    - lightedman 9y ago
      Make FireFox work with FaceBook's Live Video feature - as in both viewing and broadcasting. You'll have me switch back from Chrome in a heartbeat.
      - Santosh83 9y ago
        Seriously, when we talk so much about the Web's portability, why is a major feature from a major website not even working on identically on the two biggest browsers? Since it's Facebook we can't accuse them of browser favouritism as they're browser neutral. I wonder what APIs are missing from Firefox that makes FB Live Video broken?
        Manishearth 9y ago
        > Since it's Facebook we can't accuse them of browser favouritism as they're browser neutral Favoritism isn't the only reason for these things. What often happens is that the website devs all use one browser and nobody tests it. It's not like Google wants their sites to be broken on other browsers either (I presume), it's just that many teams at Google aren't bothered. IIRC Firefox has the same WebRTC APIs as Chrome, so this might be reliance on browser-specific nonstandard behavior. (Or it might not. It's worth looking into, but I can't because it seems like you need to ask for an FB live invite to investigate) Edit: Figured out how to do it. Seems to work fine in Firefox Nightly.
        pferde 9y ago
        > Favoritism isn't the only reason for these things. What often happens is that the website devs all use one browser and nobody tests it. That is exactly the point the GP post makes. These things are supposed to be standardized and the standards well described, so basic things should work everywhere without any testing. But somehow for web, it is acceptable and accepted as status quo, even after years and years of smashing our heads against the wall of nonstandard, browser-specific features.
        9y ago
mconley 9y ago
Hi! Firefox engineer here. Check out this reply: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15371068 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15371068 If you're interested in helping me figure out what's going on here, feel free to send me a performance profile.

3131s 9y ago

Damn, I am commenting right now from 57.0b4 and it's so, so fast. It properly recovered the 50 or so tabs I had open from the prior version, and even as I rapidly clicked from tab to tab Firefox didn't skip a beat. I never left Firefox though, it's been my primary browser for ~12 years. Fuck Chrome! I can say without a doubt that 57.0b4 is more performant than any Chrome / Chromium version that I've begrudgingly used to check if my client's sites are cross-browser compatible.

mda 9y ago
Fuck chrome? Whoa what did Chrome do?
- JoelTheSuperior 9y ago
  In fairness I (and I suspect many others) refuse to use Chrome on privacy grounds.
  - mda 9y ago
    Serious question, you think firefox has any quantifiable privacy benefit over chrome?
    - qkls 9y ago
      It's a benefit that it's not owned by a company that collects your data to sells ads.
      - mda 9y ago
        Are you sure it sells 'your' data? Or Chrome somehow acts as a tool for this purpose?
        qkls 9y ago
        Google doesn't officially tell that Chrome tracks you more than other browsers do, but an ex-Google employee has said that "Google definitely uses Chrome user data and can track every click within it". https://www.siliconbeachtraining.co.uk/blog/ex-google-employee-brighton-seo https://www.siliconbeachtraining.co.uk/blog/ex-google-employ...