13 ms·

Firefox 58

359 points by ortuman 9y ago

dgritsko 9y ago
Simply linking to the download page isn't particularly useful, IMO. Release notes are here: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/58.0/releasenotes/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/58.0/releasenotes/
- equalunique 9y ago
  Agreed. From the release notes link you provided: *Performance improvements, including: Rendering graphics for Windows users by using Off-Main-Thread Painting (OMTP) Loading pages faster by changing how Firefox caches and retrieves JavaScript* These performance enhancements were both featured on HN. It's good news.
- djhworld 9y ago
  > Rendering graphics for Windows users by using Off-Main-Thread Painting (OMTP) Does this mean OSX and Linux users are not using this method?
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - dao- 9y ago
    Not yet. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1432531 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1432531 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1430793 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1430793
    - VyseofArcadia 9y ago
      Is Linux in this case short for generic *nix + X?
- sctb 9y ago
  Thanks! We've updated the link.
- SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago
  And since this is HN, the download people here are most likely to want is the Developer Edition: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/developer/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/developer/
  - JohnTHaller 9y ago
    Not necessarily. Developer is the beta channel, after all, so many of us use Firefox stable as our primary. I use my various PortableApps.com packages to run separate channels without impacting each other for testing sites.
    - Viper007Bond 9y ago
      I use Developer as my only browser. Never had any issues. It's not a buggy alpha version or something.
      - JohnBooty 9y ago
        Even FF Nightly works perfectly well as a day to day browser for me. And I use it all day every day.
        discreditable 9y ago
        Nightly is surprisingly stable. In my past few years of using it, there have only been a few days when it has been unusable. On those days I just used Chrome. The e10s transition was pretty rough. It was common for every tab to crash at once, and sometimes there were long delays for tabs to paint when switching.
  - mdellabitta 9y ago
    You can't disable telemetry in the Developer Edition for some reason, so I've gone back to Stable.
    - kuschku 9y ago
lucb1e 9y ago
I see no updates on APIs for missing add-ons. Looks like I'm going to have to stay with Firefox 55 a little longer to even be able to use Mozilla's own Tab Center add-on.
shmerl 9y ago
So what is the ETA for release of Webrender in Firefox now?
- cpeterso 9y ago
  I don't know the ETA for WebRender in Firefox. The team is focusing on Windows first. You can follow WebRender development on the Mozilla Graphics team's blog: https://mozillagfx.wordpress.com/2018/01/16/webrender-newsletter-12/ https://mozillagfx.wordpress.com/2018/01/16/webrender-newsle...
- pcwalton 9y ago
  There's no ETA as far as I'm aware—it's mostly in the blocker bug burn-down phase and I don't want to try to predict when that will conclude. Progress is coming along quite nicely, and it's easier than ever to try it out in Nightly (just toggle gfx.webrender.all in about config). Lots of people on the team, including me, use it quite regularly. There's a newsletter you can check out too: https://mozillagfx.wordpress.com/ https://mozillagfx.wordpress.com/
  - shmerl 9y ago
    Thanks, I'll give nightly a try to see how it works on Mesa / amdgpu+radeonsi.
k__ 9y ago
Switched back to Firefox a few months ago and I'm blown away by the speed. Last time I had this feeling after switching to Chrome from Firefox years ago, haha. Besides videos everything works like a charm. Somehow some videos won't start and sometimes I get a message that the video format could not be read, never had this issue in Chrome.
- jherdman 9y ago
  Likewise, but I've found the performance on a few key websites to be awful. Namely Facebook, and often Google Inbox. Another consequence of switching has been difficulty in using things like my Apple TV or Chromecast (e.g. casting a video to my TV), or using my Mac's media keys to control Google Play Music.
  - throwaway181986 9y ago
    Agree: I have similar performance issues with Google Inbox. E.g. I'm unable to attach files sometimes, and the interface is terrible. Still, I've switched to the new FF as my browser of choice and with the exception of those few sites it's great
  - albertgoeswoof 9y ago
    Google inbox is terrible on ff, this is vendor lock-in by google, the new MS
    - hutzlibu 9y ago
      Any proof of that claim? (that it is intentional from google and not just a ff issue?)
      - kuschku 9y ago
        Google didn't even make Inbox available on Firefox for months because they didn't care, and when they did, they ended up serving entirely different HTML and JS to FF. This is the same Google that is still keeping Allo Web and Google Earth a Chrome exclusive, the same one that has paid adware vendors to sneakily install Chrome, etc. Sure, you can believe that this is jist a coincidence. But that's one unlucky streak of coincidences. In fact, you'd be more likely to win the Powerball ten times in a row than for all this to happen by coincidence.
potch 9y ago
I wrote up a more detailed look at some of what's in Firefox 58: https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/01/firefox-58-the-quantum-era-continues/ https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/01/firefox-58-the-quantum-era...
- zintinio5 9y ago
  How does one end up in a position to do this work at Mozilla? I'm currently looking for a new SWE role, would absolutely love to work on Firefox.
  - raguuu 9y ago
    What is swe role?
  - callahad 9y ago
    Current openings are posted at https://careers.mozilla.org/ https://careers.mozilla.org/. There should be a steady trickle of opportunities as 2018 budgeting wraps up and requests for headcount get approved over the coming weeks and months. We do most of our work in the open, so there's a wealth of information you can gather before applying for a role or interviewing. Lurking on mailing lists, reading Bugzilla, following GitHub repos, etc. are all great ways to become familiar with how Mozilla works, the challenges we face, and where you'd best be able to have an impact.
    - fabrice_d 9y ago
      Working at Moz is usually nice, until it's not anymore for reasons that have nothing to do with how well you perform. Examples: working from the wrong office (go tell the 70 people fired in Taipei that there will be a steady trickle of opportunities) or under the wrong VP. MoCo is in many aspects a company like any other, with its fair share of Dilbert worthy moments.
    - zintinio5 9y ago
      Thanks! I was browsing a few days ago and applied to work on Telemetry in Firefox and ML Engineering at Pocket. A lot of the work being done with respect to the Quantam initiatives seems interesting, but I didn't really see anything related to the core browser. Anyway, thanks a lot for the info.
andrepd 9y ago
Still on Firefox 56. My crucial addons still don't work. Still wishing Mozilla made FF56 into an ESR.
- Paul_S 9y ago
  Just wanted to say you're not alone, I'm on 56 for the same reasons.
  - lucb1e 9y ago
    55 here because 56 breaks Mozilla's own Tab Center add-on. I see no mention of new APIs for add-ons in the release notes...
    - yitosda 9y ago
      IIUC the API needed for this addon[1] will be available in FF 59[2]. Mozilla dropped support for Tab Center a while before Quantum IIRC. Another addon took its place, but then was dropped by its developer with Quantum. Supposedly [1] will allow transition from the older addons. I'm looking forward to finding out once 59 is out. [1]https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-groups/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-groups/ [2]https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1423725 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1423725
      - lucb1e 9y ago
        That bugzilla link is purple, so I guess that's the right one. But there's just so many APIs that were missing when they forced 57 on everyone, I honestly don't actively keep track because it's going to take a while. They were nowhere near ready, but a fixed release schedule is a fixed release schedule... Edit: Looking at the status: > Status: NEW → RESOLVED 4 days ago That could have made it into 58. Or they can still add it: why wait? They started this quick major-release cycle to release features sooner, but I don't see why they can't just release them when they're, y'know, ready.
technojunkie 9y ago
Did canvas fingerprinting blocking make it to this release? There were many articles saying it might or will happen and I can't find anything backing this up in the release notes. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=firefox+58+canvas+fingerprinting&t=ffab&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?q=firefox+58+canvas+fingerprinting&t...
- dao- 9y ago
  According to https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=967895 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=967895 it's in 58 but wasn't added to release notes because it's disabled by default via the privacy.resistFingerprinting about:config setting.
  - nyordanov 9y ago
    It also breaks the built-in screenshots: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1412961 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1412961
- Sylos 9y ago
  Well, you'll notice soon enough, if it does get shipped. So many webpages cause that prompt to pop up, it's kind of ridiculous. Frankly might be a reason for them to hold off on shipping it, it's not user-friendly at all to get that smacked into the face, seemingly at random, with no conception of what will break or what's to gain when blocking it. One of the most prominent pages that makes that prompt pop up is GitHub.
Yizahi 9y ago
Any updates on U2F support with major sites? Google, FB etc.?
- raphaeljlps 9y ago
  I haven't tested on FB, but it works with Github. IIRC you have to enable it, as it was experimental also, didn't work with Google Accounts.
- superdaniel 9y ago
  Unfortunately, doesn't work with Google yet... It does work with Dropbox and Github though.
- ronjouch 9y ago
  https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1065729 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1065729 may be of interest.
smnrchrds 9y ago
Dang! Looks like Tab Hiding API didn't make it for 58.
- yitosda 9y ago
  Looks like it's slated for 59 though: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1423725 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1423725 Didn't read much, but hopefully it allows hiding without unloading. Patiently waiting..
sccxy 9y ago
Add to Home screen button on mobile is great! Easy way to spot progressive web apps. Move URL bar to bottom and we have almost perfect browser.
butz 9y ago
Hoping for PWA support on desktop in upcoming versions.
- detaro 9y ago
  What do you mean by PWA support? Service Workers etc already are there, and have been for quite some time.
  - JepZ 9y ago
    I think he means 'Add to Menu/Desktop' and the visual part without the address bar, etc. I am missing that too for the desktop version, but actually I think the mobile version was the bigger issue and I have to say it works great with FF 58 :-)
anderspitman 9y ago
Anyone running Quantum on Linux with a 4k monitor? I switched from Chrome for a couple months but the lag/jank/choppiness (especially when scrolling) finally drove me back to Chrome. Still loving the new FF on my HD screens though.
- seanlane 9y ago
  I've been running it on a 4K screen for a bit, since I've been using the beta channel, and it's seems to work very smoothly. At least, I have noticed the lag or choppiness you've mentioned. One caveat is that my screen runs at 60 hz, so if you have a higher frame rate, then you might see things I won't catch.
- ac29 9y ago
  If you aren't setting layers.acceleration.force-enabled to true in about:config, Linux GFX performance is pretty bad. Its a night and day difference for me, and I haven't personally had any issues with it (I use relatively up to date kernels and Mesa on a variety of Intel GPUs, YMMV).
  - zlynx 9y ago
    I was going to say that my Firefox on Fedora 27 works really well, but now I realize I did set that force-enabled setting. I have no idea how it works without acceleration.
coconutoctopus 9y ago
Don't know why people are saying Firefox is fast, Speedometer 2.0 shows a score of 47 where Chrome is 67 on my MBP. And on my PC, Chrome gets 76 whereas Firefox gets 64.
- vezycash 9y ago
  User experience is what we are all excited about. A speedy benchmark means absolutely nothing if it FEELS slow when I'm using it. Besides, there are some things benchmarks don't check. Examples: Chrome startup takes at least 3 on my machine. It's does heavy disk activity during this period. Firefox on the other hand takes at most 30 seconds. Ram usage is also way higher on chrome than Firefox.
blinkingled 9y ago
Since release 57 I have almost exclusively started using Firefox on Android. I know most quantum enhancements aren't yet in the Android version but something improved leaps and bounds at 57. The ability to use sync and various privacy enhancing extensions mean FF has a great appeal on Android. Now only if they can fix the remaining URL load delays and improve video playback compatibility it'll be a great experience.
- readams 9y ago
  Run ublock on FF android and it'll more than make up for the slower browser by avoiding downloading all the ads. When the quantum enhancements land Chrome will be way behind.
  - blinkingled 9y ago
    Yep, already run uBlock Origin and Cookie AutoDelete. The problem has always been there with or without the extensions. But on faster devices it's not that much of an annoyance anymore.
- AtticusTheGreat 9y ago
  I did try Firefox 57 on my Android phone and found the scrolling to be unpleasant with lots of artifacts and stuttering. It's still a much better experience with the mobile version of Chrome.
  - blinkingled 9y ago
    That's right but it's not so bothersome anymore esp on faster devices.
- bonsai80 9y ago
  I think and early version of the enhancements on Android are available in 58, and can be enabled by using the search bar to enter `layout.css.servo.enabled` and then switching it on.
  - 9y ago
Chirael 9y ago
I love Firefox and switched back from Chrome with FF 57, but I really wish they had a Task Manager like Chrome does, so I can spot and kill misbehaving tabs rather than have all my tabs seem to steadily slow down. It's the only feature I miss from Chrome, and hope it appears in FF soon.
- finalfantasia 9y ago
  Until they provide a decent UI/UX to do that, you can use about:performance for now.
  - Chirael 9y ago
    I agree, this might be "good enough" for now; thanks for the tip
- the8472 9y ago
  about:performance
  - tomsmeding 9y ago
    That's useful, didn't know about that; but it doesn't show per-tab usage like Chrome's does (I think).
- mverwijs 9y ago
  Adding the addon 'The Great Suspender' helped me out in this area. Also disabling HTML5 autoplay.
  - remir 9y ago
    HTML auto-play is absolutely infuriating. On desktop, I landed on some CNET article the other day and suddenly a video start playing (super loud, too). Why does CNET assume I want to watch this? I don't know if there's an option somewhere in FF or Chrome to block this nonsense but I really hope that feature is implemented some day.
peterbe 9y ago
Don't know else to shout this from the roof tops, but it's a biiiig deal in terms of browsing happiness: https://www.peterbe.com/plog/another-win-for-tracking-protection-in-firefox https://www.peterbe.com/plog/another-win-for-tracking-protec... ^ That blog post was written when my Firefox Nightly was what is v58 today.
- skrowl 9y ago
  The tracking protection is even better with the newly released Duck Duck Go addon
- peterwwillis 9y ago
  That speed comes at the cost of delaying or breaking existing sites, fwiw
  - michaelmrose 9y ago
    Such as?
  - falcolas 9y ago
    IMHO, if the broken sites are broken because of their "need" to download trackers, intrusive ads, and any number of other dark-pattern based tools... we're better of with those sites broken.
    - StudentStuff 9y ago
      Do these trackers actually add direct value for users? 99% don't, things like the Facebook like button and so forth shouldn't require I hit Facebook's server when loading the page initially.
adpirz 9y ago
FF 57 was much snappier on my Mac than on Chrome, but it occasionally turned into a CPU hog and got the fans spinning full blast. Did anyone else experience that?
- available 9y ago
  Yes, I simply couldn't use it because it drained my macbook battery too quickly. I just updated to 58, but it seems to still be a problem.
  - apazzolini 9y ago
    Same here - first thing I did when v58 came out was check to see if CPU usage was lowered, which it unfortunately wasn't. I see no reason why CPU activity should spike to 20% every few seconds with one blank tab open and no extensions enabled.
    - jakecopp 9y ago
      To save battery life I'm trying to switch to Safari (from Chrome -> Firefox) but container tabs in Firefox are amazing - the ability to automatically open a domain in a container is perfect. Is it possible to whitelist cookies per domain in Safari?
- mikko-apo 9y ago
  Only time when I noticed my fans revving up was when I went to a site that tried to mine some bitcoins. Closing the tab reduced the cpu usage to normal levels.
  - srcmap 9y ago
    FF should put up a "red flaming" icon on the tab with high CPU usage - similar to audio icon on the tab with audio output.
- tzs 9y ago
  I've occasionally seen something named "FirefoxCP Web Content" taking 90+% of a core, mostly on Reddit. Most of the time when it happens on Reddit it stops if I turn on uBlock Origin and refresh the page. Sometimes, though, it still happens even after that.
Someone1234 9y ago
I've been happily using Firefox since 57 shipped. Loving the overall experience. I feel a bit petty for bringing this up, but what is up with Firefox's spellchecker? I came from Chrome so the spellcheck had a web-service which kept the word list current (slang and technical terms), but even ignoring that the Firefox spellcheck doesn't do a good job with the "basics." For example "That" misspelt as "Taht" (a & h transposed) and the solutions Firefox suggests are Tait, Baht, Taft, Ta ht, Ta-ht.
- tzs 9y ago
  Its out of the box spell checking is just terrible, at least on OS X compared to Chrome and Safari. Your example doesn't bother me too much, because at least it is right that the word is not spelled correctly. It is just not being great at suggesting replacements (although on my Mac it omits "Tait" and does suggest "That" at the end of the list, and if the misspelled word was "taht" rather than "Taht" then "that" is the first suggestion). What bothers me is that it frequently flags word as misspelled that are in fact correctly spelled. I'm using whatever dictionary is configured out of the box. There is an "add dictionary" option in the Languages sub-menu on the right-click pop-up in text areas, but I haven't yet gotten around to exploring that. The good news is that this is really the only beef I have with Firefox for ordinary use. Chrome still wins for a lot of development work, though, because of its multiple people feature. I can set up one person for each project, and easily switch between them, with each person having their own set of bookmarks, history, cache, cookies, and so on. Firefox can do that with multiple profiles, but if you want to use two profiles at once you have to launch two copies of the browser. That can then lead to confusion when other programs try to open a URL, either failing to open or opening in the wrong instance of Firefox.
  - Someone1234 9y ago
    Grab Mozilla's "Multi-Account Containers"[0] add-on. Each container has its own self-contained session, session data, and cookies. Plus only a single window, different containers are just regular tabs, whereas in Chrome it is one window per profile. [0] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account-containers/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account...
bonsai80 9y ago
I've gotten into a habit of checking into all the performance boosts on Firefox release, but I almost missed the best feature of the release: Tracking Protection! It's buried under Preferences -> Privacy & Security -> Tracking Protection I've been using Privacy Badger for a while and today installed DDG's new Privacy Essentials. Does anyone know how the new Firefox feature compares to these other 2 options regarding 3rd party tracking across sites?
- tomsmeding 9y ago
  How is "tracking protection", as nice as it may be, a "performance boost"?
  - gopalv 9y ago
    This is not the "Do Not Track", this is a block list from disconnect.me. If someone used a single pixel beacon, only mined referrers, that wouldn't be the case, but the additional javascript does cause performance issues.
  - asadotzler 9y ago
    By not loading trackers, the browser is freed to spend all its resources loading actual content of the page. This speeds up page load by as much as 40%.
  - bonsai80 9y ago
    Sorry for the confusion; I didn't mean to group those together. I meant that I'd lost sight of other nice features with all the excitement of Firefox performance lately.
  - SimeVidas 9y ago
    Tracking Protection blocks network requests to domains that are identified as trackers. This means that tracking scripts don’t load (faster page load) and run (more responsive web page).
  - Sylos 9y ago
    Paper detailling the "as much as 40%" figure that Asa Dotzler mentioned: http://www.ieee-security.org/TC/SPW2015/W2SP/papers/W2SP_2015_submission_32.pdf http://www.ieee-security.org/TC/SPW2015/W2SP/papers/W2SP_201...
artek 9y ago
I hope they address the issue with battery drainage on macOS.
vezycash 9y ago
About Updates Anyone appreciates how Firefox gives us choice? Unlike Chrome where I have to resort to hacks to stop the damned thing from downloading a fresh version whenever it feels like? BTW: Does chrome keep to the promise of patch or diff updates instead of 100MB+ downloads for every release?
- dbbk 9y ago
  Automatic updates are essential to the timely rollout of new web standards.
JepZ 9y ago
> On Firefox for Android, we’ve added support for Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) so you can add websites to your home screen and use them like native apps. Very cool, that was the largest issue for me lately. So maybe my phone doesn't even need Chrome anymore :-)
pmoriarty 9y ago
Does FF 58 have anything like the Request Policy extension (which broke as of FF 57, last I heard)?
- shabbyrobe 9y ago
  I've been using uMatrix for this job for a while now. I find it much better than I ever found RequestPolicy, but of course YMMV. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/umatrix/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/umatrix/
fauigerzigerk 9y ago
Firefox has improved dramatically since 57 and I'm using it more now, but the one reason why it's still not my main browser is that new windows open too slowly. The extra lag can't be much more than 100 ms or so (if that), but opening new windows is the worst possible moment to be a little bit slower than other browsers (on macOS).
jtl999 9y ago
Font rendering any better in 58? I was trying Firefox 57 after release on OS X 10.11.6 and it seems like it was giving me eye strain which I strongly presume is the fort rendering. Firefox 52 and Chrome 63 seem to be unaffected.
HumanDrivenDev 9y ago
One of my 'must have' plugins for firefox stopped working. Luckily they have a desktop version... which runs in chromium (Electron).
jray 9y ago
Still no status bar :(
darkstar999 9y ago
I switched over to Firefox at work because large diff pages in VSTS (Microsoft's "github") scrolled unbearably slow and choppy in Chrome, but scroll perfectly in Firefox. It's been great.
diimdeep 9y ago
Please make pinch to zoom like webkit/blink browsers
vermaden 9y ago
Still a lot of 'must have' extensions do not work with Firefox Quantum (57+) like UnMHT for example ...
jameslk 9y ago
Long time Firefox user and since Firefox 57, everything has gotten worse for me. A lot of my extensions no longer work. This includes session management extensions which just don't work properly anymore. And of course I just upgraded Firefox and lost all my tabs. The browser completely freezes every 10 seconds for a few seconds (I'm typing this and my cursor gets stuck, then 5 characters show up all at once). I'm glad others suddenly think the browser is great. I guess they don't know what they've been missing with previous versions.
- sp332 9y ago
  That's a known problem with the sessionstore.js file(s), http://kb.mozillazine.org/Sessionstore.js http://kb.mozillazine.org/Sessionstore.js Try deleting them? Also if your places.sqlite file is damaged it will cause similar behavior, but removing that will delete your history so maybe make sure it's synced first. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_hangs#Other_causes_of_hanging http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_hangs#Other_causes_of_hang...
petre 9y ago
I hope the developer tools request tabs in console got fixed. They showed nothing in 57. I'm using FF dev edition now, until it's fixed in the stable FF.
joethebob 9y ago
I'm getting some unbearably slow startup times on a new window. Even a fresh uncustomized profile is moderately slow to start.
f4rker 9y ago
>"Copy and paste screenshots directly to your clipboard" . . .
mmwelt 9y ago
The Android version also has several important improvements, a major one being better bookmark management (finally!). https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/android/58.0/releasenotes/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/android/58.0/releaseno...
thirdsun 9y ago
While I really enjoy Firefox' comeback and regained snappiness, the performance of css transforms and animation is still subpar. With larger and more complex elements that are affected by CSS transform events it becomes very noticeable that the animation is far from smooth, unlike in other browser like Chrome or Safari. I saw this behavior in every recent Firefox version on macOS - from stable to nightly. However there's so little discussion that I feel I might be the only one experiencing this.
hidden_sheepman 9y ago
The dev tools are still way to slow. Especially when debugging javascript. Sometimes there is a 40+ second wait when your trying to go from an error in the console to the line of js in debugger.

359 points by ortuman 9y ago

Simply linking to the download page isn't particularly useful, IMO. Release notes are here: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/58.0/releasenotes/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/58.0/releasenotes/

equalunique 9y ago
Agreed. From the release notes link you provided: *Performance improvements, including: Rendering graphics for Windows users by using Off-Main-Thread Painting (OMTP) Loading pages faster by changing how Firefox caches and retrieves JavaScript* These performance enhancements were both featured on HN. It's good news.
djhworld 9y ago
> Rendering graphics for Windows users by using Off-Main-Thread Painting (OMTP) Does this mean OSX and Linux users are not using this method?
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- dao- 9y ago
  Not yet. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1432531 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1432531 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1430793 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1430793
  - VyseofArcadia 9y ago
    Is Linux in this case short for generic *nix + X?
sctb 9y ago
Thanks! We've updated the link.
SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago
And since this is HN, the download people here are most likely to want is the Developer Edition: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/developer/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/developer/
- JohnTHaller 9y ago
  Not necessarily. Developer is the beta channel, after all, so many of us use Firefox stable as our primary. I use my various PortableApps.com packages to run separate channels without impacting each other for testing sites.
  - Viper007Bond 9y ago
    I use Developer as my only browser. Never had any issues. It's not a buggy alpha version or something.
    - JohnBooty 9y ago
      Even FF Nightly works perfectly well as a day to day browser for me. And I use it all day every day.
      - discreditable 9y ago
        Nightly is surprisingly stable. In my past few years of using it, there have only been a few days when it has been unusable. On those days I just used Chrome. The e10s transition was pretty rough. It was common for every tab to crash at once, and sometimes there were long delays for tabs to paint when switching.
- mdellabitta 9y ago
  You can't disable telemetry in the Developer Edition for some reason, so I've gone back to Stable.
  - kuschku 9y ago

lucb1e 9y ago

I see no updates on APIs for missing add-ons. Looks like I'm going to have to stay with Firefox 55 a little longer to even be able to use Mozilla's own Tab Center add-on.

shmerl 9y ago

So what is the ETA for release of Webrender in Firefox now?

cpeterso 9y ago
I don't know the ETA for WebRender in Firefox. The team is focusing on Windows first. You can follow WebRender development on the Mozilla Graphics team's blog: https://mozillagfx.wordpress.com/2018/01/16/webrender-newsletter-12/ https://mozillagfx.wordpress.com/2018/01/16/webrender-newsle...
pcwalton 9y ago
There's no ETA as far as I'm aware—it's mostly in the blocker bug burn-down phase and I don't want to try to predict when that will conclude. Progress is coming along quite nicely, and it's easier than ever to try it out in Nightly (just toggle gfx.webrender.all in about config). Lots of people on the team, including me, use it quite regularly. There's a newsletter you can check out too: https://mozillagfx.wordpress.com/ https://mozillagfx.wordpress.com/
- shmerl 9y ago
  Thanks, I'll give nightly a try to see how it works on Mesa / amdgpu+radeonsi.

k__ 9y ago

Switched back to Firefox a few months ago and I'm blown away by the speed. Last time I had this feeling after switching to Chrome from Firefox years ago, haha. Besides videos everything works like a charm. Somehow some videos won't start and sometimes I get a message that the video format could not be read, never had this issue in Chrome.

jherdman 9y ago
Likewise, but I've found the performance on a few key websites to be awful. Namely Facebook, and often Google Inbox. Another consequence of switching has been difficulty in using things like my Apple TV or Chromecast (e.g. casting a video to my TV), or using my Mac's media keys to control Google Play Music.
- throwaway181986 9y ago
  Agree: I have similar performance issues with Google Inbox. E.g. I'm unable to attach files sometimes, and the interface is terrible. Still, I've switched to the new FF as my browser of choice and with the exception of those few sites it's great
- albertgoeswoof 9y ago
  Google inbox is terrible on ff, this is vendor lock-in by google, the new MS
  - hutzlibu 9y ago
    Any proof of that claim? (that it is intentional from google and not just a ff issue?)
    - kuschku 9y ago
      Google didn't even make Inbox available on Firefox for months because they didn't care, and when they did, they ended up serving entirely different HTML and JS to FF. This is the same Google that is still keeping Allo Web and Google Earth a Chrome exclusive, the same one that has paid adware vendors to sneakily install Chrome, etc. Sure, you can believe that this is jist a coincidence. But that's one unlucky streak of coincidences. In fact, you'd be more likely to win the Powerball ten times in a row than for all this to happen by coincidence.

potch 9y ago

I wrote up a more detailed look at some of what's in Firefox 58: https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/01/firefox-58-the-quantum-era-continues/ https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/01/firefox-58-the-quantum-era...

zintinio5 9y ago
How does one end up in a position to do this work at Mozilla? I'm currently looking for a new SWE role, would absolutely love to work on Firefox.
- raguuu 9y ago
  What is swe role?
- callahad 9y ago
  Current openings are posted at https://careers.mozilla.org/ https://careers.mozilla.org/. There should be a steady trickle of opportunities as 2018 budgeting wraps up and requests for headcount get approved over the coming weeks and months. We do most of our work in the open, so there's a wealth of information you can gather before applying for a role or interviewing. Lurking on mailing lists, reading Bugzilla, following GitHub repos, etc. are all great ways to become familiar with how Mozilla works, the challenges we face, and where you'd best be able to have an impact.
  - fabrice_d 9y ago
    Working at Moz is usually nice, until it's not anymore for reasons that have nothing to do with how well you perform. Examples: working from the wrong office (go tell the 70 people fired in Taipei that there will be a steady trickle of opportunities) or under the wrong VP. MoCo is in many aspects a company like any other, with its fair share of Dilbert worthy moments.
  - zintinio5 9y ago
    Thanks! I was browsing a few days ago and applied to work on Telemetry in Firefox and ML Engineering at Pocket. A lot of the work being done with respect to the Quantam initiatives seems interesting, but I didn't really see anything related to the core browser. Anyway, thanks a lot for the info.

andrepd 9y ago

Still on Firefox 56. My crucial addons still don't work. Still wishing Mozilla made FF56 into an ESR.

Paul_S 9y ago
Just wanted to say you're not alone, I'm on 56 for the same reasons.
- lucb1e 9y ago
  55 here because 56 breaks Mozilla's own Tab Center add-on. I see no mention of new APIs for add-ons in the release notes...
  - yitosda 9y ago
    IIUC the API needed for this addon[1] will be available in FF 59[2]. Mozilla dropped support for Tab Center a while before Quantum IIRC. Another addon took its place, but then was dropped by its developer with Quantum. Supposedly [1] will allow transition from the older addons. I'm looking forward to finding out once 59 is out. [1]https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-groups/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-groups/ [2]https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1423725 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1423725
    - lucb1e 9y ago
      That bugzilla link is purple, so I guess that's the right one. But there's just so many APIs that were missing when they forced 57 on everyone, I honestly don't actively keep track because it's going to take a while. They were nowhere near ready, but a fixed release schedule is a fixed release schedule... Edit: Looking at the status: > Status: NEW → RESOLVED 4 days ago That could have made it into 58. Or they can still add it: why wait? They started this quick major-release cycle to release features sooner, but I don't see why they can't just release them when they're, y'know, ready.

technojunkie 9y ago

Did canvas fingerprinting blocking make it to this release? There were many articles saying it might or will happen and I can't find anything backing this up in the release notes. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=firefox+58+canvas+fingerprinting&t=ffab&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?q=firefox+58+canvas+fingerprinting&t...

dao- 9y ago
According to https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=967895 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=967895 it's in 58 but wasn't added to release notes because it's disabled by default via the privacy.resistFingerprinting about:config setting.
- nyordanov 9y ago
  It also breaks the built-in screenshots: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1412961 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1412961
Sylos 9y ago
Well, you'll notice soon enough, if it does get shipped. So many webpages cause that prompt to pop up, it's kind of ridiculous. Frankly might be a reason for them to hold off on shipping it, it's not user-friendly at all to get that smacked into the face, seemingly at random, with no conception of what will break or what's to gain when blocking it. One of the most prominent pages that makes that prompt pop up is GitHub.

Yizahi 9y ago

Any updates on U2F support with major sites? Google, FB etc.?

raphaeljlps 9y ago
I haven't tested on FB, but it works with Github. IIRC you have to enable it, as it was experimental also, didn't work with Google Accounts.
superdaniel 9y ago
Unfortunately, doesn't work with Google yet... It does work with Dropbox and Github though.
ronjouch 9y ago
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1065729 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1065729 may be of interest.

smnrchrds 9y ago

Dang! Looks like Tab Hiding API didn't make it for 58.

yitosda 9y ago
Looks like it's slated for 59 though: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1423725 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1423725 Didn't read much, but hopefully it allows hiding without unloading. Patiently waiting..

sccxy 9y ago

Add to Home screen button on mobile is great! Easy way to spot progressive web apps. Move URL bar to bottom and we have almost perfect browser.

butz 9y ago

Hoping for PWA support on desktop in upcoming versions.

detaro 9y ago
What do you mean by PWA support? Service Workers etc already are there, and have been for quite some time.
- JepZ 9y ago
  I think he means 'Add to Menu/Desktop' and the visual part without the address bar, etc. I am missing that too for the desktop version, but actually I think the mobile version was the bigger issue and I have to say it works great with FF 58 :-)

anderspitman 9y ago

Anyone running Quantum on Linux with a 4k monitor? I switched from Chrome for a couple months but the lag/jank/choppiness (especially when scrolling) finally drove me back to Chrome. Still loving the new FF on my HD screens though.

seanlane 9y ago
I've been running it on a 4K screen for a bit, since I've been using the beta channel, and it's seems to work very smoothly. At least, I have noticed the lag or choppiness you've mentioned. One caveat is that my screen runs at 60 hz, so if you have a higher frame rate, then you might see things I won't catch.
ac29 9y ago
If you aren't setting layers.acceleration.force-enabled to true in about:config, Linux GFX performance is pretty bad. Its a night and day difference for me, and I haven't personally had any issues with it (I use relatively up to date kernels and Mesa on a variety of Intel GPUs, YMMV).
- zlynx 9y ago
  I was going to say that my Firefox on Fedora 27 works really well, but now I realize I did set that force-enabled setting. I have no idea how it works without acceleration.

coconutoctopus 9y ago

Don't know why people are saying Firefox is fast, Speedometer 2.0 shows a score of 47 where Chrome is 67 on my MBP. And on my PC, Chrome gets 76 whereas Firefox gets 64.

vezycash 9y ago
User experience is what we are all excited about. A speedy benchmark means absolutely nothing if it FEELS slow when I'm using it. Besides, there are some things benchmarks don't check. Examples: Chrome startup takes at least 3 on my machine. It's does heavy disk activity during this period. Firefox on the other hand takes at most 30 seconds. Ram usage is also way higher on chrome than Firefox.

blinkingled 9y ago

Since release 57 I have almost exclusively started using Firefox on Android. I know most quantum enhancements aren't yet in the Android version but something improved leaps and bounds at 57. The ability to use sync and various privacy enhancing extensions mean FF has a great appeal on Android. Now only if they can fix the remaining URL load delays and improve video playback compatibility it'll be a great experience.

readams 9y ago
Run ublock on FF android and it'll more than make up for the slower browser by avoiding downloading all the ads. When the quantum enhancements land Chrome will be way behind.
- blinkingled 9y ago
  Yep, already run uBlock Origin and Cookie AutoDelete. The problem has always been there with or without the extensions. But on faster devices it's not that much of an annoyance anymore.
AtticusTheGreat 9y ago
I did try Firefox 57 on my Android phone and found the scrolling to be unpleasant with lots of artifacts and stuttering. It's still a much better experience with the mobile version of Chrome.
- blinkingled 9y ago
  That's right but it's not so bothersome anymore esp on faster devices.
bonsai80 9y ago
I think and early version of the enhancements on Android are available in 58, and can be enabled by using the search bar to enter `layout.css.servo.enabled` and then switching it on.
- 9y ago

Chirael 9y ago

I love Firefox and switched back from Chrome with FF 57, but I really wish they had a Task Manager like Chrome does, so I can spot and kill misbehaving tabs rather than have all my tabs seem to steadily slow down. It's the only feature I miss from Chrome, and hope it appears in FF soon.

finalfantasia 9y ago
Until they provide a decent UI/UX to do that, you can use about:performance for now.
- Chirael 9y ago
  I agree, this might be "good enough" for now; thanks for the tip
the8472 9y ago
about:performance
- tomsmeding 9y ago
  That's useful, didn't know about that; but it doesn't show per-tab usage like Chrome's does (I think).
mverwijs 9y ago
Adding the addon 'The Great Suspender' helped me out in this area. Also disabling HTML5 autoplay.
- remir 9y ago
  HTML auto-play is absolutely infuriating. On desktop, I landed on some CNET article the other day and suddenly a video start playing (super loud, too). Why does CNET assume I want to watch this? I don't know if there's an option somewhere in FF or Chrome to block this nonsense but I really hope that feature is implemented some day.

peterbe 9y ago

Don't know else to shout this from the roof tops, but it's a biiiig deal in terms of browsing happiness: https://www.peterbe.com/plog/another-win-for-tracking-protection-in-firefox https://www.peterbe.com/plog/another-win-for-tracking-protec... ^ That blog post was written when my Firefox Nightly was what is v58 today.

skrowl 9y ago
The tracking protection is even better with the newly released Duck Duck Go addon
peterwwillis 9y ago
That speed comes at the cost of delaying or breaking existing sites, fwiw
- michaelmrose 9y ago
  Such as?
- falcolas 9y ago
  IMHO, if the broken sites are broken because of their "need" to download trackers, intrusive ads, and any number of other dark-pattern based tools... we're better of with those sites broken.
  - StudentStuff 9y ago
    Do these trackers actually add direct value for users? 99% don't, things like the Facebook like button and so forth shouldn't require I hit Facebook's server when loading the page initially.

adpirz 9y ago

FF 57 was much snappier on my Mac than on Chrome, but it occasionally turned into a CPU hog and got the fans spinning full blast. Did anyone else experience that?

available 9y ago
Yes, I simply couldn't use it because it drained my macbook battery too quickly. I just updated to 58, but it seems to still be a problem.
- apazzolini 9y ago
  Same here - first thing I did when v58 came out was check to see if CPU usage was lowered, which it unfortunately wasn't. I see no reason why CPU activity should spike to 20% every few seconds with one blank tab open and no extensions enabled.
  - jakecopp 9y ago
    To save battery life I'm trying to switch to Safari (from Chrome -> Firefox) but container tabs in Firefox are amazing - the ability to automatically open a domain in a container is perfect. Is it possible to whitelist cookies per domain in Safari?
mikko-apo 9y ago
Only time when I noticed my fans revving up was when I went to a site that tried to mine some bitcoins. Closing the tab reduced the cpu usage to normal levels.
- srcmap 9y ago
  FF should put up a "red flaming" icon on the tab with high CPU usage - similar to audio icon on the tab with audio output.
tzs 9y ago
I've occasionally seen something named "FirefoxCP Web Content" taking 90+% of a core, mostly on Reddit. Most of the time when it happens on Reddit it stops if I turn on uBlock Origin and refresh the page. Sometimes, though, it still happens even after that.

Someone1234 9y ago

I've been happily using Firefox since 57 shipped. Loving the overall experience. I feel a bit petty for bringing this up, but what is up with Firefox's spellchecker? I came from Chrome so the spellcheck had a web-service which kept the word list current (slang and technical terms), but even ignoring that the Firefox spellcheck doesn't do a good job with the "basics." For example "That" misspelt as "Taht" (a & h transposed) and the solutions Firefox suggests are Tait, Baht, Taft, Ta ht, Ta-ht.

tzs 9y ago
Its out of the box spell checking is just terrible, at least on OS X compared to Chrome and Safari. Your example doesn't bother me too much, because at least it is right that the word is not spelled correctly. It is just not being great at suggesting replacements (although on my Mac it omits "Tait" and does suggest "That" at the end of the list, and if the misspelled word was "taht" rather than "Taht" then "that" is the first suggestion). What bothers me is that it frequently flags word as misspelled that are in fact correctly spelled. I'm using whatever dictionary is configured out of the box. There is an "add dictionary" option in the Languages sub-menu on the right-click pop-up in text areas, but I haven't yet gotten around to exploring that. The good news is that this is really the only beef I have with Firefox for ordinary use. Chrome still wins for a lot of development work, though, because of its multiple people feature. I can set up one person for each project, and easily switch between them, with each person having their own set of bookmarks, history, cache, cookies, and so on. Firefox can do that with multiple profiles, but if you want to use two profiles at once you have to launch two copies of the browser. That can then lead to confusion when other programs try to open a URL, either failing to open or opening in the wrong instance of Firefox.
- Someone1234 9y ago
  Grab Mozilla's "Multi-Account Containers"[0] add-on. Each container has its own self-contained session, session data, and cookies. Plus only a single window, different containers are just regular tabs, whereas in Chrome it is one window per profile. [0] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account-containers/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account...

bonsai80 9y ago

I've gotten into a habit of checking into all the performance boosts on Firefox release, but I almost missed the best feature of the release: Tracking Protection! It's buried under Preferences -> Privacy & Security -> Tracking Protection I've been using Privacy Badger for a while and today installed DDG's new Privacy Essentials. Does anyone know how the new Firefox feature compares to these other 2 options regarding 3rd party tracking across sites?

tomsmeding 9y ago
How is "tracking protection", as nice as it may be, a "performance boost"?
- gopalv 9y ago
  This is not the "Do Not Track", this is a block list from disconnect.me. If someone used a single pixel beacon, only mined referrers, that wouldn't be the case, but the additional javascript does cause performance issues.
- asadotzler 9y ago
  By not loading trackers, the browser is freed to spend all its resources loading actual content of the page. This speeds up page load by as much as 40%.
- bonsai80 9y ago
  Sorry for the confusion; I didn't mean to group those together. I meant that I'd lost sight of other nice features with all the excitement of Firefox performance lately.
- SimeVidas 9y ago
  Tracking Protection blocks network requests to domains that are identified as trackers. This means that tracking scripts don’t load (faster page load) and run (more responsive web page).
- Sylos 9y ago
  Paper detailling the "as much as 40%" figure that Asa Dotzler mentioned: http://www.ieee-security.org/TC/SPW2015/W2SP/papers/W2SP_2015_submission_32.pdf http://www.ieee-security.org/TC/SPW2015/W2SP/papers/W2SP_201...

artek 9y ago

I hope they address the issue with battery drainage on macOS.

vezycash 9y ago

About Updates Anyone appreciates how Firefox gives us choice? Unlike Chrome where I have to resort to hacks to stop the damned thing from downloading a fresh version whenever it feels like? BTW: Does chrome keep to the promise of patch or diff updates instead of 100MB+ downloads for every release?

dbbk 9y ago
Automatic updates are essential to the timely rollout of new web standards.

JepZ 9y ago

> On Firefox for Android, we’ve added support for Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) so you can add websites to your home screen and use them like native apps. Very cool, that was the largest issue for me lately. So maybe my phone doesn't even need Chrome anymore :-)

pmoriarty 9y ago

Does FF 58 have anything like the Request Policy extension (which broke as of FF 57, last I heard)?

shabbyrobe 9y ago
I've been using uMatrix for this job for a while now. I find it much better than I ever found RequestPolicy, but of course YMMV. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/umatrix/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/umatrix/

fauigerzigerk 9y ago

Firefox has improved dramatically since 57 and I'm using it more now, but the one reason why it's still not my main browser is that new windows open too slowly. The extra lag can't be much more than 100 ms or so (if that), but opening new windows is the worst possible moment to be a little bit slower than other browsers (on macOS).

jtl999 9y ago

Font rendering any better in 58? I was trying Firefox 57 after release on OS X 10.11.6 and it seems like it was giving me eye strain which I strongly presume is the fort rendering. Firefox 52 and Chrome 63 seem to be unaffected.

HumanDrivenDev 9y ago

One of my 'must have' plugins for firefox stopped working. Luckily they have a desktop version... which runs in chromium (Electron).

jray 9y ago

Still no status bar :(

darkstar999 9y ago

I switched over to Firefox at work because large diff pages in VSTS (Microsoft's "github") scrolled unbearably slow and choppy in Chrome, but scroll perfectly in Firefox. It's been great.

diimdeep 9y ago

Please make pinch to zoom like webkit/blink browsers

vermaden 9y ago

Still a lot of 'must have' extensions do not work with Firefox Quantum (57+) like UnMHT for example ...

jameslk 9y ago

Long time Firefox user and since Firefox 57, everything has gotten worse for me. A lot of my extensions no longer work. This includes session management extensions which just don't work properly anymore. And of course I just upgraded Firefox and lost all my tabs. The browser completely freezes every 10 seconds for a few seconds (I'm typing this and my cursor gets stuck, then 5 characters show up all at once). I'm glad others suddenly think the browser is great. I guess they don't know what they've been missing with previous versions.

sp332 9y ago
That's a known problem with the sessionstore.js file(s), http://kb.mozillazine.org/Sessionstore.js http://kb.mozillazine.org/Sessionstore.js Try deleting them? Also if your places.sqlite file is damaged it will cause similar behavior, but removing that will delete your history so maybe make sure it's synced first. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_hangs#Other_causes_of_hanging http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_hangs#Other_causes_of_hang...

petre 9y ago

I hope the developer tools request tabs in console got fixed. They showed nothing in 57. I'm using FF dev edition now, until it's fixed in the stable FF.

joethebob 9y ago

I'm getting some unbearably slow startup times on a new window. Even a fresh uncustomized profile is moderately slow to start.

f4rker 9y ago

>"Copy and paste screenshots directly to your clipboard" . . .

mmwelt 9y ago

The Android version also has several important improvements, a major one being better bookmark management (finally!). https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/android/58.0/releasenotes/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/android/58.0/releaseno...

thirdsun 9y ago

While I really enjoy Firefox' comeback and regained snappiness, the performance of css transforms and animation is still subpar. With larger and more complex elements that are affected by CSS transform events it becomes very noticeable that the animation is far from smooth, unlike in other browser like Chrome or Safari. I saw this behavior in every recent Firefox version on macOS - from stable to nightly. However there's so little discussion that I feel I might be the only one experiencing this.

hidden_sheepman 9y ago

The dev tools are still way to slow. Especially when debugging javascript. Sometimes there is a 40+ second wait when your trying to go from an error in the console to the line of js in debugger.