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Since these threads always wind up with lots of top-level comments from people providing anecdotal complaints about how [browser under discussion] crashes all t

Since these threads always wind up with lots of top-level comments from people providing anecdotal complaints about how [browser under discussion] crashes all the time on their computer, or eats up all the RAM, or whatever, I just wanted to add a similarly anecdotal top-level comment with my own, positive experience. I have been using FF Nightly and FF Dev Edition on both my work and home machines (MacOS and Arch Linux) for years, using the former for personal browsing and the latter for work. I generally only restart the browser when there are updates, and I’ve maybe had two or three restarts in all that time where I lost my tabs. Even rebooting the computer, I usually get a window asking if I want to restore my tabs, which works with no fuss. On the rare occasions that doesn’t happen, I’ve been able to “restore previous session” from the history menu. I have generally beefy machines, but I’ve never had personally noticeable issues with performance since Quantum was released. I usually have somewhere between five and fifty tabs open in each browser. The only crashes I’ve seen that I remember have been when I was playing with WebRender settings in about:config, and happened whenever I was scrolling in a particularly large Confluence document. Also, occasionally my strict third party settings will make a login or other functionality break, in which case it’s easy to relax the settings just for that page. FF integrates very well with 1Password, which is my password manager of choice. I use FF Mobile on iOS, and while it is a bit rougher on battery life than safari, having all my history and bookmarks synced is worth it. Anyway, my experience is definitely not everyone’s, and I don’t doubt that some people have strange and frustrating issues with the browser. That being said, I suspect experiences like mine are more common than comments on threads like this suggest.

bhauer 7y ago
I too have virtually no experience with any modern browsers crashing in the ways often reported here. And I'm at least a "power user," using browsers for consumption and web development throughout the day. Dozens or hundreds of tabs—no problem. Developer tools open all the time. No modern browser even breaks a sweat. I just happen to favor Firefox because I like its speed, look & feel, user interface quirks (versus the quirks of the other browsers), and options for customization. Notably, I use proper workstations both at home and in the office. I suppose it's possible the popularity of using laptops as developer "workstations" may be underlying much of the grievance we often see here.
BoorishBears 7y ago
I'll share my anecdote in that case I installed Manjaro on my Surface Pro and Firefox was included (? or I happened to install it instead of Chrome, I'm fuzzy on that) The next day, a few minutes before a job interview I opened Firefox to find a curious error Using an older version of Firefox can corrupt bookmarks and browsing history already saved to an existing Firefox profile. To protect your information, create a new profile for this installation of Firefox I click through it and... everything's gone. Including my plugins, which I need for... 1Password. To log into my Google account, to access the link I need to join. Cue me frantically googling how to fix it, before I end up having to type in a 70 character password off my phone screen. In the end I did manage to fix it by manually editing the profile. But obviously off to a terrible start, joining the meeting almost 5 minutes late. Enter the interview and we're screen sharing my IDE. But it's a complete slideshow on my end. My computer is running like it's throttling itself, I can barely create a new project. Cue me fumbling through the activity monitor when it becomes clear that there's no way I'll be able to complete the interview like this. Firefox is going haywire and using all my resources. "Hey sorry, do you mind if I take a second and install Chrome" Install Chrome in the middle of the interview and it handles screen sharing just fine without killing the laptop. Keep in mind, this is all WebRTC screen sharing, no custom plugin or anything, so the implementation is 100% on the browser. You could watch my interviewers enthusiasm fade, and my confidence drop off a cliff as I went through all this. I was pretty much told I didn't perform terribly, but they weren't sure about my knowledge based on the final output (half the interview being wasted on FF issues) So yeah, stuck with FF for 24hrs, figuring what's the worst that could happen, HN is always hyping it up. Indirectly cost me a job opportunity in those 24hrs. I won't be trying it again.
- mplanchard 7y ago
  Yes, that sounds terrible, and I can understand why it would sour you on the whole application! Edit: just wanted to make sure to say that there’s no sarcasm here at all. I would absolutely feel the same way if I had had that experience

bhauer 7y ago

I too have virtually no experience with any modern browsers crashing in the ways often reported here. And I'm at least a "power user," using browsers for consumption and web development throughout the day. Dozens or hundreds of tabs—no problem. Developer tools open all the time. No modern browser even breaks a sweat. I just happen to favor Firefox because I like its speed, look & feel, user interface quirks (versus the quirks of the other browsers), and options for customization. Notably, I use proper workstations both at home and in the office. I suppose it's possible the popularity of using laptops as developer "workstations" may be underlying much of the grievance we often see here.

BoorishBears 7y ago

I'll share my anecdote in that case I installed Manjaro on my Surface Pro and Firefox was included (? or I happened to install it instead of Chrome, I'm fuzzy on that) The next day, a few minutes before a job interview I opened Firefox to find a curious error Using an older version of Firefox can corrupt bookmarks and browsing history already saved to an existing Firefox profile. To protect your information, create a new profile for this installation of Firefox I click through it and... everything's gone. Including my plugins, which I need for... 1Password. To log into my Google account, to access the link I need to join. Cue me frantically googling how to fix it, before I end up having to type in a 70 character password off my phone screen. In the end I did manage to fix it by manually editing the profile. But obviously off to a terrible start, joining the meeting almost 5 minutes late. Enter the interview and we're screen sharing my IDE. But it's a complete slideshow on my end. My computer is running like it's throttling itself, I can barely create a new project. Cue me fumbling through the activity monitor when it becomes clear that there's no way I'll be able to complete the interview like this. Firefox is going haywire and using all my resources. "Hey sorry, do you mind if I take a second and install Chrome" Install Chrome in the middle of the interview and it handles screen sharing just fine without killing the laptop. Keep in mind, this is all WebRTC screen sharing, no custom plugin or anything, so the implementation is 100% on the browser. You could watch my interviewers enthusiasm fade, and my confidence drop off a cliff as I went through all this. I was pretty much told I didn't perform terribly, but they weren't sure about my knowledge based on the final output (half the interview being wasted on FF issues) So yeah, stuck with FF for 24hrs, figuring what's the worst that could happen, HN is always hyping it up. Indirectly cost me a job opportunity in those 24hrs. I won't be trying it again.

mplanchard 7y ago
Yes, that sounds terrible, and I can understand why it would sour you on the whole application! Edit: just wanted to make sure to say that there’s no sarcasm here at all. I would absolutely feel the same way if I had had that experience