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Every implementation I have ever seen of this concept has correctly avoided dropping tabs with dirty state in text boxes, so I think this article is freaking ou

by saurik 4y ago

Every implementation I have ever seen of this concept has correctly avoided dropping tabs with dirty state in text boxes, so I think this article is freaking out and causing panic in these comments about a scenario that almost certainly will never happen. Also: I bet you'll be able to turn it off. But, as someone who actively uses a billion tabs and also cares deeply about state, I have 1) always used various versions of this feature when available in browsers or via extensions and 2) I don't think I have ever seen one lose state I cared about. The real hilarity to me is merely how Google has taken so long to enable this use case by default in the core, and I will claim it is due to their anti-user pro-surveillance business models that enjoy having code sitting around running occasionally in a number of what should have long since become static renderings of pages I have open.

Y_Y 4y ago
I've been caught by this on mobile Firefox lots of times. And Chrome isn't known for letting users opt-out of decisions they've made (based on their great telemetry no doubt).
- upon_drumhead 4y ago
  Under the bold heading "How to turn it off" with a large picture of the ui telling you how to turn it off has this > The consumer controls for Memory Saver live at 'chrome://settings/performance,' or, for the UI-inclined, hit the menu, then "More tools," then "Performance." You can turn off the feature entirely or add sites to a list called "always keep these sites active." so it seems like turning it off is in the cards for this feature
  - Y_Y 4y ago
    That's good. I'll bet you a WinZip license that the option to turn it off has been sunsut within two years though.
shortcake27 4y ago
> Every implementation I have ever seen of this concept has correctly avoided dropping tabs with dirty state in text boxes Have you used iOS Safari? I use it because of private relay and extensions (I’ve written a few for myself that “clean up” websites I frequent). However, the dropping is atrocious. Because my phone is 4 years old it can barely keep 1 tab in memory. Sometimes the tab is even dropped even if I simply lock my phone and come back to it a few hours later without even opening any other apps. All state is lost. Worse, as I exclusively use private mode, when the tab is dropped the cookies are dropped too. So I can’t even stay logged in to anything. It’s a terrible experience.
- blowski 4y ago
  My phone is a 4 year old iPhone SE and I’m writing on it now in private mode. I honestly don’t have the same experience as you, it mostly works fine.
  - shortcake27 4y ago
    Yeah there could be something else going on. Apps constantly reload too; the other day I had an app open, locked the phone, unlocked it 5 minutes later and the app completely reloaded. This happens all the time with loads of different apps. The battery health is quite low so maybe it gets more aggressive in killing things off? We'll probably never know.
  - bangonkeyboard 4y ago
    My experience matches shortcake27's. For instance, I've had a recipe loaded up in a tab, gone off to mix ingredients, and unlocked the iPhone for the next step only to see the page reload.
- saurik 4y ago
  Oh, yeah. That one sucks. But I didn't actually consider it to be in the same category of feature as Apple throws away entire processes and doesn't seem to give a shit, and that's kind of the underlying defense of losing your tab state, as far as I can tell. I meant on desktop browsers.
- 4y ago
whatever1 4y ago
Tab dropping is one of the main reasons that iOS safari is horrible for proper work. Seems that we are going backwards
- saurik 4y ago
  Yeah: I do agree with this. I meant the way the feature has been integrated into desktop browsers (or cobbled together with extensions). The lack of regard companies have for the now vast majority of users who either primarily or even only use "mobile" devices is ridiculous.
izacus 4y ago
Oh no, what a surprise, Ars Technica again writing a Google article that's sensationalist and written in a misleadingly critical way? Must be Wednesday. Seriously, they've been grinding this axe and writing sensationalist misleading articles for years now when it comes to Google (and outright downplaying Apple issues as well).
- ksec 4y ago
  Generally Speaking, there are lots of Apple Fans around the world, high value in ads and don’t click anything that criticise Apple. On the other hand there are lots of Google Haters. Basically it is just the press pondering to their reader’s prejudice.
  - izacus 4y ago
    Yeah, it's a bit annoying because I've respected Ars quite a bit until they got really blatantly biased and untrustworthy. :/
    - WastingMyTime89 4y ago
      Ron Amadeo who writes on Google and is the Ars Reviews editor has always had some peculiar conceptions about what’s acceptable behaviour for a piece of software and what a smartphone should be. I mean for a long time he was famous for obsessing about phones bezels size. I think what you notice has more to do with his opinions showing through the writing than a conscious editorial choice favouring Apple from Ars.
CommanderData 4y ago
Probably be able to turn it off up to a few months then its hidden behind a cli flag. Lots of options that were once in chrome://flags were removed making it impossible for any normal user to customise the browser how they want.

by saurik 4y ago

Y_Y 4y ago

I've been caught by this on mobile Firefox lots of times. And Chrome isn't known for letting users opt-out of decisions they've made (based on their great telemetry no doubt).

upon_drumhead 4y ago
Under the bold heading "How to turn it off" with a large picture of the ui telling you how to turn it off has this > The consumer controls for Memory Saver live at 'chrome://settings/performance,' or, for the UI-inclined, hit the menu, then "More tools," then "Performance." You can turn off the feature entirely or add sites to a list called "always keep these sites active." so it seems like turning it off is in the cards for this feature
- Y_Y 4y ago
  That's good. I'll bet you a WinZip license that the option to turn it off has been sunsut within two years though.

shortcake27 4y ago

> Every implementation I have ever seen of this concept has correctly avoided dropping tabs with dirty state in text boxes Have you used iOS Safari? I use it because of private relay and extensions (I’ve written a few for myself that “clean up” websites I frequent). However, the dropping is atrocious. Because my phone is 4 years old it can barely keep 1 tab in memory. Sometimes the tab is even dropped even if I simply lock my phone and come back to it a few hours later without even opening any other apps. All state is lost. Worse, as I exclusively use private mode, when the tab is dropped the cookies are dropped too. So I can’t even stay logged in to anything. It’s a terrible experience.

blowski 4y ago
My phone is a 4 year old iPhone SE and I’m writing on it now in private mode. I honestly don’t have the same experience as you, it mostly works fine.
- shortcake27 4y ago
  Yeah there could be something else going on. Apps constantly reload too; the other day I had an app open, locked the phone, unlocked it 5 minutes later and the app completely reloaded. This happens all the time with loads of different apps. The battery health is quite low so maybe it gets more aggressive in killing things off? We'll probably never know.
- bangonkeyboard 4y ago
  My experience matches shortcake27's. For instance, I've had a recipe loaded up in a tab, gone off to mix ingredients, and unlocked the iPhone for the next step only to see the page reload.
saurik 4y ago
Oh, yeah. That one sucks. But I didn't actually consider it to be in the same category of feature as Apple throws away entire processes and doesn't seem to give a shit, and that's kind of the underlying defense of losing your tab state, as far as I can tell. I meant on desktop browsers.
4y ago

whatever1 4y ago

Tab dropping is one of the main reasons that iOS safari is horrible for proper work. Seems that we are going backwards

saurik 4y ago
Yeah: I do agree with this. I meant the way the feature has been integrated into desktop browsers (or cobbled together with extensions). The lack of regard companies have for the now vast majority of users who either primarily or even only use "mobile" devices is ridiculous.

izacus 4y ago

Oh no, what a surprise, Ars Technica again writing a Google article that's sensationalist and written in a misleadingly critical way? Must be Wednesday. Seriously, they've been grinding this axe and writing sensationalist misleading articles for years now when it comes to Google (and outright downplaying Apple issues as well).

ksec 4y ago
Generally Speaking, there are lots of Apple Fans around the world, high value in ads and don’t click anything that criticise Apple. On the other hand there are lots of Google Haters. Basically it is just the press pondering to their reader’s prejudice.
- izacus 4y ago
  Yeah, it's a bit annoying because I've respected Ars quite a bit until they got really blatantly biased and untrustworthy. :/
  - WastingMyTime89 4y ago
    Ron Amadeo who writes on Google and is the Ars Reviews editor has always had some peculiar conceptions about what’s acceptable behaviour for a piece of software and what a smartphone should be. I mean for a long time he was famous for obsessing about phones bezels size. I think what you notice has more to do with his opinions showing through the writing than a conscious editorial choice favouring Apple from Ars.

CommanderData 4y ago

Probably be able to turn it off up to a few months then its hidden behind a cli flag. Lots of options that were once in chrome://flags were removed making it impossible for any normal user to customise the browser how they want.