4 ms·

I can subjectively confirm that Firefox feels snappier recently and deeply appreciate and enjoy all improvements. But I have some itching concerns about that m

by myfonj 3y ago

I can subjectively confirm that Firefox feels snappier recently and deeply appreciate and enjoy all improvements. But I have some itching concerns about that methodology with heavy anonymisation and stuff there: Couldn't it be that the web itself got faster, and folks have better hardware? I mean, yes, generally these sloppy script kiddies with bloated frameworks produce less and less effective code … but I can imagine, that when some heavily visited page deploys a new better optimized and leaner version (I assume such things happen in reality, don't they?), there is no way to tell it apart from telemetry data telling that everything got slightly faster on average. Or with people getting better hardware, or with OS and driver updates, etc.

wldlyinaccurate 3y ago
The web is getting faster, yes. This manifests as a constant (albeit slow) downward trend in global aggregate metrics. We think this trend is mostly due to Google pushing performance metrics being linked to search rankings. However the data presented in this post shows obvious step changes in performance that correlate with browser version rollout. It would be disingenuous not to attribute this to a concerted effort on performance improvements from the Firefox team.
ro-ka 3y ago
As older Firefox versions are still in use, too, it’s possible to check whether the improvements come from updates in Firefox itself or the web in general.
- MiddleEndian 3y ago
  >the web in general That would certainly be overly optimistic.
- KeplerBoy 3y ago
  The data will be biased though. Few people will buy new hardware and install old firefox versions.
MBCook 3y ago
It would’ve been nice to see this normalized by CPU cycles or javascript tokens executed or something like that. Something so that more megahertz/cores doesn’t throw off the number. Whatever the reason, it is nice to see it improving. I think it would be interesting to also see a median figure in addition to a 95% figure.
- jraph 3y ago
  I bet it's difficult to normalize because performance depends on so many things. CPU cycles, but also other factors like RAM speed, swap usage, CPU cache sizes and speeds, background tasks, GPU and GPU drivers, OS, display servers (X11 vs Wayland on Linux), window managers, available fonts, and probably a ton of other things are other factors that will play a role.
toldyouso2022 3y ago
I've used an older firefox version from 2020(the why I did is a long story) and only updated after the webp security issue. New version felt immediately faster.
aetherspawn 3y ago
It was starting to really “feel like a hog” to me over the last 6 months, including random crashes and stutters, and I considered switching to Chrome. I hadn’t noticed until I read this, but I think that feeling has gone away recently and I had already stopped thinking about switching.
- littlestymaar 3y ago
  I mostly use Firefox but I have to use Chrome on a regular basis[1] and Chrome feel slower than Firefox despite having only one open tab. On a pretty old Linux computer. [1] Because Slack still doesn't support WebRTC on Firefox after 8 years…
1vuio0pswjnm7 3y ago
Seems like the easiest path to increased speed is to hold software constant whilst processing and networking continue to improve. Historically, software has continued to behave like a gas, expanding to fill space and consume resources. The resources generally do not belong to the software authors. Software isn't eating the world, it's eating your computer's resources and the bandwidth you pay for every month.

by myfonj 3y ago

wldlyinaccurate 3y ago

The web is getting faster, yes. This manifests as a constant (albeit slow) downward trend in global aggregate metrics. We think this trend is mostly due to Google pushing performance metrics being linked to search rankings. However the data presented in this post shows obvious step changes in performance that correlate with browser version rollout. It would be disingenuous not to attribute this to a concerted effort on performance improvements from the Firefox team.

ro-ka 3y ago

As older Firefox versions are still in use, too, it’s possible to check whether the improvements come from updates in Firefox itself or the web in general.

MiddleEndian 3y ago
>the web in general That would certainly be overly optimistic.
KeplerBoy 3y ago
The data will be biased though. Few people will buy new hardware and install old firefox versions.

MBCook 3y ago

It would’ve been nice to see this normalized by CPU cycles or javascript tokens executed or something like that. Something so that more megahertz/cores doesn’t throw off the number. Whatever the reason, it is nice to see it improving. I think it would be interesting to also see a median figure in addition to a 95% figure.

jraph 3y ago
I bet it's difficult to normalize because performance depends on so many things. CPU cycles, but also other factors like RAM speed, swap usage, CPU cache sizes and speeds, background tasks, GPU and GPU drivers, OS, display servers (X11 vs Wayland on Linux), window managers, available fonts, and probably a ton of other things are other factors that will play a role.

toldyouso2022 3y ago

I've used an older firefox version from 2020(the why I did is a long story) and only updated after the webp security issue. New version felt immediately faster.

aetherspawn 3y ago

It was starting to really “feel like a hog” to me over the last 6 months, including random crashes and stutters, and I considered switching to Chrome. I hadn’t noticed until I read this, but I think that feeling has gone away recently and I had already stopped thinking about switching.

littlestymaar 3y ago
I mostly use Firefox but I have to use Chrome on a regular basis[1] and Chrome feel slower than Firefox despite having only one open tab. On a pretty old Linux computer. [1] Because Slack still doesn't support WebRTC on Firefox after 8 years…

1vuio0pswjnm7 3y ago

Seems like the easiest path to increased speed is to hold software constant whilst processing and networking continue to improve. Historically, software has continued to behave like a gas, expanding to fill space and consume resources. The resources generally do not belong to the software authors. Software isn't eating the world, it's eating your computer's resources and the bandwidth you pay for every month.