[HN Gopher] Firefox Keeps Getting Faster
___________________________________________________________________
Firefox Keeps Getting Faster
Author : goplayoutside
Score : 68 points
Date : 2023-12-09 22:00 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (blog.mozilla.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (blog.mozilla.org)
| raybb wrote:
| My phone is a bit old (Pixel 4a) but it drives me crazy that so
| many times I type something into Firefox and it just shows a
| blank screen. Then I have to restart the app or open a new tap
| and type again. Feel it happens at least 20% of the time. No idea
| why and its not an internet issue. There is no loading. There is
| nothing.
| Sakos wrote:
| Been getting that too. No idea why. Interestingly, I've
| experienced it a handful of times on desktop too. 99% of the
| time it's the Android app doing it though.
| skullone wrote:
| My pixel5 is doing good with Firefox. I credit as blockers for
| keeping the browser performant
| treetalker wrote:
| Respectfully: doing well.
| raybb wrote:
| Yeah the blockers are awesome. Also having a few greasemonkey
| scripts to automate login on a few pages that require too
| many clicks.
| ptrrrrrrppr wrote:
| Have the exact same issue on my 1+
| 29athrowaway wrote:
| It regularly gets stuck on Linux for minutes at a time. Even if
| you disconnect your Internet connection.
| SV_BubbleTime wrote:
| I'm using Linux Mint (Ubuntu based) and have never had anything
| remotely similar to that.
| grizzles wrote:
| I'm a firefox user on Ubuntu. They need to improve the cold start
| time badly. It currently takes me 4-5 minutes from launch to page
| load. Once loaded I have no issues with the performance but
| Chrome is vastly superior in this area.
|
| EDIT: I rely highly on the Restore Previous Session feature. That
| might be why.
| starttoaster wrote:
| That's a local issue for sure. Not sure how, might be Firefox's
| fault in some way. But it's not just a combination of Firefox
| and Ubuntu. (I use Firefox on Ubuntu 22.04 and it's a couple
| seconds, maybe.)
| bbarnett wrote:
| Probably firefox is ridiculously in a snap. Normally, it
| takes a second to load tops.
| rreyes1979 wrote:
| Using Firefox on Fedora 39. It takes 1-2 seconds to start with
| lots of tabs reopening. I have had issues with videos not
| playing from time to time but other than that, I am really
| liking it (coming from MacOS and Chrome).
| e-khadem wrote:
| Maybe due to the snap situation there? Will you try firefox
| using flatpak or Mozilla's native builds?
| Ridj48dhsnsh wrote:
| Have you tried deleting your profile and starting fresh?
| Something is clearly messed up. Launching takes a fraction of a
| second for me on NixOS with a years-old profile.
| INTPenis wrote:
| You can't possibly think that all Firefox and Ubuntu users sit
| around for 4 minutes waiting for their browser to open. It's
| clearly something specific to your setup.
|
| If you want to report this issue I suggest first trying a fresh
| install of another OS on the same device just to ensure it's
| not hw. And of course the standard troubleshooting is to start
| Firefox in troubleshooting mode, that runs it without any
| plugins enabled.
| quirino wrote:
| I had a similar issue on Arch Linux some time ago. I debugged
| it by running it with strace, seeing what it was waiting for
| and googling it. Uninstalling some package solved it.
| seszett wrote:
| I've had this problem on an Arch machine after no use and no
| update for a long time. Thunderbird was affected as well, and
| both unfreezed at the exact same moment a few minutes after
| launching the first one.
|
| I never had time to investigate this but this was obviously a
| system problem, Firefox and Thunderbird are fast on all the
| other machines I use.
| catlover76 wrote:
| > It currently takes me 4-5 minutes from launch to page load.
|
| o_O
| callahad wrote:
| Slow cold starts on Ubuntu are a known issue with Canonical's
| Snap application format, as acknowledged in official blog posts
| like https://ubuntu.com/blog/improving-firefox-snap-
| performance-p...
|
| If you can install a Flatpak or .deb package of Firefox, you
| should regain that performance. Found a post recommending a
| "Mozilla Team" PPA at
| https://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2022/04/install-
| firefox..., but I last used Ubuntu 15 years ago, so I can't
| speak to the specific recommendations therein.
| ranting-moth wrote:
| I'm on Ubuntu and Firefox. Cold start to page load is seconds.
|
| Try creating a new blank profile in Firefox.
| SV_BubbleTime wrote:
| Congrats Mozilla! You made improvements to a product you allow
| dwindle to 2-3% market share.
|
| Forest and trees... who cares that you made it faster if
| continually less and less people use it. The extreme majority do
| not care about tiny improvements to speed.
|
| If they were interested in growing market, they would be
| integrating ublockOrigin and other anti-ad software. They
| literally have nothing to lose anymore.
| bbarnett wrote:
| Don't worry! They'll continue to change the GUI for no reason
| each release, continue to remove features, customizability, and
| more as well.
|
| Then add on stupid things, so all their users, each release,
| have to fight to turn off dumbassery, and restore
| functionality.
|
| They've literally done everything they could to destroy market
| share.
| badrabbit wrote:
| I love firefox but i don't have as much faith in mozilla as an
| org. IMHO, they should consider firefox a loss leader (despite
| search engine deals) and focus on unrelated projects that make
| money and attract users due to the firefox brand.
|
| Or...hear me out: Firefox gets into the adblocker business and
| lets the big boys paya fortune to be exempted by default. This
| includes using ML to block ads (i have ideas on how to implement
| unblockable ads using traditional means).
|
| I really wish they would invest more in servo. Imagine a memory
| safe browser!
|
| But beyond all that, EU and US govs mandating it as the only
| default browser would be huge for mozilla.
|
| They're catching up now in some areas like GPOs but mozilla has
| nothing on chrome enterprise.
|
| They don't realize that corporate types are eager to spend money
| or random shit so long as b2b marketing is done right (makes the
| buyer look good internally). And I cna sort of see the conflict
| because they are pro-privacy and chrome enterprise is very much
| about giving security/system admins control. For example, if a
| user clicks through a failing https warning or downloads a file
| despite safe browing (phishing/malware) warning you would know.
| So long as you make sure it is only sold to enterprise and gov
| customers, giving them such insights (and much more, even
| browsing history) can be a good money maker, help dominate the
| market share and maintain moral leadership (don't do personal
| stuff at work or shit where you eat).
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2023-12-09 23:00 UTC)