Firefox 56: Last Stop Before Quantum

#1

Post by DiabloD3 » Fri, Oct 06, 2017, 8:42 AM UTC

Firefox 56: Last Stop Before Quantum
hacks.mozilla.org

Re: Firefox 56: Last Stop Before Quantum

#2

Post by maxpert » Fri, Oct 06, 2017, 2:42 PM UTC

Nice to see FF picking up momentum again. I don't want to use Chrome because I don't trust Google with my data (using Chromium right now). Can't wait to switch back, once it's GA.

Re: Firefox 56: Last Stop Before Quantum

#3

Post by pricechild » Fri, Oct 06, 2017, 2:43 PM UTC

I've been following https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/web/Firefox56AddonW...

It's surprised me the amount some people rely on addons for their workflow and the amount of effort they will be going through to resist this change come 57.

For my usage, I've found Firefox Klar/Focus (which I believe already include the speed improvements from 57+?) on Android and have been extremely impressed.

Re: Firefox 56: Last Stop Before Quantum

#4

Post by wyldfire » Fri, Oct 06, 2017, 2:49 PM UTC

> Firefox Quantum’s new engine uses 30% less memory than Chrome

This is a pretty appealing claim. I'm ashamed to admit that one thing that might keep me on Chrome is the trove of passwords in my sync'd up account. But I'll definitely give Quantum a test drive.

Re: Firefox 56: Last Stop Before Quantum

#5

Post by hadrien01 » Fri, Oct 06, 2017, 2:50 PM UTC

pricechild wrote: post #3

I've been following https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/web/Firefox56AddonW... It's surprised me the amount some people rely on addons for their workflow and the amount of effort they will be going through to resist this change come 57. For my usage, I've found Firefox Klar/Focus (which I believe already include the speed improvements from 57+?) on Android and have been extremely impressed.

Unfortunately that's also where I'll stop during at least a few months after Firefox 57 is released. Quantum is ultra fast, but my extensions are more important. Greasemonkey and Stylish, for example, have equivalent WebExtensions, but they're not as polished. Same with DownThemAll.

I think WebExtensions should have matured a bit longer, with Quantum, electrolysis, and Photon being made available for all with the old extensions.

Re: Firefox 56: Last Stop Before Quantum

#6

Post by cyphar » Fri, Oct 06, 2017, 2:55 PM UTC

hadrien01 wrote: post #5

pricechild wrote: post #3

I've been following https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/web/Firefox56AddonW... It's surprised me the amount some people rely on addons for their workflow and the amount of effort they will be going through to resist this change come 57. For my usage, I've found Firefox Klar/Focus (which I believe already include the speed improvements from 57+?) on Android and have been extremely impressed.

Unfortunately that's also where I'll stop during at least a few months after Firefox 57 is released. Quantum is ultra fast, but my extensions are more important. Greasemonkey and Stylish, for example, have equivalent WebExtensions, but they're not as polished. Same with DownThemAll. I think WebExtensions should have matured a bit longer, with Quantum, electrolysis, and Photon being made available for all with the old…

You can't have your cake and eat it too. I'm fairly sure that if the Firefox developer team could support XUL with the new internals, they would (just look at the insane backlash for a source of motivation). But they didn't, and there must be a reason. Likely it's due to how integrated XUL is with the internals of Firefox and that couldn't gel with the Rust rewrites.

Re: Firefox 56: Last Stop Before Quantum

#7

Post by tmzt » Fri, Oct 06, 2017, 2:56 PM UTC

wyldfire wrote: post #4

> Firefox Quantum’s new engine uses 30% less memory than Chrome This is a pretty appealing claim. I'm ashamed to admit that one thing that might keep me on Chrome is the trove of passwords in my sync'd up account. But I'll definitely give Quantum a test drive.

You can export passwords from Google:

https://www.ghacks.net/2017/07/10/google-chrome-password-exp...

It may also be possible through the data portability site.

You can also see them by going to https://passwords.google.com

Re: Firefox 56: Last Stop Before Quantum

#8

Post by atonse » Fri, Oct 06, 2017, 2:59 PM UTC

Is there a long term plan from Mozilla to implement declarative and built-in (native-speed) content blockers like Safari?

Would love to not have to use an extension to do this.

Re: Firefox 56: Last Stop Before Quantum

#9

Post by akerro » Fri, Oct 06, 2017, 2:59 PM UTC

wyldfire wrote: post #4

> Firefox Quantum’s new engine uses 30% less memory than Chrome This is a pretty appealing claim. I'm ashamed to admit that one thing that might keep me on Chrome is the trove of passwords in my sync'd up account. But I'll definitely give Quantum a test drive.

> Firefox Quantum’s new engine uses 30% less memory than Chrome

This is probably because 70% of addons go away, there are no replacements of very low quality replacements for most of addons I use daily.

Re: Firefox 56: Last Stop Before Quantum

#10

Post by mtgx » Fri, Oct 06, 2017, 3:00 PM UTC

akerro wrote: post #9

wyldfire wrote: post #4

> Firefox Quantum’s new engine uses 30% less memory than Chrome This is a pretty appealing claim. I'm ashamed to admit that one thing that might keep me on Chrome is the trove of passwords in my sync'd up account. But I'll definitely give Quantum a test drive.

> Firefox Quantum’s new engine uses 30% less memory than Chrome This is probably because 70% of addons go away, there are no replacements of very low quality replacements for most of addons I use daily.

I think they compared both browsers with zero add-ons.