Live data from Hacker News

How Firefox Got Fast Again

hacks.mozilla.org

571–580 of 713 posts

Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#571
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why shouldn't it keep you away from Chrome ? It's faster, uses less memory, and the "maker", Mozilla is more trustworthy compared with Google. What's missing ?

For me, it's missing Chromecast and my MacBook Pro heats up enough that the keys become warm to the touch when using Firefox.

Unless it's reverse engineered I doubt you'll be getting Chromecast. It's kind of in the name.

Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#572
post #223
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those who don't know, if you sign in to your Google account in Chrome, Google will automatically save all the searches you've done in the omnibox. I don't remember Google ever warning me specifically that this was happening in the background, and after I checked https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity and noticed it was doing that, I was so furious that I deleted all the data Google kept on me there, and paused…

Isn't it the same thing no matter the browser? If you are logged in you Google account, every Google search will end up in your Google history. It doesn't matter if you search from Chrome's omnibox, google.com or Firefox's search bar. Does Chrome also uploads search made with other search engines? That would be a bit more worrisome. Though considering that Firefox saves your history in your "Firefox Sync" account, I…

You can tell Google not to keep your search history.

https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/54068?p=web_app_...

Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#573
post #521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed this is the main point, and the reason I've stuck with Firefox ever since it launched, despite being rather slow a few years back. This is the only browser engine that is not shaped by major corporate interests. And frankly it has no major downsides as compared to Chrome. The latter only enjoys the market share it does (in my opinion) because of being aggressively pushed on Google.com and being bundled everywh…

I gave Firefox a try a month or two ago when people started saying it was good again. I think I had a problem with uBlock origin not working well enough - too much crap was getting through. What are people using for adblock?

Though not a adblocker, Privacy Badger[0] works well as adblocker for me

[0] https://www.eff.org/privacybadger

Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#574
post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

uBlock origin with uMatrix

I use uBlock Origin plus uMatrix but I have to say that it's probably only for people who are really serious about security. It breaks nearly every site by default.

This really depends on the lists that you use in each. Research exactly what you want to block. I personally don't like a few of the lists for that specific reason, they block everything all together, not just tracking pixel domains and things of that nature. There is also an official uBlock Origin Extra extension that I find very handy for blocking websocket garbage. This is becoming more important as websocket connections become more prevalent. https://github.com/gorhill/uBO-Extra/wiki/Sites-on-which-uBO...

Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#575
And here I am, still using Safari as my main browser on Mac for battery performance.

I’m wishing the safari team would be a bit more aggressive with pushing features and performance

Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#576
post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the issue - there's no real path to making these legacy plugins work. There are open issues for a keyboard api for FF that has had very little movement over months, so while I'm sure it'll eventually get to a point where I can use FF as I used to, that not being the case now has given me little reason to stay with FF and so back to Chrome I went.

It's too soon to judge, I think. I would be happy using the old FF if the new one didn't have already the things I need. In the mean time I would try to collaborate. Once FF 57 is out of beta officially, there will eventually be enough people with itches to scratch. It was in my plans to implement Tree Style Tabs properly if no alternative appeared before end of the year.

It's not too soon to judge - plugins I used no longer work unless I turn off auto-update or move to the LTS version. The team knew these were breaking changes for months or years, but the APIs to un-break things don't exist and aren't prioritized. It's discouraging to collaboration when you look at 2+ year old issues (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1215061) that still haven't been properly addressed.

Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#577

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, it's missing Chromecast and my MacBook Pro heats up enough that the keys become warm to the touch when using Firefox.

Unless it's reverse engineered I doubt you'll be getting Chromecast. It's kind of in the name.

Yeah, that's an unfortunate reason I'll probably have to keep using chrome fairly regularly.

Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#579
post #550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently (a couple of weeks ago) finished giving Firefox another try for about two weeks. Sorry to say, but it just felt laggy compared with Chrome. I'll give it another shot when the new rendering engine is fully integrated into the release channel.

All the stuff they are talking about is being released with 57 tomorrow. So maybe give it another spin :)

Yep, will do.

Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#580

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also feels laggy to me. It's weird given the reports of all these other users. I am also using a 16GB Ram, Intel Iris MBP. There is a noticeable pause while switching tabs, and there is a very noticeable lag while typing (for example in this box). Pages do seem to render fast, but it feels very laggy in terms of user interaction. Edit: The scrolling is also very laggy, which I forgot to mention, much more so than…

> Edit: The scrolling is also very laggy, which I forgot to mention, much more so than Chrome. Firefox uses smooth scrolling, while Chrome always uses very jerky, jumping scrolling. Have you tried disabling that?

FYI, Chrome has had smooth scrolling since v49. https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2016/02/smooth-scr...
Post reply on HN