Is it just me or does Firefox kind of suck now?

"Garrett Davis" (GarrettDavis)
08/05/2015 at 10:30 • Filed to: None

I’ve been using Chrome as my daily driver for years, but I need to use a wide variety of browsers across many devices and OSs for work, and Firefox is consistently the slowest and buggiest. It slows way down if it has to load multiple tabs at once, flash always seems to crash, and it gets randomly sludgy with even just loading a single page or scrolling around.

Meanwhile Chrome runs fantastic, even though it’s known as a memory hog. I currently have maybe 30 tabs open (for work) and I can run 5 1080p YouTube videos at once and have zero problems reloading or browsing across other tabs.

Anyone else having problems?

DISCUSSION (43)

CalzoneGolem > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 10:33

Firefox has sucked for awhile.

Nibby > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 10:33

They run nearly the same for me, except Firefox uses less RAM.

But that’s not really an issue for me.

ttyymmnn > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 10:34

Funny you should mention that. I’ve been using FF as my No. 1 browser for years, and since the last update it seems to be slower and kludgier. It doesn’t keep up as I type, pages load more slowly, etc. (I’m on an iMac with 10.7.5.) The machine has RAM to spare that it isn’t using. I think it may be a borked update.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 10:35

They’re the same for me. I think that the add-ons are better in firefox and I’m hesitant to give all of my browsing data to Google.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 10:36

FF: Daily driver because of its layout and addons, especially tab groups.

IE11: For when FF is too slow. Faster than chrome for many sites. Don’t like the “feel” of it, so I only use it when I need speed.

Chrome: Fastest when dealing with anything Google-based.

extraspecialbitter > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 10:37

Nope. Firefox + ABP has been my setup for almost a decade.

Garrett Davis > Nibby
08/05/2015 at 10:39

Are you on the latest version?

Garrett Davis > extraspecialbitter
08/05/2015 at 10:39

Are you running the latest?

extraspecialbitter > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 10:40

Yup. 39.

Garrett Davis > ttyymmnn
08/05/2015 at 10:40

Interesting, that sounds about like what I’m experiencing, on windows 7. I tried reinstalling it, but no dice. My work machine has a pretty decent processor and more than enough RAM (16gb). Not sure what’s going on.

Garrett Davis > extraspecialbitter
08/05/2015 at 10:45

Interesting. Here, have a beer for your trouble. Should be up your alley.

Kinja'd!!!

spanfucker retire bitch > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 10:45

I can’t use any other browser except Firefox. I’ve tried. Every 6 months or so I use whatever the latest Chrome is for for a week or so, only to inevitably go back to Firefox because it pisses me off so much.

Garrett Davis > spanfucker retire bitch
08/05/2015 at 10:46

Interesting. What is it that bugs you so much about it?

spanfucker retire bitch > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 10:50

The user interface is the main thing. The pinned tabs feature doesn’t work like Firefox. If I pin a tab in Firefox, nothing can override that tab unless it comes from the same domain. Even if I open up a bookmark while in that pinned tab, in Firefox, it automatically opens the bookmark in a new tab.

In Chrome it simply opens it up in your current pinned tab. It also doesn’t have every add-on that I use as well. Add-ons like Easy App-Tabs which allows me to pin a tab just by double clicking it is unavailable in Chrome. Same goes for an add-on that I use (I forget it’s name at the moment, I’m at work) but it allows me to filter download locations based on either the domain it comes from or the file extension.

I use a couple of “blackhole” folders for torrents and .nzb files and it’s really convenient to use that add-on in Firefox. Doesn’t exist in Chrome.

Nibby > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 10:50

Yep, for both. I always keep my OS and browsers up to date.

Nibby > extraspecialbitter
08/05/2015 at 10:51

I switched from ABP to uBlock on both Firefox and Chrome a few months ago and noticed less RAM usage. I mean, it doesn’t really matter much when you have 32GB RAM but still...

Tohru > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 10:53

Chrome crashes on my netbook with 2 tabs open because the fat fucker has eaten ALL OF THE GODDAMN MEMORY.

Firefox works just fine.

djmt1 > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 10:57

Firefox and Chrome have been crap for a while now for me so much so that I have had to “shudder” use Internet Explorer for an extented period.

functionoverfashion > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 10:59

I use FF for one reason at this point: bookmark sidebar. With a wide screen, I have more horizontal real estate than vertical. So I use the sidebar all the time! Chrome has no way of doing this, last time I checked.

Oh, to answer your questions, FF has been working fine for me at work and I use it all day, every day, multiple windows with multiple tabs each.

Garrett Davis > djmt1
08/05/2015 at 10:59

Interesting. I’m curious about your problems with either Firefox or Chrome. Chrome works beautifully for me on all my PCs.

Tripper > Nibby
08/05/2015 at 11:18

+1 uBlock all day.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 11:27

Your first mistake is installing flash. No good can come of that.

extraspecialbitter > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 11:29

Kinja'd!!!

*GASP*

Garrett Davis > extraspecialbitter
08/05/2015 at 11:31

Not a lot of ESBs here in the US and this is a good one :)

extraspecialbitter > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 11:38

I’ve never heard of these peoples. Do they distribute nationwide? Are my days of only Fuller’s and Redhook finally over???

extraspecialbitter > Nibby
08/05/2015 at 11:42

I’m test driving it now, per your recommendation. So help me god, if I get all the viruses...

Garrett Davis > extraspecialbitter
08/05/2015 at 11:43

Pretty much just Southern California, I think. They’re based in San Diego.

ttyymmnn > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 11:54

No idea if this is related, but I disabled AdBlock Plus and installed uBlock Origin at Nibby’s suggestion, and restarted. FF is working quite well now. Correlation does not mean causation, but we’ll see how it goes.

Garrett Davis > ttyymmnn
08/05/2015 at 12:00

Interesting. I don’t use any sort of ad block at work, but I do use a lot of developer tools. I’ll play around with them.

for Michigan > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 13:31

I generally used Chrome, but I give Firefox a shot every now and then. Every time I do, it feels like a buggy developer preview. It has performance problems and some sites don’t work properly (especially Google apps).

Garrett Davis > for Michigan
08/05/2015 at 13:49

Yeah, it is especially annoying with Google services — which are basically ubiquitous these days.

for Michigan > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 14:11

Agreed. I have four different Google accounts (down from six previously), and that I can’t be logged into more than one of them at a time in Firefox was the biggest deal breaker for me.

Garrett Davis > for Michigan
08/05/2015 at 15:15

Exactly. And Google Drive is a frustrating experience in FF.

Nauraushaun > Nibby
08/05/2015 at 23:34

How much RAM do you have? On our iMacs at work, we all had 8gb of RAM. We then moved to 16gb. I found that with 8, my RAM was usually full. But it 16 it’s also often full too.

My point is that it seems like adding more memory just means apps hog more memory. So how can it ever not be an issue?

Nauraushaun > Garrett Davis
08/05/2015 at 23:37

I use Firefox for everything, including on Android. I like the sync stuff (which Chrome could probably give you), but the main reason is because I loathe Chrome’s “omnibar”.

I believe Firefox’s URL bar that shows your history as you type is one of the best features to come to browsers, ever. A huge proportion of sites you visit are sites you’ve already been to, so you can just type “fac”, press down and press enter, knowing you’ll end up at Facebook. I use this feature for everything always, including finding history from longer ago.

Google interleaves this with Google results, which means that as you type and as it loads, your the options are constantly shifting around until you wait for it to settle down. It’s annoying as shit.

It sounds like a trivial thing, but I really love that Firefox bar. I find that it works well for most sites as well, it rarely gives me real issues.

Nibby > Nauraushaun
08/05/2015 at 23:44

32GB

Garrett Davis > Nauraushaun
08/06/2015 at 01:49

That’s interesting that you have a problem with the way Google handles that. For any site it knows I just type “j” and enter for Jalopnik, “fa” for Facebook, “k” for Kotaku, etc. When I actually want to search for something, I love that I only have to type the first word and 99% of the time either get the search I’m looking for or have it be one of the top three to arrow down to. It very rarely doesn’t come up with my search for me, saving a lot of typing.

It’s funny because this exact thing was one of my minor gripes with Firefox.

Strike Reyhi > Garrett Davis
08/06/2015 at 09:36

If firefox is crashing often for you turn off hardware acceleration in the advanced settings. They borked something with the acceleration in like ff30 or so and it’s made FF prone to locking up for short periods of time if you have a system more powerful than your average toaster.

Garrett Davis > Strike Reyhi
08/06/2015 at 09:56

Cool, thanks I’ll try that and see if it fixes anything.

Nauraushaun > Garrett Davis
08/07/2015 at 00:05

Funny. Different strokes for different folks I guess

Garrett Davis > Nauraushaun
08/07/2015 at 01:03

I think you just need to use it for a few days to a week for it to learn your browsing habits. Even sites I visit only semi frequently now it picks up and suggests exactly what i need in just a few letters, as opposed to showing search results.

Otherwise, hey like you said. Different strokes.

anon-sxmcyecofnu1eocpqsk9iq > Garrett Davis
08/29/2015 at 01:47

I have only 4GB of RAM and Chrome runs better on my computer than Firefox. So much better, in fact, that I get mad at how slow FF is every time I have to use it.

pjhusa > Garrett Davis
04/04/2016 at 21:15

I loved Firefox. Was my go-to browser even after using Chrome for two years in school. But then I switched. And now I don't want to go back.