discussion Firefox Quantum

[Inik]

Hey,

It seems that Firefox released a new versiob of firefox that's supposed to be much better? Anyone tried it?

 

[AkG]

I did for about 5 seconds. 1) it breaks damn near every addon I use (ie the only reason I use FF in the first place) and 2) its a memory hog. 2 tabs == 900mb of ram with 57 vs the SAME 2 tabs == 550mb on 56.

YMMV but I am waiting a year before upgrading as this is a dumb as a box of hair move on Moz's part.

 

[Fleurious]

I tried it. I only use adblock and ghostery so I had no problems with addons. The visual changes are acceptable and performance feels a bit better for my uses so overall I like it.

I did not check memory usage but i will when i get home later.

 

[LarkStarr]

I found it to be AWESOME, actually. Lower mem usage (wtf akg?) - All my addons, once updated, works perfectly fine, and the speed/responsiveness is great!

If the same attention was paid to the Android version I'd be switching over ASAP!

 

[SugarJ]

I don't use add-ons, I've found it much faster than the previous version.

 

[Bond007]

Definite improvement.

 

[Vittra]

The memory disparity likely comes from Noscript no longer being functional. Blocking scripts from running can reduce memory usage of the browser quite drastically, so old Firefox + noscript may still be more efficient than the engine overhaul in Quantum.

I found these suggestions particularly useful, as I already use UBlock Origin, and UMatrix is from the same dev - https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/7d3bkk/psa_there_are_alternatives_to_noscript/

Essentially, you can choose between running UBlock Origin in a more aggressive setting, or picking up UMatrix for the enhanced granularity (and complexity) of fine tuning exactly what runs on any given site.

 

[Prickly007]

Is there a list of addons that do/don't work yet?

 

[Chilly]

Memory usage dropped 1/4 (I am a tab hoarder) from ~2700mb to ~500mb, and cpu is about half. Feels much smoother - happy thus far.

 

[ipaine]

I did for about 5 seconds. 1) it breaks damn near every addon I use (ie the only reason I use FF in the first place) and 2) its a memory hog. 2 tabs == 900mb of ram with 57 vs the SAME 2 tabs == 550mb on 56.

YMMV but I am waiting a year before upgrading as this is a dumb as a box of hair move on Moz's part.

Is there a list of addons that do/don't work yet?

The reason why your addons don't work is because they have completely removed all XUL addons and have moved 100% to Webextentions. The problem with this is that many very popular addons just can't work the way they used to.

In fact two of my absolute must have addons are not upgraded and only one is trying to do it (Tab Mix Plus). The other is Classic Theme Restorer, and it is just not even possible with the webextention, at least according to the creator. I'm sorry but the entire reason I have put up with the issues that Firefox has had was because I could customize it how I wanted with these addons. While I can do some tweaks to it using a custom userChrome.css and get it sort of close to the way I want, it is a bitch to do so and certainly not the same as CTR.

Honestly I gave it a shot yesterday and while sure it is quick, it looks like ass. Or should I say it is even closer to Chrome. And really do we need pocket?

Look I want the security and speed improvements, I like to have new things, but it shouldn't be at the cost of usability and customization. I just don't get why Firefox wants so much to look and act just like Chrome. I mean most people I know use Firefox because it could be customized and not be just like Chrome.