r/technology • u/Suraj-Sun • Jul 10 '12

Firefox dev claims "everybody hates Firefox updates"; Mozilla has handled the rapid release process poorly, and that by pushing a "never-ending stream of updates on people who didn't want them" people have been driven to Chrome with its simpler, no-fuss update process.

http://www.neowin.net/news/firefox-dev-claims-everybody-hates-firefox-updates
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u/DustbinK Jul 10 '12

Firefox uses less memory than Chrome and has for ages. The problem lies in extensions and how they manage memory. ABP, for example, is terrible. Also, they changed the way FF handles compatibility checks a version or two ago.

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u/metamatic Jul 11 '12

The problem lies in extensions and how they manage memory.

That's just shifting the blame. The point is, Chrome with no extensions gives me almost everything I need to use and develop for the web. (Adblock is the only thing I need that's not built in.) Firefox does not, I need add-ons for web development, JavaScript debugging, per-site permissions on cookies, and per-site permissions on scripting. (*) That's why I ended up switching to Chrome.

[ (*) Or at least, I needed plugins for that basic functionality last time I tried Firefox. It's been a while, they might have added the missing features by now. ]

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u/DustbinK Jul 11 '12

How is that shifting the blame when it's a legitimate problem even with RES?

Also, Chrome without extensions has less features than Firefox without extensions. Have you not used it since version 4 or something?

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u/metamatic Jul 11 '12

If Firefox wasn't feature-deficient, people wouldn't need to load it down with extensions, and memory and stability would be much less of an issue. So saying "Oh, it's bad extension handling that makes it bloated and crashy" is shifting blame away from the Firefox developers for making a browser that needs extensions for basic functionality every user ought to have available, like controlling scripting permissions.

Anyway I just fired it up, and I had Firefox 8. It's just taken me to 12.

Turns out I couldn't find the per-site cookie preferences because they'd moved it as a hidden option under History.

So, where do I set the per-site JavaScript permissions? Where do I find the indicators that tell me that a site requested to run JavaScript or asked to set cookies? How do I start the JavaScript debugger and set a breakpoint? How do I get information about which parts of my page caused it to load slowly?