[question] FF tabbed browsing...better in concept than reality?

I'm curious what others experience has been with FF and tabbed browsing. In concept I like it... but I'm finding it to be a performance hog. Once I get about 4 tabs (and after a couple of hours of having the program running) it becomes VERY slow. Utlimately I end up switching to seperate windows. I'm running the latest version of FF and it doesn't matter what machine I use (office, home, etc.) My home computer is a 2.x Ghz Athlon with 1GB ram and fast video card so I don't think it's my machine.

What have others experienced?

#231277

Try athlon optimized builds can help... like the one at moox.ws

#231280

now that i use f.f., i find it hard to use IE. tabbed browsing seems so natural.

i have a 1.4 P4 and i've never noticed a slowdown with multiple tabs open. maybe something else is going on, although you said it happens on multiple systems?

#231286

now that i use f.f., i find it hard to use IE. tabbed browsing seems so natural.

i have a 1.4 P4 and i've never noticed a slowdown with multiple tabs open. maybe something else is going on, although you said it happens on multiple systems?

Not sure what it could be... but I'll give the optimized builds a try...

#231292

I had the same problem with tabs in FF... with 2 Ghz P4, but I only had 256 RAM at the time so that may have been the problem.

Now that I'm using FF in Mac OS X with multiple tabs and don't see it as a performance hog, I naturally assume that it has something to do with the bloated nature of Windows XP. I am not blaming Windows XP entirely, but from my experience, anything in Windows becomes slow after a couple of hours of usage.

Just my experience with FF and Windows, so this might not be the same for you.

#231300

You should definitely try an optimized build, my FF is waaaaaaaay faster than it used to be thanks to it. And do tell us, what extensions you have installed?

#231301

I love tabbed browsing...it is the only way to surfing the net for me.

Only my weapon of choice is Opera. Approx. 10-14 tabbed windows open on an average session and no noticable slowdown. And my system specs are truely humble (see signature below).

#231321

It becomes very slow when I switch back to the Firefox window from another application. I have 256Mb of RAM, and I assume that this is the problem for it.

Tabbed browsing though is a precious feature I wouldn't abandon.

#231342

Definitely, this is a very nice feature. However, I too have been experiencing this problem.

It helps if you're using the default theme (a trade-off, I know, but IMO worth it). I haven't tried the optimized builds, but I have heard of them...maybe I'll give them a try.

-NC

#231362

Ive never noticed an issue with FF, even with 20-30 tabs open!

#231396

I love tabbed browsing...it is the only way to surfing the net for me.

Only my weapon of choice is Opera. Approx. 10-14 tabbed windows open on an average session and no noticable slowdown. And my system specs are truely humble (see signature below).

spend a few weeks with tabbed browsing and you will come to loathe IE, i'd pretty much guarantee it. and try Opera!!!!!!!!!!!!

#231398

Those optimized version at moox.ws just crash and ask if I want to send an error report. Any reason for that?

Edit

Hahah, maybe I should try the one for MY processor.

Edit2

Woah! This is FAST! How nice...

#231406

spend a few weeks with tabbed browsing and you will come to loathe IE, i'd pretty much guarantee it. and try Opera!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dude, that's what I said.

I swear by Opera. Greatly moddable. Quite skinnable. Tabbed browser, and off course ... mouse gestures (gotta love it). Now also available for Windows itself through Stroke-It(y'all should try; it's free!!!).

The first thing I notice when comparing Opera to FireFox is speed.

Maybe it is just my pc and on faster pc's the difference is neglectable.

But on my very modest pc specs I find Opera simply faster.

That's why I don't understand why most of the modding sites are all about glorifying Firefox or putting much effort in costumising M$ IE, while Opera could be such a fine candidate for this goal imo. Maybe it's because the free version of Opera contains Adds?

Anyways, what I do like about Firefox and Opera kinda lacks is the thobber on the browsertabs, but I guess that could be modified in Opera too, if you know enough about skinning, which I don't...

#231498

flash animations and other features in the browser hoggs it a lot. i only have some performance issues if i have like 10 tabs and three web windows. it can be noticable. ever tried making a tiny gif image as your desktop background with the tile option instead of the center or streched options? that's the same with firefox. but, it's better than ie at least.

yep i love strokeit too. but once you use it a lot it's kinda hard to get accostomed without it. it's addictive in a way.

#231525