Travel Technology - Firefox is my new default browser, but....

I finally gave up on IE after yet another Adware infestation that I cannot get rid of. So now have been using Firefox for several days, and happy with it, except for one thing.

Is it just me or is the rendering in Firefox noticeably slower than in in IE - sites like FT after the window has loaded, it takes a second or two to render and "re-arrange" itself into what it need to end up looking like. I never experienced this with IE.

At first, I was going to ask whether or not maybe it's just appearing slower due to the way the browsers download and display images. I was thinking that IE might download all the images and then display the page at once whereas Firefox might download them and display them as they arrive.

Then... I searched on Google and found this site (http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html#winspeed) which shows a comparison of all popular browsers. It appears that IE DOES load images (marginally) faster than Firefox.

Install the fasterfox extension. Tools/extensions then click on the 'get more extension' link on the bottom right of the page.

While you are doing that, also install my personal favorite extension, flashblock. (Instead of displaying flash content, it provides a button you can press if you want/need to see that content. Gets rid of all those annoying adverts with flash content, but retains the size/aspect ration of where that content would normally go.)

The other extension I use is greymodern, because I like the way the mozilla buttons look much better than the firefox buttons, but that's just me.

-David

I've gotten so used to Firefox I can hardly stand anything else. The tabbed browsing is completely addictive!!!

I would agree that it might be marginally slower-sites aren't optimized for Firefox and the higher security probably slows it a bit as well. (imho... :) )

Also, for more security and if you want to really see how many sites use java these days install the "noscripts" extension.......it blocks all scripts but they can be turned on temporaily or "permanently" . Takes getting used to, but it's interesting. (You'll have to turn 'em on for FT,actually.....)

I wasn't happy with Firefox and removed it.

However Thunderbird (the mailer) is better in several ways than Outlook Express (except you can't set up Hotmail access :( ).

Fasterfox is evil. Prefetching hammers web servers.

Firefox is fine but neither it nor Opera will do all the thingees IE will do. I use all three for different sites and purposes. For www.flyertalk.com Opera works perfectly and eliminates all ads. I cant easily configure FF or IE to do that.

MisterNice

Fasterfox is evil. Prefetching hammers web servers.

Only teeny ones with poor connectivity.

Firefox is fine but neither it nor Opera will do all the thingees IE will do. I use all three for different sites and purposes. For www.flyertalk.com Opera works perfectly and eliminates all ads. I cant easily configure FF or IE to do that.

MisterNice

Twelve bucks will do it with any browser.

Only teeny ones with poor connectivity.
No. All of them. Some handle it better than others, but that doesn't mean it's not just as evil to large sites as it is to small ones. We all have to pay for bandwidth. Fetching a bunch of pages on the off chance you'll visit one sucks.

No. All of them. Some handle it better than others, but that doesn't mean it's not just as evil to large sites as it is to small ones. We all have to pay for bandwidth. Fetching a bunch of pages on the off chance you'll visit one sucks.

Well, my current ISP provides me with 2 Terrabytes (bytes, not bits) of bandwidth per month (for the low, low price of $99). In a heavy month, I use about 150Gb. I'm not going to cry over people prefetching pages.

No. All of them. Some handle it better than others, but that doesn't mean it's not just as evil to large sites as it is to small ones. We all have to pay for bandwidth. Fetching a bunch of pages on the off chance you'll visit one sucks.

So turn it off in FF.

Install the fasterfox extension. Tools/extensions then click on the 'get more extension' link on the bottom right of the page.

While you are doing that, also install my personal favorite extension, flashblock. (Instead of displaying flash content, it provides a button you can press if you want/need to see that content. Gets rid of all those annoying adverts with flash content, but retains the size/aspect ration of where that content would normally go.)

The other extension I use is greymodern, because I like the way the mozilla buttons look much better than the firefox buttons, but that's just me.

-David

Thanks for that tip - it made substantial difference instantly. ^ ^ ^

And I picked up a few other extensions which sounded useful - eg IETab - if I understand it allows you to view IE only sites in a tab in FF

another thing worth trying if you have broadband:

1.Type "about:config" into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:

network.http.pipelining network.http.proxy.pipelining network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.

2. Alter the entries as follows:

Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true"

Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true"

Set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.

3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and set its value to "0". This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.

another thing worth trying if you have broadband:

1.Type "about:config" into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:

network.http.pipelining network.http.proxy.pipelining network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.

2. Alter the entries as follows:

Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true"

Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true"

Set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.

3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and set its value to "0". This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.


Uh. Yeah.

That is what we have been talking about for the past 5 or so posts ;)

Fasterfox does all the steps you outlined.

Uh. Yeah.

That is what we have been talking about for the past 5 or so posts ;)

Fasterfox does all the steps you outlined.

Oh. Well I had installed Fasterfox and then saw that post and went to follow its steps - but none of the settings were set as per the post - hence my conclusion must be that Fasterfox did not carry out those steps. :confused:

Oh. Well I had installed Fasterfox and then saw that post and went to follow its steps - but none of the settings were set as per the post - hence my conclusion must be that Fasterfox did not carry out those steps. :confused:

Did you setup fasterfox? (extensions...fasterfox...options???)

If you didn't set it up nothing will be changed.

I'm still using FF 1.0 and so can't get any new extensions via FF itself.

Is the lastest edition now bug-free enough? I recall that when the upgrade first came out there was a lot of discussion about extensions no longer working.

Any thoughts?

I'm still using FF 1.0 and so can't get any new extensions via FF itself.

Is the lastest edition now bug-free enough? I recall that when the upgrade first came out there was a lot of discussion about extensions no longer working.

Any thoughts?

With the exception of one or two weird extentions everything works.

Danke. Just so long as my have-to-have-it "click" sound when going to web pages still works :D

anyway to get the tabs to be on the bottom of the page and not top?

anyway to get the tabs to be on the bottom of the page and not top?This extension gives you that option:

http://216.55.161.203/theonekea/tabprefs/

Fasterfox is evil. Prefetching hammers web servers.

I guess it depends on your definition of evil, or my definition of somebody that's posting from a spot 90 degrees around and a bit south of the hip. :)

You can change that in options. I don't prefetch anyway, and the as best as I can recall from when I installed it, the default doesn't enable prefetch. If you're really concerned about the effect on servers, change the default from "turbo charged" to "optimized". You have a million options if you really want to set them individually. Check it out. You can always turn it off and/or uninstall it.

-David

Oh. Well I had installed Fasterfox and then saw that post and went to follow its steps - but none of the settings were set as per the post - hence my conclusion must be that Fasterfox did not carry out those steps. :confused:

Just make sure fasterfox is set to "turbo charged" or "optimized" and you're fine, no matter what it says. With some extensions, you have to completely exit and restart the browser for them to take effect. They usually tell you that with a pop-up. Since you already said you noticed a difference, I'll just assume it's working for you.

In my about:config, both network.http.pipelining and network.http.proxy.pipelining are both set to the default value of "true". network.http.pipelining.maxrequests is set to a user (non-default) value of 30. However, I might have set that myself before installing fasterfox. I don't actually know if the fasterfox settings show up in about:config or not. Scott implied that they do.

-David

another thing worth trying if you have broadband:

1.Type "about:config" into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:

network.http.pipelining network.http.proxy.pipelining network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.

2. Alter the entries as follows:

Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true"

Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true"

Set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.

3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and set its value to "0". This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.
Thanks for the tips. I don't use fasterfox, but these changes seem to have improved the speed quite a bit! ^

With the exception of one or two weird extentions everything works.

Found a different sound extension for the click sound when navigating.

But I will miss the tiny url creator!

Anyway to make FF load faster? It seems to be a good 90-120 seconds when I first boot the comp and load FF for the first time. After the first load I can start a new window quickly, but the first load is painful.

Thanks!

...Fasterfox does all the steps you outlined.

Fasterfox is startlingly faster on my system. ^

And thank goodness for Firefox safe mode. I downloaded the very lame 1ClickWeather extension to try it out, and it killed Firefox. When clicking on the Firefox icon to start the program, the disk drive would churn a bit, Task Manager showed the FF process running, but the program never opened.

Well, I spoke too soon.

I'm not happy with the new Firefox upgrade at all.

While the page fetching with the extension makes things speedier, the program itself is MUCH slower. There is a noticeable lag, e.g., when clicking on a scroll bar to the time the bar actually scrolls. There is a noticeable lag when beginning to type (like on this message) before the letters that have been typed spill onto the screen.

I don't want to go back to IE, but this behavior is very off-putting.

Well, I spoke too soon.

I'm not happy with the new Firefox upgrade at all.

While the page fetching with the extension makes things speedier, the program itself is MUCH slower. There is a noticeable lag, e.g., when clicking on a scroll bar to the time the bar actually scrolls. There is a noticeable lag when beginning to type (like on this message) before the letters that have been typed spill onto the screen.

I don't want to go back to IE, but this behavior is very off-putting.
That's strange. I use Firefox 1.5.0.1 and am experiencing none of that. Try turning off some of your extensions.

Well, I spoke too soon.

I'm not happy with the new Firefox upgrade at all.

While the page fetching with the extension makes things speedier, the program itself is MUCH slower. There is a noticeable lag, e.g., when clicking on a scroll bar to the time the bar actually scrolls. There is a noticeable lag when beginning to type (like on this message) before the letters that have been typed spill onto the screen.

I don't want to go back to IE, but this behavior is very off-putting.

Well, there's always IE 7 Beta (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie7/default.mspx) which has tabbed browsing.

Ugh, Just say NO to that freaking beta!!! My father installed it. I asked him not to, told him not to, BEGGED him not to. He did it. He now refuses to uninstall it but does not fail to call 6 times per day to find out why this or that site won't load or won't work properly. I've gotten to the point where I tell him "Beta" and hang up on him. :mad: :mad: :mad:

Well, there's always IE 7 Beta (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie7/default.mspx) which has tabbed browsing.

IE is doomed.

In just 2 years Firefox has proven to be better at every single part of the browsing experience.

IE is doomed.

In just 2 years Firefox has proven to be better at every single part of the browsing experience.
i'm rooting for you to be right, but history shows you can never count out the beast in redmond

firefox is also my default browser.. i have also opted for thunderbird as my default email client..

Well, I spoke too soon.

I'm not happy with the new Firefox upgrade at all.

While the page fetching with the extension makes things speedier, the program itself is MUCH slower. There is a noticeable lag, e.g., when clicking on a scroll bar to the time the bar actually scrolls. There is a noticeable lag when beginning to type (like on this message) before the letters that have been typed spill onto the screen.

I don't want to go back to IE, but this behavior is very off-putting.

I've seen that on occaision, but not with 1.5. It's very annoying.

Restart firefox when that happens and make sure it stops running before you restart it. Are you running 1.5?

-David

Yes, 1.5.0.1

Right now I'm removing/disabling extensions one by one, and right now the likeliest culprit seems to be the Google Toolbar!

What do I get if I upgrade from 1.06? Any reason not to upgrade?

Yes, 1.5.0.1

Right now I'm removing/disabling extensions one by one, and right now the likeliest culprit seems to be the Google Toolbar!
I actually dumped the Google toolbar. I only use the search window, and I just have that on my menubar. No big loss. I like the picturezoom extension and Roboform.

FF with IEtab or IE view will take care of those sites that don't play well with FF.


Firefox is fine but neither it nor Opera will do all the thingees IE will do. I use all three for different sites and purposes. For www.flyertalk.com Opera works perfectly and eliminates all ads. I cant easily configure FF or IE to do that.

MisterNice

Yes, 1.5.0.1

Right now I'm removing/disabling extensions one by one, and right now the likeliest culprit seems to be the Google Toolbar!

Get rid of that thing. You don't really need it. (If you've enabled folding@home via the google toolbar on a processor that supports hyperthreading, that might be it as well.)

-David

What do I get if I upgrade from 1.06? Any reason not to upgrade?

You get a better/faster browser.

The only reason not to upgrade is if you have a "must have" extension that hasn't been ported to 1.5 yet. The extensions interfaces changed from 1.0.x to 1.5. Most are available now, including a beta calendar extension that seems to work fine. Lack of a calendar extension kept me from upgrading for a while.

-David

And all this time I thought it was just me. Installed fasterfox, and boy can you tell a difference!

As a side note....anyone know a way to make Yahoo Mail (if it's your default email client) stop defaulting to Internet Explorer when you click on the "Yahoo Mail" icon....?

Did you change your default browser to Firefox in windows? (Set program access and defaults).

-David

Yep... sure did.

As a side note....anyone know a way to make Yahoo Mail (if it's your default email client) stop defaulting to Internet Explorer when you click on the "Yahoo Mail" icon....?Unfortunately, I don't think you can switch Yahoo Mail (once it's been set up as your default email app) to open in Firefox automatically.

As you'll see in this page (http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/ext/ext-09.html):


The Yahoo! Default Email Application can be installed on a PC running Windows 9x, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP. It works with Internet Explorer 4.0 and greater.
You can change your default email app from within IE, but it won't let you select Firefox.

Anyone found a workaround?