Mozilla says Firefox 3.0 for Mac two to three times faster

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
Mozilla on Tuesday released Firefox 3, a major update to its popular open source Web browser that's being billed as 'two to three times faster' than its predecessor.



Available immediately as a free download, the browser comes in approximately 50 languages and culminates a three-year effort on the part of thousands of developers, security experts, and testers from around the world.



"We're really proud of Firefox 3 and it just shows what a committed, energized global community can do when they work together," said Mozilla chief executive John Lilly.



Among the browsers 15,000 improvements are a new full-page zoom function that displays a portion of a Web page up close in seconds, and a smart location bar that learns as people use it, adapting to user preferences and offering better fitting matches over time.



Mozilla is also looking to raise the bar for security with new malware and phishing protection tools that offer protection from viruses, worms, trojans and spyware. One of these tools, called Instant Web Site ID, allows users to easily verify that a web property is what it claims to be, rather than a rogue website aimed at copping their personal information.



Firefox 3 was built on top of the redesigned Gecko 1.9 layout engine, which enables the browser to render Web pages two to three times faster than Firefox 2 all while using less memory, according to Mozilla. It also sports a new Add-ons Manager with support for more than 5,000 add-ons, allowing users to manage tasks like participating in online auctions, uploading digital photos, seeing the weather forecasts, and listening to music, all from within the browser.



With the release Firefox 3, Mozilla has also kicked off "Download Day," a community-wide grassroots campaign to set a brand new Guinness World Record for the greatest number of software downloads in 24 hours.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 114
    pehadepehade Posts: 7member
    Just a first impression, but Firefox 3 is much faster than the previous version on my Macbook!
  • Reply 2 of 114
    dimmokdimmok Posts: 359member
    Same here, seems as fast as Safari on my machina....
  • Reply 3 of 114
    Hopefully this won't crash my iMac as often.
  • Reply 4 of 114
    Its much more reliable than Safari and if it does crash it automatically re-opens all the pages you'd had open - a feature Safari could do with if they cant make it more solid.
  • Reply 5 of 114
    elixirelixir Posts: 782member
    so, what does everyone think? is it running faster than safari? i think i might switch, safari gives me problems a lot recently.
  • Reply 6 of 114
    dreyfus2dreyfus2 Posts: 1,072member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bluedalmatian View Post


    Its much more reliable than Safari and if it does crash it automatically re-opens all the pages you'd had open - a feature Safari could do with if they cant make it more solid.





    No offense, but something must be wrong with your installation... I did not have a single Safari crash for at least three years and it is running at least 14 hours a day. Still, a re-open last session option would be great - it can be added using the Stand plug-in though and works pretty well.
  • Reply 7 of 114
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    The Smart Location bar—or as the apparent throngs of 12yo FF testers like to call it "the Awesome bar"—is nice. I hope Apple includes similar functionality, though not as ugly, with Safari 4.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DimMok View Post


    Same here, seems as fast as Safari on my machine....



    Do a test with SunSpider to compare the JavaScripting speed. It's definitely an improvement over FF2.
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bluedalmatian View Post


    Its much more reliable than Safari and if it does crash it automatically re-opens all the pages you'd had open - a feature Safari could do with if they cant make it more solid.



    Stable or not, that is a feature Safari should have already had. It's not like it would be hard to code.
  • Reply 8 of 114
    dreyfus2dreyfus2 Posts: 1,072member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Elixir View Post


    so, what does everyone think? is it running faster than safari? i think i might switch, safari gives me problems a lot recently.



    I would say with Internet access there is almost no difference at all. With files on the local machine or on the local network (gig ethernet) you can clearly see that Safari is handling complex JavaScript a bit faster.
  • Reply 9 of 114
    yakkowyakkow Posts: 18member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bluedalmatian View Post


    Its much more reliable than Safari and if it does crash it automatically re-opens all the pages you'd had open - a feature Safari could do with if they cant make it more solid.



    Safari 3 does have a "Reopen All Windows From Last Session" command in the History menu. I use it all the time. (Mine has a tendency to crash as well, though it's gotten much better recently.)
  • Reply 10 of 114
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Stable or not, that is a feature Safari should have already had. It's not like it would be hard to code.



    Safari already has a 'restore session' option and it's been there since 3.0



    Menu Bar > history > Reopen All Windows From Last Session
  • Reply 11 of 114
    dreyfus2dreyfus2 Posts: 1,072member
    There are more hits than misses, but the misses (and Safari's Web inspector and "save as web archive" features) will keep me with Safari.



    Form rendition and speed are greatly improved, the interface is more Mac-like, at least somewhat. It is less cluttered than before, but it still draws more attention to itself and away from the Web pages than Safari.



    Would be nice if you could drag tabs to a new window, I use this a lot in Safari. The location bar is ugly and clunky - the drop-down list is not easy to read, the differing dimensions of the back/forward buttons is odd and not intuitive at all (why does the forward button have a drop-down button, but both buttons display a pop-up menu when holding the mouse over them - such a design would have never left Apple). I strongly dislike the "Most Visited" and "Smart Bookmarks" menus that are created automatically - I do not want others to mess up my interface with things I do not want. The bookmark button within the location bar is counter-intuitive. Showing the favicons on the tabs is a good idea though. The Preferences pane is a lot better than before. Well, a mixed bag, really.
  • Reply 12 of 114
    elixirelixir Posts: 782member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dreyfus2 View Post


    I would say with Internet access there is almost no difference at all. With files on the local machine or on the local network (gig ethernet) you can clearly see that Safari is handling complex JavaScript a bit faster.



    really? i dunno, this firefox has been running a little better or at least it seems to be. lately, my safari has been crashing, hiccuping and all other kinds of none sense.
  • Reply 13 of 114
    davebarnesdavebarnes Posts: 366member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Elixir View Post


    so, what does everyone think? is it running faster than safari? i think i might switch, safari gives me problems a lot recently.



    I have used Firefox as my primary browser for the last 3 years and really like.

    I don't really care about speed so it was not a factor in my decision.



    I use Firefox because:

    1. I want my bookmarks in a left-hand menu. I can do that with Safari, but I need an add-on such as Concierge.

    2. I want to block all 3rd-party adverts. AdBlock Plus for Firefox is great. SafariBlock is OK, but not as easy to use.

    3. I love the Developers Toolbar add-on. Perfect for someone who creates websites.

    4. It works with 1Password as does Safari. Opera does not.
  • Reply 14 of 114
    icibaquicibaqu Posts: 278member
    Firefox 3 is MUCH MUCH faster. before it was simply unusable (and kept around only for random sites that did not support Safari).



    This is a welcome improvement.



    I downloaded on both G4 ibook and G5 iMac
  • Reply 15 of 114
    nevenmrgannevenmrgan Posts: 240member
    SunSpider JavaScript benchmark scores (smaller is better):



    Safari 3.1 - 3136 ms

    Firefox 3 - 3005 ms

    -BUT-

    nightly WebKit - 1864 ms



    This version of WebKit, featuring the SquirrelFish interpreter, will soon get rolled into Safari. Note that the WebKit team says this is a very early implementation, and there's still a lot of performance gain to be arrived at through optimization. The Gecko crew will have their work cut out for them.



    On the subjective front, I find the Firefox 3 UI really unpleasant. The Prefs UI is from a parallel (and crummier) universe. The new address bar is feature-rich, but also cluttered and hard to read. Font rendering is still lousy. Safari's error console is much better. Extensions and skins aren't worth it.
  • Reply 16 of 114
    elixirelixir Posts: 782member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post










    Do a test with SunSpider to compare the JavaScripting speed. It's definitely an improvement over FF2.
    .



    can you tell me what the hell i'm looking at.
  • Reply 17 of 114
    virgil-tb2virgil-tb2 Posts: 1,416member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bluedalmatian View Post


    Its much more reliable than Safari and if it does crash it automatically re-opens all the pages you'd had open - a feature Safari could do with if they cant make it more solid.



    On the face of it this is a ridiculous statement, almost an oxymoron.



    Safari rarely crashes. I maintain hundreds of Macs and I know for a fact over a wide spectrum of users and needs that it crashes perhaps once a month on average for each user. If fireFox is "much more reliable" than Safari, then it shouldn't be crashing at all. If on the other hand it's crashed enough times for you to appreciate, nay relish, the "restore pages" feature, then it simply cannot be as reliable as you claim.



    Need I also point out, that this is especially true if you are talking about FireFox 3 since it's only been out for hours and therefore a *single* crash would destroy your argument completely? And that if, on the other hand, you are talking about FireFox 2.0, then your entire post is basically a troll, since that's not what the article or the comments are supposed to be about.



    Why not go download FireFox 3.0, try it out and then come back and make an *intelligent* (non-trolling), post that's actually on topic?
  • Reply 18 of 114
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Elixir View Post


    so, what does everyone think? is it running faster than safari? i think i might switch, safari gives me problems a lot recently.



    There are always claims as to the speed of a browser. I can never tell the difference. What I really need is a fiber optic cable that plugs straight into the back of my iMac. That I would probably notice.



    But importantly, FF3 launches quickly and all menus are very snappy. It has a nice feel. I stopped using FF because it was slow to launch. Now there is no significant difference between FF and Safari in terms of performance. FF has add ons such as ForcastFox, MeasureIt and WebDeveloper, so yeah, I'm back baby!
  • Reply 19 of 114
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by paxman View Post


    There are always claims as to the speed of a browser. I can never tell the difference. What I really need is a fiber optic cable that plugs straight into the back of my iMac. That I would probably notice.



    But importantly, FF3 launches quickly and all menus are very snappy. It has a nice feel. I stopped using FF because it was slow to launch. Now there is no significant difference between FF and Safari in terms of performance. FF has add ons such as ForcastFox, MeasureIt and WebDeveloper, so yeah, I'm back baby!



    How does it stack up against Camino. I havent found anything faster.
  • Reply 20 of 114
    nofeernofeer Posts: 2,427member
    those websites cause safari 3 to freez most often don't know why, but on firefox 2 it doesn't so looking forward to FF3
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