First off, an admission. I'm a tab addict. No matter how hard I work at it, I'll end up with 20+ tabs (G+ and tabbing posts to check later sure didn't help). I run Firefox and Chrome, and not interested in any other. Also, not completely satisfied with either. I had been swaying toward only Chrome, but incessant Flash plug-in crashes have me going back to my old favorite Firefox. But it was memory issues that caused me to sour on Firefox.
So… what do you guys do?
Thanks +Robert Varga for sparking the question.
Reshared post from +Robert Varga
Firefox 15 reduces memory consumption
In the beta version of Firefox 15 (https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2012/07/19/more-memshrink-news-or-how-awesome-is-firefox-15/), the Mozilla developers have implemented (https://blog.mozilla.org/nnethercote/2012/07/19/firefox-15-plugs-the-add-on-leaks/) a "radical idea" to force add-ons to release memory allocated to them. According to the developers, many add-ons are causing memory leaks by not releasing their DOM structures when a tab is closed. This creates what the developers call zombie compartments – areas of memory that are never released.
Since individual tabs use their own privileged memory compartments, add-ons have to reference memory addresses in those tab compartments to interact with web sites. These references are then recorded in a list. The changes (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=695480) in Firefox 15 make sure that this list is checked when tabs are being closed or new pages are loaded. Superfluous DOM references can then be deleted based on this check.
During testing with the infamous memory hog SiteAdvisor 3.1.4, the developers apparently detected 1.4 to 1.7GB of memory being released when closing 150 tabs – the previous version of Firefox had only freed 200MB. McAfee replaced this version of the plugin quite a while ago because of its memory leak problems.
From version 17, Firefox developers are planning to cut down even more on memory usage by also deleting sandboxes (https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Components.utils.Sandbox) which are not being used. Currently, add-ons often leave these behind, tying up memory in the process. This is especially a problem when add-ons use the new JetPack API which uses sandboxes heavily.
Together with the desktop version, Firefox 15 Beta for Android has also been released. This version has been explicitly optimised for tablets, but according to the release notes, it still has some bugs and should be used for testing purposes only. Synchronisation with other instances of the browser currently does not work correctly and there are problems with form fields on some web sites.
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#browsers #firefox15 #firefox #softwaredevelopment
Firefox 15 automatically closes memory leaks caused by add-ons. The version of SiteAdvisor used in this test has been fixed by McAfee Source: Mozilla
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Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.
I have 12 gigs of RAM. It wasn't enough. Back to Chrome.
I simply use Opera on linux mostly, and some Google related tasks (Blogger) in Chromium on linux. No issues experienced
I usually have 20+ tabs too… Damn G+ and all the interesting things.
I've never tried Firefox – well, I installed it at work, and used it for a few hours, but I remember not liking the UI… but that was a while ago. Should I be giving it a better chance?
I would wait with daily use of firefox to see if these promised changes in next version will or will not appear
+Robert Varga Thanks for your insights.
+Mellie B Agreed with waiting on next stable release of Firefox.
If I could get rid of Flash instability in Chrome, I'd be happy staying with it.
+Eric Hansen Sigh. Redicilous.
Scott, I don't have any instabilities in Chrome. However, I close it when I am away from my desktop to give F@H more room to run. If I don't, when I come back, F@H will have co-opted all the CPU cycles needed to run heavy HTML5 sites like G+.
You can set Chrome to have to click to enable Flash, which cuts down on Flash crashing: http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/20/3171864/how-to-fix-chrome-in-ten-seconds
I returned briefly to FF for a while, but those memory leaks, I really couldn't take it. I often keep a lot of tabs open myself and after a while the browser really bogs down the system. Personally, I'm an Opera fan, but that browser doesn't stack up at all when it comes to extensions, autocomplete, and website compatibility, so I'm stuck with Chrome.
as a web dev, I prefer chrome for many reasons, but obviously have to use all the major browsers. I tend to have at least 3 browser windows open with a good 10 tabs each, usually spread between chrome, canary and firefox.
The only place i tend to have flash issues is on chrome in youtube, but it's just a minor annoyance as a refresh takes care of it. I've not noticed any of those in the chrome canary build.
I like being flexible enough to switch between them all. Chrome is my primary browser as it has more portability (ipad, phone and multi desktops). I do a lot of moving between browsers, especially when i find awful sites that don't do as well in chrome.
+Jeff Leon Will give that a try (click to enable Flash in Chrome). I thought I had tried something along those lines but will give it a go again when I'm back off mobile.
+Tiffani Hill Thanks for the comment. Canary? I need to look into that. My Flash issues tend to creep up most with embedded videos. IMDB and Huffington are two sites almost impossible to visit anymore on Chrome. I've done reinstalls of Chrome and Flash and played with the Chrome Flash plug-in options, all to no avail.
canary is the chrome development browser. it's typically good for devs who want to stay on top of what's coming up next or to have soem input/feedback on the nightly build.
it's technically not a 'stable version' which means it could have problems, and it can change at any given time with the dev updates. However, you can run it side by side with chrome, so you aren't having to choose it over chrome, and again, can switch back and forth.
https://tools.google.com/dlpage/chromesxs/
if you're interested.
+Scott Cramer I don't open G+ posts in new tabs, I share them with a cricle dedicated to these posts in order to read it later… For the rest, you're doomed Scott!
To aid with the Flash issue in Chrome, I actually uninstalled all machine installs of Flash, as Chrome runs its own.
I have yet to have FireFox play nicely with my ram (I only have 1gb, it's a 10 year old laptop), so I only use FF for those rare instances where I absolutely need a second browser (usually for limited GDoc work between my personal and professional accounts due to the login issues).
As for memory issues in Chrome, it's not usually too bad. When it starts hogging, I kill the affected page(s), and reload. If it starts hammering the CPU too much, I restart it.
Again, this is all on a much older machine, so, I'm not sure if it'll help you much. I too am a tab whore, but lately have had to significantly reduce that, so threads I need more long term, I will bookmark into a folder just for threads to revisit, or I'll tag them, and star the conversation in my gmail Google label.
I have 12GB of RAM, too. I also left Firefox because of memory issues. It's Chrome with buttloads of tabs open for me. I haven't really noticed any Flash issues.
Thanks to all! Will work with this some more in the office!
I use Waterfox. It is a 64 bit variant of Firefox.