[pdimitar]

I've been on Firefox for a few years now and it irritates me how super slow it is. Version 89 seems to be a bit better though.

I know it might be the extensions (I have 20+) but I seriously don't care. Chrome manages to be fast with the same set of extensions.

I don't like Google but Firefox's slowness is a real strain on my productivity and brain well-being. Hope they improve even more soon.

I am on an iMac Pro btw. Stuff like this should not ever happen on a workstation.

[eingaeKaiy8ujie]

Not sure if this would help in your case but try to enable `gfx.webrender.all` or `layers.acceleration.force-enabled` in `about:config` if it's not already enabled.

[pdimitar]

Only the second one was disabled, enabled it. Thanks for the tip!

[eingaeKaiy8ujie]

In that case it won't make a difference I think, `gfx.webrender.all` should override `layers.acceleration.force-enabled`.

[sixothree]

Strange. I find Chrome to be annoying and slow.

[guywhocodes]

What is it that is slow, are you on OS X?

[pdimitar]

Yes. Often times pages load very slowly, we're talking 5-8 seconds. I am on a gigabit connection (yes, that doesn't guarantee that my ISP has fast access to that particular page, I know) and Chrome is always loading those pages at least twice as fast.

Can't describe it perfectly. The UI is responsive but page loading is just severely slowed down -- not always but often. I have a bunch of privacy extensions but again, they don't seem to make Chrome sweat.

[gorhill]

> Often times pages load very slowly, we're talking 5-8 seconds [...] I have a bunch of privacy extensions

If you are using uBlock Origin, you may want to see if un-checking "Uncloak canonical names" option in the "Settings" pane in the dashboard makes a difference.[1]

There have been reports of slow page load with some network configurations, and this has been linked to DNS lookup in uBO.[2]

Chromium-based browsers do not support CNAME-uncloaking, and so this would explain why the issue is not present in Google Chrome.

* * *

[1] https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Dashboard:-Settings#u...

[2] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1694404

[pdimitar]

Super interesting, thank you! I immediately disabled it and will monitor if that improves my page loading speeds.

EDIT: pay no attention to the text below, I have misread the linked documentation. uBO isn't using external proxy for any network requests.

Not sure how much -- or at all -- you're involved with uBO. Your name does ring a bell though so I'd like to remark to you that making the users' browser use proxy is a step too far. It shouldn't automatically be enabled.

A privacy extension should do everything it could locally and stop there. If I one day figure it's not enough then I'll set a privacy VPN (or use an existing one).

I don't want that decision made for me on my own machine without my consent. :(

And apologies if my comment is misguided -- I only skimmed the linked page and I might have misunderstood.

[gorhill]

> making the users' browser use proxy is a step too far

uBO does not do this, and nowhere is there any suggestion that uBO does this.

Users configure their own network settings, and it was found that in some cases when the browser is configured to go through a proxy (through either OS or browser settings), uBO's CNAME-uncloaking feature, which requires a call to the `dns.resolve()` API[1], would cause undue delay to page load. The root cause is outside uBO and outside the browser, it lies in the proxy.

* * *

[1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/Web...

[pdimitar]

Then I have misread. My apologies. Editing the comment above so as not to mislead readers.

[Dah00n]

How did you end up at the conclusion that it is Firefox that is the problem and not one of the add-ons? Or maybe you didn't? Some add-ons can do less in Chromium based browsers than in Firefox. Are you sure this isn't what you are seeing instead? Like slower DNS because of add-on settings or bigger block lists?

FYI I'm asking, not doubting or blaming or whatever.

[pdimitar]

I have no clue if that's the case hence I am not blaming only the browser or only the extensions. It's most likely a combination of both.

But the fact remains that I installed 100% the same set of extensions on Chrome and it loads pages at least 2X faster.

I might be a programmer, I might care about putting a rod in Google's giant personal-info-gathering machine, and all that good stuff that makes us feel we're making a difference in the world -- but when 1/3 of all my pages load more slowly in Firefox, I can tolerate this only for so long.

So I don't really know which factor is the real page load speed detractor. I just wish the Firefox team fixes it.

[drunner]

Well, that's part of the issue. On macOS, all browsers are just skins over Safari. Google obviously has more resources to make this work better but I agree, overall I always found Chrome better than Firefox on macOS.

You can't really compare that to a native linux/windows experience.

[rpy]

You’re thinking of iOS. On macOS third party browsers can and do implement their own browser engines. Firefox is not running on WebKit.

[svieira]

On macOS all browsers are distinct engines, just like on Windows and Linux (yes, and on Open/Free BSD, Haiku, etc. I see you). It's on iOS that all browsers must be skins over Safari.

[Idiot211]

That certainly doesn't seem quite right, have you got any sources for this?

[pdimitar]

Wait what?! I thought this only applied to iOS / iPadOS.

You're telling me Firefox under macOS is using Safari's engine? If so, wow. Extremely disappointing.

[anthonyvd]

No, the parent is incorrect. This is only true on iOS/iPadOS.