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Author Topic: Firefox 3.5 slow loading.  (Read 17884 times)

kitz

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Firefox 3.5 slow loading.
« on: October 08, 2009, 06:19:04 AM »

Is anyone else having a problem with FF 3.5.x of late?

I started noticing that the site seems really slow to load and its been annoying me.. particularly on the main site javascript menu which is one of the last things to load... or if attempting to post in the forum. Its really really noticeable with the main site nav menu though  :(


Since Ive been coding and updating all night I decided to have a quick shufty to see if I could see what is causing it, or if I'd done anything...  but all the code is fine.

Yet when I check the site in IE, Opera & Chrome it flies.
Tried doing all the usual stuff clearing cache tempfiles etc - no joy.


I was a bit late upgrading the latest version and Im not sure if this co-incided or not..  Ive had a look around and theres a longish thread on mozilla, where others are complaining about how slow it is, and theres a few other comments about the handling of javascript.   Not seen a solution though... some have down-graded to previous versions.

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roseway

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Re: Firefox 3.5 slow loading.
« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2009, 07:19:15 AM »

Now you mention it, yes, I see the same delay loading the javascript menu on the main site with FF 3.5.3. Opera loads it with no delay. On the forum, there are occasional pauses when navigating or posting with FF, and I don't remember seeing these when using Opera.
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kitz

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Re: Firefox 3.5 slow loading.
« Reply #2 on: October 08, 2009, 07:45:29 AM »

Yep Im also using 3.5.3.  

I really noticed it tonight..  but the server load was practically zero so its not the site.   I havent changed the JS menu script for years so its not that either.  
I notice it seems to be worse when handling any dynamic scripts such as javascript.. or ajax such as SMF forum software uses.

Looking around a bit more there seems to be a fair few complaints about it.
May go back to using Opera at this rate :/



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camallison

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Re: Firefox 3.5 slow loading.
« Reply #3 on: October 08, 2009, 10:00:54 AM »

I suspect it is something to do with the java handling implementation- java-rich sites seem to be most affected.

Colin
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roseway

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Re: Firefox 3.5 slow loading.
« Reply #4 on: October 08, 2009, 10:09:03 AM »

Do you mean java or javascript? I don't see any problem with java in Firefox.
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camallison

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Re: Firefox 3.5 slow loading.
« Reply #5 on: October 08, 2009, 01:46:19 PM »

ooops - non-techie - meant javascript   :-[
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roseway

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Re: Firefox 3.5 slow loading.
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2009, 02:19:32 PM »

Sorry, I didn't mean to cause you embarrassment. :)  It's one of the minor irritations of computer software, that two quite different things have such similar names.

Java is a standalone programming language, which has nothing directly to do with browsers. Java programs can be embedded in web pages in much the same way as Flash videos are embedded, but they're still quite separate from the browser. When you install Java it's installed system-wide, and all browsers will normally make use of the same Java libraries. So Java performance shouldn't vary between different browsers on the same system.

Javascript however is specifically designed to add rich programmable features to web pages. The code which interprets the Javascript is built into the browser, and each browser has its own code, so Javascript performance does vary between different browsers on the same system.

The similarity of name derives from the fact that Javascript was designed to have similar syntax to Java, so the code which the programmer writes looks much the same.

Sorry about the lecture. I get carried away sometimes. ;D
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camallison

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Re: Firefox 3.5 slow loading.
« Reply #7 on: October 08, 2009, 05:04:19 PM »

NP = not a lecture, but a chance to learn.  I am familiar with java, having launched an app for java-based phones - see www.pinoptic.com and the download for Nokia handsets.  My computing learning was/is all self-taught and there are gaps  ;)
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broadstairs

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Re: Firefox 3.5 slow loading.
« Reply #8 on: October 08, 2009, 05:20:13 PM »

Getting back to the original point. I have noticed that FF takes a while to load but thought that it was just that there was a lot else going on. Today I did follow a couple of points followed from a Mozilla thread about cleaning up temp files etc. Then this afternoon having come back from the beach  ::) and turned on the PC I left it until everything had come up OK and timed FF 3.5.3 starting it took 23 seconds from the double click to the window opening. Now not really sure how long it took before. Once opened it only takes 2-3 seconds  to re-open if I close all the windows. I suppose 23 seconds for an initial open is a tad long....
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MartinGoose

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Re: Firefox 3.5 slow loading.
« Reply #9 on: October 08, 2009, 08:20:43 PM »

Have you defraged your Firefox databases lately? See:
http://www.crystalidea.com/speedyfox
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Chrysalis

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Re: Firefox 3.5 slow loading.
« Reply #10 on: October 12, 2009, 08:31:32 AM »

ff 3.5.3 in my opinion has issues, especially when a tab or 2 has mu,timedia flash content open, there is a large bug page detailing it that has had no interest from developers (probably means it is hard to fix) and a 2nd problem with firefox in their attempt to try and fix memory leaks is it now caches conservatively which is even allowing IE to outperform it.  I think I will go back to just opera and maxthon now.
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camallison

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Re: Firefox 3.5 slow loading.
« Reply #11 on: October 12, 2009, 08:49:40 AM »

Have you defraged your Firefox databases lately? See:
http://www.crystalidea.com/speedyfox

WOW - that has certainly made a difference - starts in 3 seconds instead of 20+

I hope the change is lasting.

Colin
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MartinGoose

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Re: Firefox 3.5 slow loading.
« Reply #12 on: October 12, 2009, 09:11:21 AM »

Quote
I hope the change is lasting.

Just repeat as necessary.

PS I run the Linux version of Firefox so use:
for f in ~/.mozilla/firefox/*/*.sqlite; do sqlite3 $f 'VACUUM;'; done
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roseway

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Re: Firefox 3.5 slow loading.
« Reply #13 on: October 12, 2009, 09:27:19 AM »

PS I run the Linux version of Firefox so use:
for f in ~/.mozilla/firefox/*/*.sqlite; do sqlite3 $f 'VACUUM;'; done


Thanks very much for that one Martin. I'm hoping that it might solve another problem, that FF fails to shut down properly.
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  Eric

kitz

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Re: Firefox 3.5 slow loading.
« Reply #14 on: October 12, 2009, 12:21:20 PM »

Ive noticed that it seems to have large memory leaks too.  If I leave a browser going for a while.. theres many a time when Ive seen a single instance of FF using up to 1GB of memory.

In fact right now, even though I opened a fresh instance of FF about a couple of hours ago, its using by far the most resources on my PC.. and thats including some hefty apps that I would expect to need a fair bit of RAM.

As chrysalis says even IE out performs FF these days and works much faster.

>> Have you defraged your Firefox databases lately?

Thanks for that linky - i'll give it a go in a min.



I still think you shouldnt need to use add ins or such like just to sort out issues like this and firefox need to look further into this...  particularly when it comes at a critical time when Firefox is beginning to become more popular with the general public.   
They will also be loosing a huge oppurtunity with the release of windows 7 just around the corner, and users being able to choose a browser.  I wonder how many will try it and then think IE is faster I'll go back to that.
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