A provocative article by Keir Thomas assures that “Firefox May Already Be Dead”.
I wouldn’t go as far as that, but if I see myself as the trend, I can definitely say it’s definitely heading that way.
The problem with Firefox and IE is the growing complexity of web apps and their reliance on JavaScript.
For example, have you seen the source code for Facebook? There is a lot of software code that gets transferred for the client computer to process. In this scenario, the browser not only becomes an HTML renderer (which is what IE and Firefox were primarily built to do), but a code processing application. Google waited, it seems, for the right moment to introduce a new breed of browsers: the ones that are capable of flying through JavaScript code and not through dummy HTML.
This is what Dave Winer talks about in his post “What Firefox Should Do“. The browser can’t just read source code. It has to react, make decisions. Is this video? Render a video player. Is this JavaScript snippet being called repeatedly? Let me cache it.
The only thing that keeps me from switiching to Chrome 100% is Firebug, and probably one or two other extensions I use once in a while (like S3Fox). Google is reportedly working on something akin to extensions and Firefox seems to be standing still, waiting for that to happen.
The latest software updates for Firefox have been security related. But even in that department, Chrome just kicked Firefox’s and IE’s ass.
The other big issue I hear is Mac OS availability. I’m sure that’s coming too.
I started using Chrome back in September, and it quickly became my main browser. After running Chrome, I realized how much time I spent waiting for Firefox to render stuff, to react to my input. I can’t go back now. It’s like watching HDTV at your friend’s house and going back to your NTSC set at home.
Not cool.
Can Mozilla just rewrite the whole codebase and come up with a radical browser? Why do that if Webkit (which is an open source project and the basis for Safari and Chrome) does such a fantastic job already?
It truly is a hard time for Firefox.
What about you? Have you made the switch from Firefox to Chrome? What keeps you from doing so?
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Jorge, are you familiar with 280north, cappuccino and objective-j? If not, you might want to check that out to.
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I haven’t, Meryn, I’ll check that out
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Using greasemetal for chrome ? I use both Firefox freezes on FB Chrome
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I haven’t tried any extensions on Firefox, Eric, I’m waiting for a more official solution from Google
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What a great post! It’s super interesting and the truth is that it’s happened to me, I’m using Safari after being a Firefox fan, but it’s because, to me, Firefox is not the same. I feel like it’s super slow, specially if I’m watching YouTube videos… it’s stressing. I have a mac mini with 512 mb of RAM, 1.25 ghz.. yes, I know it’s a slow machine, but that’s exactly why I need a browser that adapts to my needs… I can’t wait that Chrome is released for Mac, but for now, Safari, for me, work really well.
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I’ve read several responses to this issue around the web in the past few days, you can guess whose blogs! I’ve found this post the most clearly thought out, not that I am in the same boat as you though.
I use Opera for all my browsing, because I use it as a full internet suite and it performs admirably, not to mention its vastly superior user interface (I’m talking customisability, keyboard and mouse short cuts to name but a few) to the competition. As a suite, it integrates mail into the web, which means in a keyboard short cut/mouse click or two I can be composing an email related to the current page/after clicking on a mail:to link/after having highlighted some text or just because I want to write a new email.
To get to the point however, I recently began to use Picasa Web, so I knew I had two options for web app mode: Chrome or Firefox with the Prism plug in. I started out by using Prism simply because I had firefox 3 installed and not Chrome, and it worked pretty well I thought, except I couldn’t remove the status bar easily, nor go back and forward without re-doing the web app, so I thought, let’s give Chrome a shot just for kicks. I expected it to be faster at a Google web app than Firefox 3, especially given all the hype surrounding its javascript performance, but to my surprise Fx was actually less laggy!
Yes, that’s right, Fx handles Picasa Web better than the latest stable Chrome! I could compare minefield to the latest Chrome build but I can’t be bothered, I’m already using the Opera alpha and don’t need any more installed.
Not only was Fx less laggy, but I prefer the way it refreshes pages (in the same way Opera has long given you the option to do), it doesn’t redraw until it’s all done, so you don’t get the irritating flash of a blank page when you were looking at photos or whatever, it just flickers noticeably enough for you to see that it’s finished refreshing.
You mentioned the possibility of Fx rewriting its codebase, and I have heard similar comments elsewhere which note that the Gecko engine is really old (Netscape) and not all that great with Standards as a result (it’s been kind of hacked along the way to get mediocre Standards support).
Chrome is great as a simple browser, but I’d probably have to wait five years for them to build up the basic features I’ve become used to in Opera (15 years experience in browser development goes a long way).
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There’s an IE8 skyscraper ad on my Firefox blog post. Hypertargeting lately, MSN? http://tinyurl.com/dcu68k
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