Firefox will soon be able to run Chrome extensions following major changes
Big changes are coming to Firefox in the near future and will require extension developers to make major modifications to their existing extensions to ensure they continue to work.
The …
The company is replacing its extension API for Firefox with a new one called WebExtensions, which is similar to the system used in Chrome and Opera system to ensure that add-ons can be easily developed to work across multiple browsers.
This will be the day I drop Chrome and use Firefox.
I dunno… I hear they're also creating a "faster" version and that it'll split things into separate processes. That sounds like Chrome, and the only reason for ditching Chrome that I could justify is memory usage, which isn't a bit deal on my laptop (16GB memory with The Great Suspender helping) but is on my older media server.
Yes Firefox was always better in the memory department. On my older XP computer I need to kill Chrome every few hours if I have been consuming lots of media. It will be interesting to see how this change increases (or at least maintains) Firefox's user base.
Thing is, even with separate process's chrome freezes completely about once a week for me. The Isolation thing doesnt seem total, for whatever reason.
(I dont have lots of tabs open, but I do use the browser intensively – lots of development work)
I don't think I've ever had the entire browser crash. Are you running lots of extensions? I mean I have a TON of extensions, even some I wrote myself, so I'm not anti-extension but it could be something else bringing Chrome down?
Nope not likely extensions, only have about 3 active and they are pretty mundane things.
One cause is my own coding – if I make a accidental loop in my code it can take
the whole browser down. Still dont think that could be possible, but it makes sense
that if I make a loop that calls itself all the CPU gets used up. (Note; This results
in a freeze rather then a crash).
I think one issue might be flash as well, even the inbuilt one, as I notice facebook
often freezes up and the plugin shows a crash at the top. That one doesnt effect
other tabs though.
Diagnosing is tricky as the whole browser crash doesnt happen that often – just enough
to annoy 😉
Yeah it's more of a freeze. Can take 90 seconds to respond. Usually closing the one offending website/tab isn't enough. You have to close the whole browser.
I notice sometimes in task manager that chrome is still running in memory too.
+Thomas Wrobel I use Flashblock to stop the auto playing of Flash. It's annoying… so glad the Internet is deciding to abandon that.
+Gregory Allan Do you have it set to allow Chrome to run background apps?
I still stick by my standing that flash isn't so bad for what it was originally for; vector animations. SVG still is pretty far off for that use. Flash fails miserably in most cases partly because its a defacto standard lib for codecs on peoples machines where the webbrowser used to lag behind. (or still does in some cases – Safari has no excuses not to support Ogg sound…). In a weird way I think Flash is thus a victim of its own success – used as a "patch" for a million things it is a bit shit for,,,yet other things used to be shitter for. Now those other things are less shit, suddenly flash seems pointless for those uses.
On the other hand, if Flash stayed focused on vector animation+light scripting, it probably would be more reliable and less bloated, thus not getting the hate it does now.[2 cents]
+Paul Spoerry Yes actually I do, I always wondered if maybe it was an extension causing it. Thanks.
+Thomas Wrobel Yeah that's a fair assessment.
+Gregory Allan I've seen the background apps cause what you're describing.
Thanks +Paul Spoerry I think I understand the problem now.