DIGIT-ARC read-only archive · snapshot: July 23, 2026

Firefox 4: fast, powerful, and empowering

39 posts · originally from https://geek.digit.in/community/threads/firefox-4-fast-powerful-and-empowering.126786/

Rahim
Rahim Original post #1
May 12, 2010 at 10:15 PM
Today, I presented an early product plan for Firefox 4 to the Mozilla community (live, over the web!) to share our vision for the next version of Firefox, and what projects are underway to realize it. Then I invited everyone to get involved by joining our engineering or product development efforts.
The primary goals for Firefox 4 will be making a browser:

  • Fast: making Firefox super-duper fast
  • Powerful: enabling new open, standard Web technologies (HTML5 and beyond!),
  • Empowering: putting users in full control of their browser, data, and Web experience.
Usually software producers don’t present these sorts of plans in public until they’re finalized, but Mozilla is a little different. We work in the open, socializing our plans early and often to gather feedback and build excitement in our worldwide community. Not everyone could attend the presentation today, though, so I’m sharing the slides and video here as well.
That said: please understand that these plans are fluid and are likely to change. As with past releases, we use dates to set targets for milestones, and then we work together to track to those targets. We always judge each milestone release against our basic criteria of quality, performance, and usability, and we only ship when it’s ready.
If you have Firefox or a modern web browser that supports fully open HTML video, you can watch the presentation.


*beltzner.ca/mike/2010/05/10/firefox-4-fast-powerful-and-empowering/
NIGHTMARE
May 12, 2010 at 11:02 PM
mozilla has to fix memory leak
NIGHTMARE
May 13, 2010 at 4:53 AM
most of the time i open 10-15 tab then RAM uses is between 2.35-2.85
celldweller1591
May 13, 2010 at 6:57 AM
a good news ^^ of FF4. I think the memory leak problem will be fixed in a short while.

---------- Post added at 06:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:55 AM ----------

most of the time i open 10-15 tab then RAM uses is between 2.35-2.85

I also use firefox with 10-15 tabs but mine goes upto 3.10-3.20 ram :| in windows 7 but ubuntu uses lower ram even with 15+ tabs .
sujoyp
sujoyp #6
May 13, 2010 at 10:20 AM
3.10 by u mean more then 3gb:???:??? better use opera..it consumes less memory

I use firefox too and love it...I want a similar feature like opera turbo boost....it degrades the quality but improves the speed drastically:-D
DigitalDude
May 13, 2010 at 10:33 AM
the mem usage in the taskmanager reads as 1,82,156K i.e. 182MB for me with around 10 tabs open in FF.



_
debsuvra
May 13, 2010 at 12:11 PM
most of the time i open 10-15 tab then RAM uses is between 2.35-2.85

I also use firefox with 10-15 tabs but mine goes upto 3.10-3.20 ram :| in windows 7 but ubuntu uses lower ram even with 15+ tabs .

If you guys are indicating 2~3 GBs of RAM using those numbers here, then you're out of your freaking mind. :grin:
N
May 13, 2010 at 1:20 PM
If you guys are indicating 2~3 GBs of RAM using those numbers here, then you're out of your freaking mind. :grin:

:mrgreen::mrgreen: well said...lol mine is just less than 200 mb for 30-40tabs
sujoyp
sujoyp #10
May 13, 2010 at 2:07 PM
in my PC after opening 5 tabs RAM usage becomes 450-55mb
Stuge
Stuge #11
May 13, 2010 at 3:55 PM
Only reason I see these days for using FF is bcoz of plugins it has got .otherwise I prefer to use chrome .
celldweller1591
May 13, 2010 at 6:02 PM
3.10 i meant 310 mbs of memory :p
sujoyp
sujoyp #13
May 13, 2010 at 6:23 PM
actually I think it depends purely on websites which u r viewing...number of plugins and addons used simultaniously
celldweller1591
May 13, 2010 at 6:30 PM
i basically browse wiki, ubuntu forums, digit forum, linoob forum, seven forums, twitter, facebook and some tech news blogs and firefox is loaded with addons ;)
skeletor
skeletor #15
May 13, 2010 at 8:08 PM
*img185.imageshack.us/img185/9756/operao.th.png

11 tabs + IRC tab.
sujoyp
sujoyp #16
May 13, 2010 at 9:39 PM
ok mine too with 10 tabs is taking 170mb...but it really depend on websites

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/%3Ca%20href=*img101.imageshack.us/i/usage.jpg/%20target=_blank%3E[IMG]*img101.imageshack.us/img101/5818/usage.th.jpg*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/%3Ca%20href=*img101.imageshack.us/i/usage.jpg/%20target=_blank%3E[IMG=*img101.imageshack.us/img101/5818/usage.th.jpg]*img101.imageshack.us/i/usage.jpg/*yfrog.com/2tusagej
Rahim
Rahim #17
May 13, 2010 at 9:44 PM
memory leak has hijacked this thread :(
skeletor
skeletor #18
May 13, 2010 at 9:57 PM
The thing on which Mozilla needs to focus on is the performance of Extensions with Firefox.

ok mine too with 10 tabs is taking 170mb...but it really depend on websites

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/%3Ca%20href=*img101.imageshack.us/i/usage.jpg/%20target=_blank%3E[IMG]*img101.imageshack.us/img101/5818/usage.th.jpg*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/%3Ca%20href=*img101.imageshack.us/i/usage.jpg/%20target=_blank%3E[IMG=*img101.imageshack.us/img101/5818/usage.th.jpg]*yfrog.com/2tusagej
Firefox's memory problems were fixed long back. It has just got a bad name for being "heavy on memory." It actually uses less memory than Opera and Chrome. (I've observed this since 3.6) That doesn't mean it is faster though. :p
pushkar
pushkar #19
May 13, 2010 at 10:43 PM
Firefox's memory problems were fixed long back. It has just got a bad name for being "heavy on memory." It actually uses less memory than Opera and Chrome. (I've observed this since 3.6) That doesn't mean it is faster though. :p
This (wo)man speaks the truth. My main browser is Opera, but I have observed that Firefox is the browser with the lowest memory footprint.

Chrome, on the other hand, uses a lot of memory. Just because it's fast in rendering websites, people get the illusion that it is lightweight, when in fact, it is far from it.
G
May 13, 2010 at 11:37 PM
Hail Firefox!!!!
Krow
Krow #21
May 14, 2010 at 10:33 PM
I want:

Faster startup
Faster rendering
FF should be closer to the likes of Chrome and Opera.
NIGHTMARE
NIGHTMARE #22
May 15, 2010 at 7:18 AM
see 19 tab and uses 2.57
*img88.imageshack.us/img88/7129/tasky.jpg
DigitalDude
May 15, 2010 at 1:22 PM
5 Firefox windows with 10 tabs each = 50 tabs with all kinds of sites loaded completely.

mem usage by firefox.exe ~ 446MB (see the task manager first process in the pic below)
my total sys mem usage ~ 1.41GB (47% of my 3GB sys memory)

*img576.imageshack.us/img576/4334/firefox5windows10tabsea.th.jpg


@nightmare
show your processes tab with firefox.exe visible.


_
skeletor
skeletor #24
May 15, 2010 at 3:58 PM
see 19 tab and uses 2.57
*img88.imageshack.us/img88/7129/tasky.jpg
No offence, but :lol:

Click on the Process tab.

---------- Post added at 03:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:55 PM ----------

Faster startup
Firefox starts up INSTANTLY on my computer. Chrome and Opera take a little longer time. Only a fraction. :p
Gauravs90
Gauravs90 #25
May 15, 2010 at 4:56 PM
open taskmanager process tab
view -> select column and check VM Size

Then it also shows virtual pagefile usage for firefox
NIGHTMARE
NIGHTMARE #26
May 17, 2010 at 5:12 AM
a good news ^^ of FF4. I think the memory leak problem will be fixed in a short while.

---------- Post added at 06:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:55 AM ----------



I also use firefox with 10-15 tabs but mine goes upto 3.10-3.20 ram :| in windows 7 but ubuntu uses lower ram even with 15+ tabs .

If you guys are indicating 2~3 GBs of RAM using those numbers here, then you're out of your freaking mind. :grin:

5 Firefox windows with 10 tabs each = 50 tabs with all kinds of sites loaded completely.

mem usage by firefox.exe ~ 446MB (see the task manager first process in the pic below)
my total sys mem usage ~ 1.41GB (47% of my 3GB sys memory)

*img576.imageshack.us/img576/4334/firefox5windows10tabsea.th.jpg


@nightmare
show your processes tab with firefox.exe visible.


_

No offence, but :lol:

Click on the Process tab.

---------- Post added at 03:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:55 PM ----------


Firefox starts up INSTANTLY on my computer. Chrome and Opera take a little longer time. Only a fraction. :p


here is the screen shot :wink:


*img99.imageshack.us/img99/9081/53784662.jpg
DigitalDude
May 17, 2010 at 10:35 AM
btw you are using 64bit win 7. I dunno about that whether that's why you have so much memory usage ?

any 64bit guys can comment on the same ? or is it just some issue with nightmare's pc alone ?


_
NIGHTMARE
NIGHTMARE #28
May 18, 2010 at 12:52 AM
bachao muhje :grin:
R
rjazz #29
May 19, 2010 at 1:44 AM
url for FF4? plz!:smile:
hellknight
May 19, 2010 at 9:44 AM
Lets get away from memory leak for a while, Opera 10.5x is also suffering from memory leaks..

@ a_rahim.. any idea if the new Firefox will sport a new Javascript engine.. Coz this is one area where Firefox is seriously lagging behind the other browsers... I read sometime ago in Ars Technica that Firefox is going to take the Javascript engine from Webkit.. is it true??
X
xitij2000 #31
May 24, 2010 at 6:45 PM
Lets get away from memory leak for a while, Opera 10.5x is also suffering from memory leaks..

@ a_rahim.. any idea if the new Firefox will sport a new Javascript engine.. Coz this is one area where Firefox is seriously lagging behind the other browsers... I read sometime ago in Ars Technica that Firefox is going to take the Javascript engine from Webkit.. is it true??


Firefox dev's are working on an upgraded version of the TraceMonkey engine called Jaegermonkey. It should be much faster. Theoretically -- from what I understand -- it might surpass Chrome.

Currently the JIT JavaScript compilation system in Firefox uses tracing which is supposed to be faster than what other browsers are doing. However when tracing doesn't work Fx falls back to using the good old slow interpreter.

The new engine will use tracing when it can -- whatever Firefox is able to trace it already runs faster than other browsers -- and when tracing fails it will fall back to the Nitro JIT engine from WebKit -- the one used in Safari.

So, I expect awesomeness^2.
NIGHTMARE
NIGHTMARE #32
Jun 4, 2010 at 9:19 AM
See using 3.06 GB right now,Wait for 4GB may be some day,i am sure but however i love my fox


*img532.imageshack.us/img532/1575/20100604044429.jpg
asingh
asingh #33
Jun 5, 2010 at 4:37 PM
^^
In that screenshot FF is using ~ 811 MB. From where you can see the 3.06GB. Run a good anti virus / spyware scan on your system.
Rahim
Rahim #34
Jun 5, 2010 at 4:48 PM
^Even that 800 MB is quite unacceptable.
NIGHTMARE
NIGHTMARE #35
Jun 5, 2010 at 5:42 PM
man i already done that
asingh
asingh #36
Jun 5, 2010 at 6:15 PM
^Even that 800 MB is quite unacceptable.
Yes, I know. What would you suggest...? Just wanted to correct his pretext of some odd numbered GB.

man i already done that

Try a re-install of FF. Am not at home for couple of days, so cannot quote what 64BIT Win7 utilizes. Will get back on this.
NIGHTMARE
NIGHTMARE #38
Jun 6, 2010 at 2:35 AM
Try a re-install of FF. Am not at home for couple of days, so cannot quote what 64BIT Win7 utilizes. Will get back on this.

Actually its happen when i open 15 to 20 tab then slowly slowly RAM uses will be increase but if u open facebook game like fishville that time due the flash it consumes more RAM that day when i take screen shot facebook is not running.If 3 or 6 tab will open so RAM usese is 100 to 120 MB.And yes i m also using the Add-ons.
K
khattam_ #39
Jun 6, 2010 at 10:42 PM
Well, I'm not using Firefox as a default browser in my Ubuntu Linux (10.10 Maverick Meerkat 64bit) box is just because of the start up time. I have some of the extensions I need in Chromium and it is good enough for me to use this as my default browser.

I have no problem with Firefox memory consumption as it is using about 350MB when I have opened top 40 sites from *www.100bestwebsites.org/ which seems fair... I opened the same 40 sites in Chromium v6 and the memory usage was about 550MB..

Also, Firefox uses more and more memory as it is kept open for prolonged times based on the available memory, I guess. It uses it more smartly. Chrome on the other hand is snappy and fast and I prefer using it despite of the fact that it may use more memory than Firefox most of the times.

Also, Chromium has poor tab management than Firefox if you have to work with lots of tabs at once that is..

I have FF 3.6.3 and Chromium 6.0.427.0.

I hope FF 4 comes with improved speed and snappiness as Chromium...