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Performance

Posted on 13 Aug 2008 at 12:03

"The performance improvements are particularly noticeable in the case of complex web-based applications such as Google Mail and Zoho Office," Mozilla adds. "Firefox 3 is twice as fast as Firefox 2 at logging into Google Mail, and two to three times as fast at loading and showing a message."

While it's almost impossible to test these claims scientifically, not least because of the variability of network connections at either end, there are firm indications that day-to-day performance has improved. We tried opening a 16-slide PowerPoint presentation using Google Docs in a variety of different browsers. In Internet Explorer 7 it took a full 1min 37secs to open the presentation and start the slideshow (Internet Explorer 8 point blank refused to open it). By contrast, Firefox 2 took 31 seconds, while Firefox 3 shaved off a further 11 seconds to complete the task in a mere 20 seconds. That it can take five times longer to perform a relatively simple task depending on which browser you choose is staggering.

Several members of the PC Pro team have been using Firefox 3 since the late beta or early release candidate stage, and they too have noticed similar improvements in web app performance. "The big difference is in Google Docs," says editor Tim Danton. "In Internet Explorer 7, there's a definite lag whenever you try and do something 'difficult' such as adjusting a column width in the spreadsheets app. In Firefox 3, it's almost like working in Excel - you feel as if you're using an application loaded on the PC itself."

Performance gains in applications such as Gmail are harder to measure, not least because Firefox 2 wasn't particularly sluggish in the first place. While several members of the team concur that Firefox 3 is quicker than its predecessor at logging into Gmail, it's not twice as fast - as claimed - with the new Gmail loading bar still making regular appearances. It is, however, noticeably faster when opening and closing Gmail messages. Firefox's close working relationship with Google - no doubt bolstered by Mozilla's financial dependence on the search king - is clearly paying dividends when it comes to end-user experience.

It's not only on sophisticated web apps that Firefox 3 holds a speed advantage, either. "It's on graphics-intensive pages such as Amazon and Play.com where I really noticed the difference," says news reporter Stuart Turton. "Firefox 3 blitzes these pages, lobbing dozens of images onscreen where Firefox 2 would stutter." Components editor Darien Graham-Smith agrees: "Complex pages render in less than a second, and even huge documents, such as Slashdot discussions, only seem to take a moment."

So while, according to our tests, Firefox 3 might not live up to Mozilla's lofty claims on either memory management or day-to-day performance, it's most certainly the fastest version of the open-source browser to date and a no-brainer upgrade for current Firefox fans - and we'd say even more so for those who still remain wedded to Internet Explorer.

Firefox 3 power users guide