Taranfx: Technology Blog » Firefox

IE9 vs. Chrome vs. Firefox vs. Opera Performance

Taranfx — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:26:06 +0000

Internet Explorer 8 and lower showed the world that a browser can have poor underlying javascript execution engines, lack of Modern web support (HTML5, CSS3) and poor threads that render webpages sluggishly for most users. But it’s time to change it all. Microsoft has built the new browser ground up and lead innovation to let the industry to follow. IE9 is the First browser to support full GPU acceleration (Direct 2D) Rendering which means your graphics card is now put to good use. Earlier to this Firefox 3.7 nightly showed some GPU rendering which is Read further »

Firefox gets GPU Hardware Acceleration, JagerMonkey Boost

Taranfx — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:55:43 +0000

SpiderMonkey is the secret sauce that gave us the first browser that was leap ahead of IE. But, over the years competitors like Opera, Chrome, Safari had left Firefox far behind in performance. Mozilla had started working on “JagerMonkey”, a new “baseline” method JIT compiler for SpiderMonkey, Firefox.The JagerMonkey method JIT will provide a much better performance Read further »

Sync iPhone Bookmarks with Firefox, Chrome

Taranfx — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:00:33 +0000

Firefox 3.5 is now World’s most popular browser, but Apple forgot to integrate Bookmark sync with Firefox, Chrome. All you get is the Sync option for Safari/Internet Explorer. Behold, there’s a solution that will make it possible to automatically sync iPhone Bookmarks with Firefox and Chrome [and vice-versa] i.e. Sync Firefox, Chrome Bookmarks with iPhone, in a blink of the eye. Step 1. For Firefox, Download and Install Xmarks Addon Read further »

Sync Firefox Addons, Settings

Taranfx — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:23:39 +0000

I happen to use four instances of Firefox- One each on my personal laptop, office laptop, remote desktop and solaris desktop and find it very tedious to have all the same stuff synced across the browsers. When Xmarks came, it solved part of the problem by syncing Firefox and Chrome bookmarks. But I was still looking for a solution that could sync my settings, addons. Mozilla Weave partly solved bunch of it by providing settings Read further »

Firefox 3.6 Features, Performance Benchmark

Taranfx — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:06:55 +0000

It’s time for industry to move on from Internet Explorer after the high profile attack on Google [Aurora Details]. At the right time comes the Mozilla’s next version to rediscover the Web with Firefox 3.6. With over 6,000+ addons, 35,000 themes, it’s world’s most extensible browser. Update: Now Official The word is not official, but the link Read further »

5 Awesome Firefox Addons

Taranfx — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:33:36 +0000

Firefox may be slow but Addons is what keeps it all alive and kicking. Most of use lots of them, still hungry for gettings handson new ones. Here are 5 Awesome FirefoxAddons you shouldn’t miss. 1. AutoPager: Tired of browsing through pages while you are looking for something? Paginate no longer with this addon you can get AJAX like page loads while you scroll. The plugin is compatible with most websites [atleast all search Read further »

Firefox gets Multi-Process Plugins

Taranfx — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:41:24 +0000

Mozilla had been working hard to catchup with Google Chome. Multiprocess is still on the plan and we now see one achievement, multi-process plugins. The feature is now available in latest nightly trunk. It’s the same power which prevents Google Chrome from eating entire CPU when a single plugin goes bad. It is said that this is nothing but a copy of the code from Chromium builds. Though this doesn’t break any Open Source license, but for some this might be Read further »

Firefox gets GPU D2D Acceleration

Taranfx — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:02:35 +0000

It had been long predicted, that this day would come when Browsers will learn to leverage GPU for rendering webpages. After Microsoft’s announcement of GPU acceleration in it’s upcoming browser IE9, Firefox also started to get into it seriously. Microsoft had published new API with Windows 7 called Direct2D. Direct2D is designed to be replacement for GDI and takes the task of vector graphics rendering engine, using Read further »

5 Interesting Firefox Addons

Taranfx — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:39:52 +0000

Addons is something that makes Firefox so rich. Playing around with the available ones often brings out the best of Firefox. So here we bring 5 Interesting Firefox addons that you can add to change your experience, again. 1. Easy YouTube Downloader (HD) Read further »

Boost Firefox Speed

Taranfx — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:41:40 +0000

Thanks to Firefox’s killer features, it is 2nd most popular browser on the planet. But the Trend and adoption is growing. As per the October stats, Firefox has already overtaken IE and has grabbed first place and trend will continue. Despite its intuitive accessibility and powerfully customizable interface, the performance of this browser has been problematic. Often, we indulge in opening several tabs, Firefox becomes notorious and uses bulk amount of memory and processor. I’ve seen Firefox eating up a 750MB of RAM with 30 Tabs opened, eating 2GHz+ of CPU. With 20+ tabs Firefox becomes slow and unusable on PCs having low-end config. And if you Read further »

Firefox 4 Theme Transform

Taranfx — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:35:18 +0000

Firefox 4 brings state of the art user interface. Surely, it’s inspired from chrome but goes a step further by making it a sweet eye candy. Have a look at Firefox 4 – Screenshots Of course, it isn’t released but confirmed that work is being done on it. But we will assist you in getting the same Look and feel on your existing Firefox 3.x. Follow the Steps Below: Form the menu View > Read further »

How to Dislike on Facebook

Taranfx — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:21:32 +0000

Ever wanted to hate/dislike a post or share having rubbish text, images, URLs by friends on Facebook? Why is this partiality of ability to only like it? Don’t worry we got a quick solution for you. All you need is Firefox and a plugin Download Plugin What’s ridiculous is just this morning there were at least two new pages requesting the addition of a “Dislike Button” ( Read further »

Firefox 3.6 gets Windows 7 Integration

Taranfx — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:14:48 +0000

Here comes the Mozilla’s first Beta for release of Firefox 3.6. As we benchmarked Firefox 3.6 earlier, it’s 25 percent faster than Firefox 3.5. What makes Firefox 3.6 more interesting is the Windows 7 integration — It integrates with the new taskbar in Windows 7. Read further »

Browser Performance Benchmark – Firefox 3.6: 23 Percent Faster

Taranfx — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:57:33 +0000

The race of browsers had been inevitable since the launch of Chrome. Google came out of no-where and gave public the fastest browser, leaving Firefox and Safari in shame. The developers at Mozilla continue to innovate and fine-tune their Javascript execution engine. Mozilla , next week, is rolling out first Firefox 3.6 public Beta. The Release is supposed to be the first one, with Read further »

Firefox gets GPU accelerated OpenGL Push with WebGL [3D Graphics]

Taranfx — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:07:29 +0000

Since long it was known that WebGL is coming to Firefox, but we never knew it would come as a surprise out of the wild. Firefox’s latest nightly builds now include an implementation of WebGL. Here is some background: WebGL is an emerging standard that promises to bring Hardware accelerated 3D graphics to the browser. Mozilla’s WebGL project gives web developers a way to connect the HTML 5 Canvas tool, which can be used to display complex graphics in the browser without plug-ins like Flash, to the Read further »

Yahoo-Microsoft Love – Recommends Firefox Users to Switch to “Safer IE8″

Taranfx — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:48:57 +0000

MicroHoo (Yahoo-Microsoft) deal was supposed to monetize Yahoo search — that’s what we thought. But now it looks like it was more than just a Bing deal. Within last few days, we observed something new. Yahoo! is now encouraging Firefox users that they’d be better off switching to the “new, safer Internet Explorer 8″. A Drastic Change? Last year we saw Yahoo advising IE users to switch to “NEW safer, faster Firefox 3″. No what happened that made them feel that IE is better than Firefox? Is it the new love-affair that Yahoo has been into since this Read further »

Taranfx’s Web Addict Must-have Firefox Addon Collection

Taranfx — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 08:49:58 +0000

We’ve compiled a collection of must have Best Addons for Firefox - Audience – WEB Addicts, Daily Internet users, Developers, Geeks. Nightly Tester Tools Useful tools for the nightly tester. Must for Making all extensions work with just any version of Firefox. Check the guide here. Read further »

Create Website Screenshot/Thumbnail in Firefox

Taranfx — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 07:47:21 +0000

There are lots of Free websites that let you take screenshot of a particular Webpage/Website. But all of these take some time while queueing up the job. Also the features, thumbnail size options are limited. Here is the Solution – FireShot — Firefox plugin which is very flexible, let’s you choose size of the target image and automatically uploads to a free Image hosting instantly. When Installed, It sits in the right corner of Statusbar and gives you alot of options to chose from for capture. You can capture and Edit, Upload, save, Read further »

Arora – Speedy Cross-platform Web Browser. Benchmark Chrome, Firefox, Epiphany

Taranfx — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:11:11 +0000

Are you tired of slow and sluggishness of Firefox when you need it the most? Try Arora, and you won’t regret. It is a Cross Platform – Windows/Mac/Linux/Embedded Linux/FreeBSD – Lightweight web browser uses the same rendering engine as Google Chrome and Safari, but works on almost any platform. Arora uses the QtWebKit port of the fully standards-compliant WebKit layout engine. Apart from the must-have features, Arora also Features that browsers like Firefox and Chrome do: blazing fast startups smart location bar , session management privacy mode download manager Set of tools for web developers – Debugging 30 Regional Languages The browser offers most of the features of mainstream browsers, including Read further »

Firefox 4 – Screenshots Released. Is it Chrome Inspired?

Taranfx — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:03:56 +0000

It was Firefox 3.5 last month and then Firefox 3.7 Screenshots last week and now we get to see Firefox 4 screenshots. Wow, Mozilla is getting more serious to kick out it’s competition. Firefox 3.7 includes a change to the Tools bar and an Embracing Glass design. But the desperation starts here. The Firefox team is looking even farther in the future, all the way to Firefox 4.0. They’ve posted mockups of the new Firefox 4.0 design on their wiki. Firefox says that they are just for brainstorming, but they provide the Read further »

Firefox 3.7 Screenshots. New UI Design

Taranfx — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:47:27 +0000

Firefox 3.5 was just released couple of weeks back and the Mozilla team has already introduced its initial Windows theme mockups for Firefox 3.7, featuring glossy, translucent buttons and a host of other potential new features. 3.7 release is primarily targetting UI enhancement, though there will be alot of bug fixes and performance improvements aswell. In fact, Mozilla took the time to explain these three changes from the 3.5 browser, corresponding to the first screenshot below. Here’s their new Read further »

Make Firefox 3.5 Portable

Taranfx — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:07:33 +0000

No doubt, you must have upgraded to Firefox 3.5 based on my previous review. And now, good things are taken to a next step. Now, Firefox gets portable. You can install it once on your USB pen drive with all those plugins, bookmarks, themes, and take it from one PC to another without losing any of them. Firefox 3.5 Portable Edition is officially available for download. checkout the detailed Install guide here. Installation and use is easy, requires few user tweaks mentioned in Read further »

Firefox 3.5 Released, Detailed Feature Review.

Taranfx — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:43:49 +0000

Firefox 3.5 finally appears, after four beta versions and three release candidates, Firefox 3.5 has finally been released. The new version brings a private browsing mode, faster JavaScript performance, and support for emerging HTML 5 standards.Download the new version of Firefox for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux from getfirefox.com. “So much is happening on the Web right now, it’s a great time for browsers. Firefox 3.5 brings together the most innovative Web technologies and delivers them in the Read further »

So Safari 4 is World’s fastest browser? NO! Browsers Benchmarked!

Taranfx — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:42:44 +0000

At yesterday’s WWDC 09 keynote speech Apple announced the release of Safari 4 web browser for Windows and Mac. Apple claims this browser is “the world’s fastest browser” … let’s find out. I’m always suspicious of all claims that are along the lines of “world’s blankiest blank,” especially when those claims come from Apple. So, is Safari 4 the fastest browser? Let’s test out Apple’s claim by pitting it against Google Chrome. I’m using my standard test bed – QX9770 Core 2 Extreme running at 3.2GHz, with 2GB or RAM on a fully up-to-date Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit platform. I’m putting Safari 4 against Google Chrome because that’s currently the fastest browser on the block. If Safari 4 can beat that, it earns the title of “world’s fastest browser.” If Read further »

Make Old Extensions Compatible with Firefox (any version)

Taranfx — Mon, 25 May 2009 21:02:16 +0000

There are three ways to achieve this 1) Making Extensions Compatible – THE EASY WAY All you have to do is to go and download a wonderful Nightly Tester Tools extension. Not only it is compatible with your newest Firefox version, but it will also add a button to your Extensions manager (Tools->Add-ons): Just click this button and restart your browser. Please note that this is a screenshot taken AFTER making all the xtensions compatible – so as you can see they’re all active already. The advantage of this way is that it’s really easy to make all your extensions compatible with any Firefox until Firefox 3.0 (that’s what this extension puts as the MaxVersion for each Read further »

Making Firefox extensions are Easy

Taranfx — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:15:32 +0000

An intriguing new add-on from the team that’s still developing Ubiquity extends the promise of a browser that you can change yourself to suit your own purposes. When you’re a developer with Mozilla Labs or another open source laboratory, one of the things you’ll often find yourself doing is “launching” a project before it’s anywhere near complete. That’s what it means to be truly open. In the case of Aza Raskin and his design team, last night, he “launched” (that’s Mozilla’s term for it) a project to encourage Web site developers to build simpler but more accessible add-ons for the Firefox browser, by means of a JavaScript API and Firefox plug-in called JetPack. Although Firefox is itself an exercise in JavaScript, crafting plug-ins to do simple Read further »

Firefox to go multi-threaded for multicores.

Taranfx — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:05:51 +0000

Mozilla’s developers have announced plans to add application multi-threading to Firefox over the next two years, a feature already partially enabled in its main rivals, IE8 and Google Chrome. As well as allowing the software to take advantage of multi-core microprocessors to boost responsiveness, the enhancement would also improve browser stability, the company said in a news blog on the subject. The unnamed project will happen in several phases, with the phase one ‘bootstrap’ due to complete by the middle of this July. Further phases will add and debug more complex elements of the new browser, with phase two due to complete by November. No timescale is given for the Read further »

Best of Chrome now possible in Firefox

Taranfx — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:04:49 +0000

The internet is a twitter with Google Chrome’s innovative new features—which means your choice of browser may depend solely on features. Apart from a few specific issues (namely process management), many of Chrome’s best features are already available in Firefox 3, proving yet again the power of extensibility. From incognito browsing and the streamlined download manager to URL highlighting and improved search, let’s take a look at how you can bring some of Google Chrome’s best features to Firefox. Stealther Turns On Incognito Browsing Read further »

Why I decided to give up Chrome and switch back to Firefox.

Taranfx — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:23:27 +0000

I had been a fan of Firefox since the early beta of 1.0 I gave up using sluggish and crappy IE wayback. then onwards, Firefox was my only companion. I was satisfied with speed, the stability and features (specially addons). and Firefox started being popular with 2.0 and with 3.0 it emerged as a BIG hit! I never thought anything would let me replace it. It was a miracle night when Google released “chrome”. smooth interface, large viewarea for webpages, awesome javascript execution, blazing fast loading, seperate processes for tabs, wow, Ifell in love in first 10 minutes. and that moment on, it was my default browser.. forgetting the loyality of Firefox, which had been a loyal browser for years. But as time goes, we realize “true facts”. Chrome is Read further »