GrogHeads Forum

IRL (In Real Life) => Tech Talk => Topic started by: LongBlade on May 10, 2012, 09:17:44 AM

Title: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: LongBlade on May 10, 2012, 09:17:44 AM
For years Firefox has served me faithfully, but recently I've noticed a couple of pages aren't working well with it.

Is anyone following the browser wars? What's up?
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Gusington on May 10, 2012, 09:38:05 AM
I posted that same question a while back and a lot of people have been having problems for the last year or so. I have switched to Chrome at home and I'm pretty happy with it. That said, I am using Firefox right now to type this.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: mirth on May 10, 2012, 09:56:25 AM
Are you using a lot of add-ons, LB? Those can mess with the performance of FF.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: LongBlade on May 10, 2012, 10:05:01 AM
Quote from: mirth on May 10, 2012, 09:56:25 AM
Are you using a lot of add-ons, LB? Those can mess with the performance of FF.

(I thought someone posted something similar, Gus, but didn't see it for some reason)

Some add-ons. I think my most recent was a server-nation-ID that was kinda cool. That might have done it.

FF is working well here, but it's starting to break on stuff on other gaming sites when I try to log in/register. Weird.

Probably I'll have to start hacking back the add-ons.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Gusington on May 10, 2012, 10:20:14 AM
IIRC FF has also put out some patches/updates in the last year that really f'd things up for me too.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: LongBlade on May 10, 2012, 10:39:30 AM
I removed a few add-ons that I didn't need and the country flag which was just nice to have.

The nice thing is it's easy to remove this stuff. We'll see what happens.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Martok on May 10, 2012, 11:28:30 AM
I've been meaning to ask you guys this: 


Has anyone else been having issues with FF when, after opening up a link in a new tab, and you go to click on that tab, it suddenly becomes a new window instead?  It's been doing this to me on a very consistent basis since I (reluctantly) upgraded to version 11.xx, and it's incredibly irritating.  I honestly almost go mad with rage every time it happens now (I'd estimate around 1 out of every 10 times). 

One odd thing I've noticed:  It seems to happen especially often where the new tab has video embedded. 

Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: LongBlade on May 10, 2012, 11:39:01 AM
I think there's a setting to open in new window or open in new tab. Check your options.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Martok on May 10, 2012, 12:45:39 PM
I know what you're referring to, but that's not the problem.  The issue is occurring when I'm *manually* opening something in a new tab. 

Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: MIGMaster on May 10, 2012, 01:34:38 PM
Quote from: LongBlade on May 10, 2012, 09:17:44 AM
For years Firefox has served me faithfully, but recently I've noticed a couple of pages aren't working well with it.

Is anyone following the browser wars? What's up?

I had the same scenario - I'm using Chrome exclusively now and fairly happy with it.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Gusington on May 10, 2012, 01:36:44 PM
^Me too.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Centurion40 on May 10, 2012, 01:37:56 PM
I'm a Chromer too!
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: MIGMaster on May 10, 2012, 02:09:36 PM
Not like the Chromer we had in "Head" Office - wink, wink, nudge, nudge  ;)
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Barthheart on May 10, 2012, 02:12:44 PM
I know I'm about to get a world of flak for this but.....

I use IE 8 at work and IE 9 at home. I've never had any problems on any site ever. 
:)
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Staggerwing on May 10, 2012, 02:20:23 PM
I've switched to Chrome for about 75% of my browsing as well. FF has become painfully laggy on many pages and I have no new add-ons or plug-ins installed, other than what I had since last winter. It's not all pages that lag but enough that I'm avoiding FF for the most part. I'll see if they release a fix to what ever fix broke it before going back full time.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: mirth on May 10, 2012, 02:34:39 PM
Chrome is a very good browser, but Google is sorta the new Microsoft. Their products are all pretty tightly integrated now and that makes me a little worried from a privacy perspective.  Not there's much privacy left in the world these days anyway.

Also, I'm using FF on the Mac. I know a lot of you are Windows users. FF may be less stable for Windows than Mac. I don't have any hard proof of that though.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Gusington on May 10, 2012, 02:52:39 PM
Believe it or not I still use Safari on my Mac.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Centurion40 on May 10, 2012, 02:54:43 PM
Quote from: MIGMaster on May 10, 2012, 02:09:36 PM
Not like the Chromer we had in "Head" Office - wink, wink, nudge, nudge  ;)

Nope.  I be da chrome!!  8)
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: mirth on May 10, 2012, 03:18:20 PM
Quote from: Gusington on May 10, 2012, 02:52:39 PM
Believe it or not I still use Safari on my Mac.

Never been a Safari fan. I was a FF user on Windows and stuck with it when I transitioned to Mac. Old habits die hard.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: LongBlade on May 10, 2012, 03:24:32 PM
Anyone do Opera just to be different?
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: mirth on May 10, 2012, 03:38:44 PM
Doing Oprah would be different.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: LongBlade on May 10, 2012, 04:02:06 PM
Quote from: mirth on May 10, 2012, 03:38:44 PM
Doing Oprah would be different.

The Opera Different Network?
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Fighting Farmer on May 10, 2012, 05:13:48 PM
Quote from: LongBlade on May 10, 2012, 09:17:44 AM
For years Firefox has served me faithfully, but recently I've noticed a couple of pages aren't working well with it.

Is anyone following the browser wars? What's up?
After their recent patches, some sites, such as Matrix Games, do not load properly, many web videos will not play and just various performance problems started occurring. I have none of these problems with explorer. I thought I was in the minority having problems with Firefox. If it was not that I have so many bookmarks and passwords saved on Firefox, I would dump it and move on to a new browser.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: mirth on May 10, 2012, 06:15:57 PM
Quote from: LongBlade on May 10, 2012, 04:02:06 PM
Quote from: mirth on May 10, 2012, 03:38:44 PM
Doing Oprah would be different.

The Opera Different Network?

<snicker>
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: TheCommandTent on May 10, 2012, 07:15:34 PM
I am using FF and not having any problems with it.  I don't really have many add-ons though.  Does Chrome have add-ons?   I'm not sure I could live without my Photo-bucket uploader add-on for FF.  Not that I am think of switching.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: mirth on May 10, 2012, 07:24:50 PM
Chrome has add-ons. Dont think it's as many as FF.

Chrome started out as a lightweight ( meaning streamlined browser). Its primary purpose is as a gateway to all of Google's other products. That isnt meant as a knock on it as browser.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Staggerwing on May 10, 2012, 07:42:20 PM
Quote from: TheCommandTent on May 10, 2012, 07:15:34 PM
I am using FF and not having any problems with it.  I don't really have many add-ons though.  Does Chrome have add-ons?   I'm not sure I could live without my Photo-bucket uploader add-on for FF.  Not that I am think of switching.

No photobucket uploader yet (there is one for iPad BTW) which is one reason I have not bailed on FF completely.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Huw the Poo on May 11, 2012, 08:41:49 AM
Quote from: mirth on May 10, 2012, 02:34:39 PM
Chrome is a very good browser, but Google is sorta the new Microsoft. Their products are all pretty tightly integrated now and that makes me a little worried from a privacy perspective.  Not there's much privacy left in the world these days anyway.

Agreed.  Google get more creepy with every passing year, and it's got to the point where I just won't use its services any longer.  I think Chrome is a fine browser but I refuse to use it.  In fact I've managed to ween myself off every Google service except for Maps, for which I'm still seeking a replacement.

Long-time Firefox user here by the way and not having any issues, although I don't use many plugins either.  Martok, have you tried using a different profile?  It's been a long time since I had to do that with Firefox, but it did seem to fix any issues I used to have.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Martok on May 11, 2012, 09:17:35 AM
Quote from: Huw the Poo on May 11, 2012, 08:41:49 AM
Google get more creepy with every passing year, and it's got to the point where I just won't use its services any longer.  I think Chrome is a fine browser but I refuse to use it.  In fact I've managed to ween myself off every Google service except for Maps, for which I'm still seeking a replacement.
Your sentiment is similar to my own.  Thanks to Google's increasingly invasive practices, I almost never use it anymore. 

Bing's maps are okay, if you don't mind using a Microsoft product.  (I'm not terribly wild about it myself, but it still beats the alternative IMO.) 



Quote from: Huw the Poo on May 11, 2012, 08:41:49 AM
Long-time Firefox user here by the way and not having any issues, although I don't use many plugins either.  Martok, have you tried using a different profile?  It's been a long time since I had to do that with Firefox, but it did seem to fix any issues I used to have.
[Raises hand, embarrassed]  Um, how do I do that?  Never even heard of it before. 


Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Huw the Poo on May 11, 2012, 05:15:40 PM
Ah, you know what?  It's been so long I can't even remember.  I did dig up this link (http://kb.mozillazine.org/Creating_a_new_Firefox_profile_on_Windows) from Mozilla for you though.  As they say, try the new profile first but deleting the old one.

Hope you get it sorted!
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Martok on May 12, 2012, 06:25:08 AM
Thanks Huw!  I'll give it a try when I get home. 

Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Huw the Poo on May 12, 2012, 10:50:53 AM
No probs, hope it helps.  I did of course mean "try the new profile first before deleting the old one" in my last post, by the way. :D
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: MIGMaster on May 23, 2012, 06:43:21 AM
Interesting development in the browser market:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Google-Chrome-Internet-Explorer-Market-Share-Leading-Browser,15704.html
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: LongBlade on May 23, 2012, 08:08:08 AM
Quote from: MIGMaster on May 23, 2012, 06:43:21 AM
Interesting development in the browser market:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Google-Chrome-Internet-Explorer-Market-Share-Leading-Browser,15704.html

That is interesting.

In the last month this is what's been hitting GrogHeads:

#1 IE                 34%
#2 Firefox          33%
#3 Chrome        19%
#4 Safari           10%
#5 Opera           1.9%
#6 Android         1.75%
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: mirth on May 23, 2012, 09:13:09 AM
Those numbers are much more evenly distributed than I would have expected.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: LongBlade on May 23, 2012, 09:40:38 AM
Quote from: mirth on May 23, 2012, 09:13:09 AM
Those numbers are much more evenly distributed than I would have expected.

I don't know what that says about us, but it is what it is. I'm surprised 10% of us read on Safari, but that could be because of work machines. Or because we have a healthy sized tabletop gaming group to complement the electronic gamers.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Gusington on May 23, 2012, 09:45:49 AM
When my arse is parked in front of the tv I work here on Safari. That 10% could be mostly me on my Apple laptop.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: LongBlade on May 23, 2012, 09:50:09 AM
Quote from: Gusington on May 23, 2012, 09:45:49 AM
When my arse is parked in front of the tv I work here on Safari. That 10% could be mostly me on my Apple laptop.

The #1 and #2 handheld devices that hit us are the iPad and iPhone. I haven't cross checked the absolute numbers to see how they jive against overall browser count, but they are overwhelmingly the majority of handheld platforms hitting us.

Mind you, those stats are from the front pages only - we're not running a count on the forums. Mostly because we're not clever enough to figure out how to go about it yet. That, and the in-house forum stats seem to be sufficient unto themselves for now.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: mirth on May 23, 2012, 09:51:34 AM
It could be iPhone/iPad too. I often view the site using my iPhone.  I think Brant said he also uses Safari on his MacBook. Between Gus, Brant and me, that's probably most of the Safari visits.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: mirth on May 23, 2012, 09:54:21 AM
The front page numbers must be from Google Analytics?
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: LongBlade on May 23, 2012, 10:33:57 AM
Quote from: mirth on May 23, 2012, 09:54:21 AM
The front page numbers must be from Google Analytics?

Yup. Though I use an Alexa toolbar to see how our rank through them is growing.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Gusington on May 23, 2012, 11:07:20 AM
^Is it growing?
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: LongBlade on May 23, 2012, 11:09:03 AM
Quote from: Gusington on May 23, 2012, 11:07:20 AM
^Is it growing?

<must resist the urge to make a snarky comment...>

Yes. GrogHeads is growing steadily. We need to grow a lot more, but we're moving in the right direction.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Gusington on May 23, 2012, 11:16:53 AM
Thanks you for your restraint.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Martok on May 23, 2012, 11:48:10 AM
Quote from: MIGMaster on May 23, 2012, 06:43:21 AM
Interesting development in the browser market:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Google-Chrome-Internet-Explorer-Market-Share-Leading-Browser,15704.html
No wonder Microsoft wants to lock out other browsers in Windows 8.  They're getting desperate to avoid slipping even further. 


Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: mirth on May 23, 2012, 12:26:33 PM
Quote from: LongBlade on May 23, 2012, 10:33:57 AM
Quote from: mirth on May 23, 2012, 09:54:21 AM
The front page numbers must be from Google Analytics?

Yup. Though I use an Alexa toolbar to see how our rank through them is growing.

Alexa's alright. You'll get better info overall out of GA. If there's any way to get GA installed on the forum pages, that would probably provide useful info. I don't know about everyone else, but I usually come to the forum first most of the time and then bounce out to the front pages.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: MIGMaster on May 23, 2012, 02:21:20 PM
I log on quite often from my Playbook - damned if I know what browser it is ??????????
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: LongBlade on May 23, 2012, 03:39:48 PM
Quote from: MIGMaster on May 23, 2012, 02:21:20 PM
I log on quite often from my Playbook - damned if I know what browser it is ??????????

We have a number of odds and ends hitting us that I didn't list. They're down in the fractions of a percent in terms of users hitting us, so I didn't list them.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Staggerwing on May 23, 2012, 07:57:15 PM
I usually dive in sideways through the 'unread posts' link. Since last month when FF went frigid on me I browse on Google (Win7) about 70% and Safari (iPhone) 28%. The last 2% is when I use my photobucket plugin on FF to upload or to access a few bookmarks for financial housekeeping.
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: Arctic Blast on May 23, 2012, 10:22:49 PM
Quote from: Gusington on May 23, 2012, 11:07:20 AM
^Is it growing?

You know that you can just go to Alexa.com and type in any website address to get the basic stats, right?  :D

Interesting. Figured I knew what the 'restraint' was regarding snark...yep. Interesting again.  ;)
Title: Re: What is wrong with Firefox?
Post by: LongBlade on May 24, 2012, 09:42:25 AM
And now Yahoo enters the Browser Wars.

They have a new browser called...Axis (a dubious choice).

Interestingly, it's supposed to integrate your web surfing between computer and iPad and/or iPhone.

I looked a the preview vid and I'm just not sold yet, but it is an interesting development.

http://axis.yahoo.com/
Title: .
Post by: eyebiter on May 27, 2012, 04:53:50 AM
.