Filed under: Internet Tools, Open Source, Beta Beat
Livin' on the edge with optimized, beta Firefox builds
Do you feel the need... the need for speed? With more and more of our computing lives taking place via our web browsers, eking out even a slight performance improvement for Firefox or Safari (or a similar reduction of resource demands; I'm looking at you, Flash Player) can improve the user experience noticeably. One way to improve browser performance, if you've got the chops and the time, is to compile the open-source browser of choice yourself, with all the tweaks for the specific processor platform you're using.Web guru Neil Bruce Lee has offered the performance-hungry Firefox user the choice of G5 and Intel optimized versions of the 3.0 release; now, for those who want to live completely on the far side, Chris Latko has rolled out an Intel-optimized build of the beta Firefox 3.1 (Shiretoko) browser. With the architecture-specific tweaks Latko made, along with the inclusion of the TraceMonkey Javascript native compiler, this is the screaming-est version of Firefox ever to grace an Intel Mac screen... but be wary, it's going to be less stable than an official release, and many of your favorite plugins may not work (best to disable them all in the 3.0x version, then enable one at a time in the beta build to make sure they play nicely).
Don't roll the Firefox way? There's a bleeding-edge choice for you too: WebKit nightly builds, based on the most current code that goes into future versions of Safari. Again, you should see a boost in speed and possibly a corresponding decrease in stability, so tread with caution.
If you're running an optimized browser build, share your experiences with us below.
Thanks Chris!
[Hat tip: Mac.Blorge]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
thinktwice said 11:55AM on 2-08-2009
Webkit with Sparkle is faaast. I use it for most of my browsing.
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infty said 12:11PM on 2-08-2009
for some reason, i find that page content doesn't load properly with nightlies. by which i mean that the menu bars might load, the banner ads at the top might load... but the actual article text doesn't.
this relates to the CNN, the BBC, several other news websites, and random blogs.
have you ever noticed this? it's strange...
Joe said 12:23PM on 2-08-2009
Webkit nightly builds are pretty damn fast, and I've had no problems with content loading.
Ben Mason said 12:16PM on 2-08-2009
I have been running Minefield optimized firefox for Intel for a while now, works great for me. It's pretty quick.
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Thats What He Said said 12:46PM on 2-08-2009
WekKit Nightly is by far the fastest browser ive ever used
the only problems ive had is using ScreenToaster, the record function didnt work properly until now (Trunk 40663 if im not mistaken)
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Argiolus said 12:50PM on 2-08-2009
Using both Shiretoko (Firefox) and WebKit Nightlies (Safari) for months now with no problems so far. You can force-enable Firefox add-ons that complain they aren't compatible using the Nightly Tester Tools (take care!) and all of mine work great. Replacing Firefox with Shiretoko even solved crashing-when-printing/PDF-making problem on my wife's MBP.
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Evan said 1:17PM on 2-08-2009
I have been using webkit nightly builds for about a year now and they truly are FASTER. Plus they have better compatibility (in my experience) with web sites then safari does.
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Victor said 1:26PM on 2-08-2009
Webkit is quite a bit faster than Firefox beta. Another apple blog tested all of the browsers available at the time and webkit blew them all out of the water. Can't imagine that has changed. I have had a few compatibility problems with Webkit but the problem is usually fixed the next day.
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Nirav said 1:31PM on 2-08-2009
Webkit is 1.5 times faster than Minefield in sunspider javascript test. However, rendering is faster in minefield or may be it just feels so. But, I do prefer latest webkit as the fonts look crispier than minefield.
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Luigi193 said 1:47PM on 2-08-2009
I've used the nightly webKits for a year now and I notice a noticeable decrease in speed when using normal Safari! Smokin fast!
AND now that they have included the Sparkle (Check/Download for update) framework, its even more awesome!
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Harris Kleyman said 11:26PM on 2-08-2009
Seems like FaceBook chat doesn't play nicely. You have too open it in a new window or tab and the little animations don't work either...
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Jason Grier said 11:44AM on 2-09-2009
Is there a way to install all 3 firefox's separately? Official, and both of the "beta"s and have them run independently?
Same thing with Safari? Able to run both versions independently?
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Gabe Fierro said 12:04PM on 2-09-2009
I've been using Minefield (ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/nightly/latest-trunk/) on my Macbook running 10.5.6, and have had almost no problems at all. The majority of the time, I have had no problems...every once in awhile the browser will be unresponsive, but that's easily fixed by closing the window and re-opening. Most of my plugins work with it, and there are a few more hacks you can do to make it even faster (http://www.techradar.com/news/software/applications/8-hacks-to-make-firefox-ridiculously-fast-468317). One note: the last tracemonkey browser they mention on the list doesn't support a lot of plugins, or so I've noticed.
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Nick Schoeneberger said 1:02PM on 2-09-2009
A very good "middle of the road" approach on this in my experience is to join ADC (visit developer.apple.com) and get a free membership which will entitle you to download the easily uninstallable Safari 4 developer preview builds which have most of the stuff that adds all that zip into Webkit with a bit more stability (I used Webkit nightlies a lot and found ways to crash it enough without trying that I this would work better for me and it did).
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Ray Gunn said 4:53PM on 2-09-2009
I use the Webkit nightlies on the production machine at work and find surprisingly few crashes. I spend all day on the same pages so maybe that influences the results but I really appreciate the speed increase. The only time I leave it is to use IE only features in Sharepoint. Now if someone could fix that for me ...
Very handy the way Webkit keeps safari bookmarks etc as well
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