Firefox 0.9

[Tezcatlipoca]

I've just installed Firefox 0.9 (& stuck downquark's tweaks in it )


This is the first time I've used Firefox.


Initial impression (from someone who has always used IE)....I like it


Seems a little slow with some pages, although maybe that can be tweaked out of it.

[downquark1]

Originally Posted by Tezcatlipoca

I've just installed Firefox 0.9 (& stuck downquark's tweaks in it )


This is the first time I've used Firefox.


Initial impression (from someone who has always used IE)....I like it


Seems a little slow with some pages, although maybe that can be tweaked out of it.

The easiest thing to tweak is the nglayout.initialpaint.delay, just edit the user.js file from my optimisations and alter the value. The smaller this is the faster the page will initially appear, however if the page is not completely rendered it will then take slightly longer to finish. It's up to personal preference if you want to see a partial page sooner or see the completed page. The slower the computer the higher this number is although lowering it will not harm anything, just play about.

You can set it to 0 however this can cause flickering as it renders a page with different sized images in columns.

the best values to try are:
750
500
250
0

[philip.j.fry]

Originally Posted by downquark1

The easiest thing to tweak is the nglayout.initialpaint.delay, just edit the user.js file from my optimisations and alter the value.

Is this option available in 0.9, I don't have it in my about:config?

[Richard M]

They took it out I believe.

[MadGamer]

How can i make Firefox faster to load when i first start it?

[downquark1]

Originally Posted by philip.j.fry

Is this option available in 0.9, I don't have it in my about:config?

It isn't in the about:config by default anymore, I believe the default value is 250. If you change it using a user.js file it will then appear in about:config.

[downquark1]

Originally Posted by WNA

How can i make Firefox faster to load when i first start it?

It's quite fast on mine, but you could try prefetching it (xp only). Change the shortcut target to has

/prefetch:1

at the end

I.E.

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" /prefetch:1

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by downquark1

It isn't in the about:config by default anymore, I believe the default value is 250. If you change it using a user.js file it will then appear in about:config.

Cheers, I'll give that a try.


Another thing...

I looked in the help, but couldn't see anything....Is there an easy way to get it to open a new tab when you click on a link, instead of having it open in a new window? (rather than right-clicking on a link & selecting "open in new tab"?)

[Richard M]

Use CTRL + click or press the middle mouse button.

BTW Downquark, prefetch is only for special pages, it should have no difference to startup time.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by Richard M

Use CTRL + click or press the middle mouse button.

Cool. Cheers, Rich. Very handy

BTW Downquark, prefetch is only for special pages, it should have no difference to startup time.

I think downquark's talking about XP's application pre-fetching, not page prefetching.

http://iamnotageek.com/articles.php?...=prefetch_apps

Prefetch Applications to make them load quicker

If you have lots of RAM like I do then you can prefetch a number of applications by using the /prefetch:1 switch. This will load the application into your RAM for MUCH faster startup times. Be careful on how many programs you do this with because it'll eat up your RAM if you do it too much.

Right click on any shortcut you want to speed up and select properties. Look in the Target. At the very end of this add /prefetch:1 to it.

[philip.j.fry]

For anyone interested in optimized builds, this page has some optimized binaries for windows users, you need to select the one that is right for your cpu. I've had good success building my own optimized version and do think it runs faster than a non-opt build. The only thing I'll say is that the ones with the -O3 flag (highest compiler [gcc] optimisation) might be unstable, mine is with O2, O3 kept segfaulting on me and I've seen reports from other people with similar results.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by philip.j.fry

For anyone interested in optimized builds, this page has some optimized binaries for windows users, you need to select the one that is right for your cpu. I've had good success building my own optimized version and do think it runs faster than a non-opt build. The only thing I'll say is that the ones with the -O3 flag (highest compiler [gcc] optimisation) might be unstable, mine is with O2, O3 kept segfaulting on me and I've seen reports from other people with similar results.

Useful link

[Tezcatlipoca]

What Extensions do people recommend?


I've already installed AdBlock (very handy!), & SortBookmarks (they were a right mess without it!).

I might try the Dictionary search one.

Any others?

Is the Google extension worth using? How does it differ from the Google thing FF0.9 already has?

[goldoni]

I had Firefox ver 8 loaded and was unable to create a user profile, this came about as I have also downloaded spywareblaster which picks up IE6 but reports there are no Mozilla/firefox user profiles on my computer. I then updated to ver 9 and I have done what is in the help file regarding going to the folder that firefox is installed into and run firefox.exe †“9 which it canââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t find,,,what am I doing wrong. Any suggestions apart from packing back in its box and return it to where I got it Dâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢oh

[MadGamer]

Originally Posted by downquark1

It's quite fast on mine, but you could try prefetching it (xp only). Change the shortcut target to has

/prefetch:1

at the end

I.E.

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" /prefetch:1

Thanks for that. Ive noticed a speed up in the pages loading as well.