Creeping Disappointment

It seems like yesterday, but it was a year ago that a joyful, exuberant planet cast aside the old world of cynicism and fear and embraced change, hope, and all that good shit. Turns out, we were the change we were waiting for. Or something.

And then Firefox 3.1 came out. And then 3.5. And then 3.6. And now what?

Firefox is simultaneously the most sophisticated browser on the market and the slowest piece of shit in the sewer. Its performance in Linux is so laughable compared to Google Chrome that I almost get the feeling that Google, which is Mozilla’s biggest backer, has had a hand in sabotaging Firefox to boost its own browser’s burgeoning prospects. Is it that far-fetched? Firefox 3.0 was the fastest browser I’d ever used. 3.6 reminds me of the old days of Netscape Navigator on dial-up—and that’s on a 16 MB/s connection.

Worst of all is the JavaScript performance. In November, when I implemented my JavaScript menu animations, I had to carve out an exception for Firefox on Linux because they were moving so slowly. Sometimes I think it would have been better to stick with Flash, but the animations work so flawlessly on Chrome, Opera, Konqueror and Epiphany that I’m sure it’s not me, it’s Firefox.

It’s the same shit with my new photo album transition animation (which you can test out here). Should be a simple ten frame saturation at 40 fps. Instead, on Firefox it’s a jittery mess. Looks like I’ll have to disable this JavaScript animation in Firefox, too. <Sigh>

And yet, I can’t tear away from Firefox. It does everything you’d ever want a browser to do—read RSS feeds, have history and bookmarks handy, line the toolbar with whatever links you want, make you feel like you’re using Safari if, for whatever bizarre reason, that’s what you want—except go fast. Chrome goes fast, and that’s about it. Next stop, Opera? End.