Moving from Firefox to Opera... - DPChallenge Forums

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR

04/11/2007 10:29:11 AM · #1

I am on a trial move from Firefox to Opera. As much as I like Firefox, it bogs down my system, after a while sucking down as much as half of my available memory. Now maybe I had too many extensions (I had about 10 or 12 loaded), but it would start reasonable, and then just continue to (I assume) leak memory. It was costing me 250-490 MB of memory. I do usually have 10 or so tabs open as well.

I've just loaded the latest version of Opera, and right now, it's got a nice memory profile of 41MB, with 7 tabs open. And it's very responsive and speedy so far.

I wasn't expecting any new "killer" features, but I did find one: "Speed Dial". Nine of your favorite web sites in a pictoral grid when you want to open a new tab. I've been trying out the widgets, but so far, I am not thrilled about them sitting on my screen (I liked putting some widgets in the status bar of firefox, e.g., forecastfox.) The image search widget was pretty cool though!

Curious to see who else is using Opera out there, and if you would offer any of your experience tips, especially regarding best "add ons" and security settings!

We'll see how long Opera keeps me as a customer, or if I end up going back to Firefox!

(Oh Oh...where's the spelling checker for edit fields...)

RainMotorsports

Nikon D60

04/11/2007 10:32:38 AM · #2

The only issue I have with Opera is its problem with 100% height in code. But that shouldnt really afect you just pisses off web designers.

You will find several features you won't find anywhere. Some forums interface with a menu bar of buttons. The buttons that work will light up mostly for things like Home, Search, Help this and that. I only use it to test code but its a great browser i just chose myne.

vikas

Apple iPhone 13

Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G

04/11/2007 10:33:47 AM · #3

I tried it for a while, but they were buggy and some of the websites (like gmail that I use all the time) didn't seem to work. Haven't tried their latest version.

I switched with the same reason. Firefox takes up above 100MB of memory usage even with few extensions.

Presently I have been very happy with Maxthon (its based on IE, yes I don't like IE myself) .. but the browser has been really really good. It has one of the best ad-blocker, blocks almost every possible form of ad, even the text ads from google.

TechnoShroom

Canon EOS-30D

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro

04/11/2007 10:35:29 AM · #4

Originally posted by nshapiro:

(Oh Oh...where's the spelling checker for edit fields...)

Right click > Check spelling

Though you'll probably want to go here first.

Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G

04/11/2007 01:07:12 PM · #5

It still has a problem with Gmail. I had to pick a pretty big font as the default in order to read it. :(

That font doesn't seem to affect other web sites like DPC. Though I also just noticed that the DPC profile pages are really screwy in Opera. Unless I tell it to fit page width, it doesn't wrap the page properly and forces me to scroll right, even with a 1280x1024 window size. Maybe it's looking at my screen size (dual monitor), and basing wrap on that? If I tell it to fit page width to window, it really screws up the site!

Very sad, it may not work out, though it's fast, snappy, and not a memory hog!

vikas

Apple iPhone 13

04/11/2007 01:16:14 PM · #6

pointing again

Maxthon .. using 15MB of memory with 3 tabs
Firefox using 121 MB with 2 tabs.. (sure this has more extensions)

d56ranger

Canon EOS-20D

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

04/11/2007 01:49:18 PM · #7

If you really like FireFox, you can google "firefox memory hog" and find several fixes.

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR

04/11/2007 02:38:05 PM · #8

Originally posted by vikas:

pointing again

Maxthon .. using 15MB of memory with 3 tabs
Firefox using 121 MB with 2 tabs.. (sure this has more extensions)

Thanks, but if it's based on IE (i.e., it uses IE as a component) it has IE's security problems!

FireBird

04/11/2007 02:46:20 PM · #9

Originally posted by vikas:

pointing again

Maxthon .. using 15MB of memory with 3 tabs
Firefox using 121 MB with 2 tabs.. (sure this has more extensions)

Yeah, but this is just IE in sheep's clothing.

RainMotorsports

Nikon D60

04/11/2007 02:59:34 PM · #10

Originally posted by fir3bird:

Originally posted by vikas:
pointing again

Maxthon .. using 15MB of memory with 3 tabs
Firefox using 121 MB with 2 tabs.. (sure this has more extensions)

Yeah, but this is just IE in sheep's clothing.

Which mind you i could even write. Delphi has built in components for writing web browser's or applications that need a browser basically calling dynamic link libraries from internet explorer.

Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G

04/11/2007 02:59:58 PM · #11

Ok, I'm back to firefox. Too bad--Opera had some things I liked. Only readability of pages suffered, and of course, that's a killer.

If you're playing along, here's what I've found so far (and so far, so good).

I've started by disabling all extensions other than performance enhancing and critical ones:

adblock
fasterfox
firebug
fireform
FEBE
flashblock
foxmarks
tabbrowser preferences

and I added "leak monitor" to watch for extension memory leaks.

Some of these still have problems, but I've used the workarounds here

I am sitting at 92MB now, which isn't bad.

I also applied this workaround, which seems to be a good one so far. When FF is taking too much memory, or to run something else, just minimize it, and it greatly drops the amount of memory allocated (swapping to disk).

I also found, but have yet to install, a replacement for forecastfox, which is said to have an unfixed memory leak.

vikas

Apple iPhone 13

04/11/2007 03:02:48 PM · #12

Originally posted by nshapiro:

If you're playing along, here's what I've found so far (and so far, so good).

.......
for forecastfox[/url], which is said to have an unfixed memory leak.

doing just that.. reduced mine to 52MB :)