(Tangent alert) Why does modern Firefox suck so much?

YouTube · Unread post by **the_r3dacted** » 18 Apr 2026, 13:39

The-10-Pen wrote: ↑18 Apr 2026, 13:24 Um, are you asking me to download a HUNDRED different nightly builds and test each and every HUNDRED ???
Well, in a nutshell - NO!

Narrow that list of HUNDRED (no, I didn't count, but those FTPs are GIGANTIC) down to ten or so and SURE, yeah, I can do that.

No, that's inefficient. Take the first 149 build and the last 149 build to get a baseline. Extract them, delete the update.exe and pingsender.exe so it doesn't do stupid shit. Run the browser from a .bat file containing `firefox.exe -profile Profile` so it uses a self contained profile, and test. After that baseline, go somewhere in the middle, repeat. If faster, skip a bit later, test. If slower skip a bit before, test. Narrow it down that way.

Unread post by **Duke** » 18 Apr 2026, 13:41

The-10-Pen wrote: ↑18 Apr 2026, 12:22 I have too many streaming apps that don't work on Ungoogled Chromium.

Interesting. Which ones ?

The-10-Pen wrote: ↑18 Apr 2026, 12:22 These are the "font fixes" I use in Chromium/Chrome/Edge

Please can you check these pages with Chromium:
https://www.unicode.org/Public/emoji/latest/emoji-test.txt
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Unicode/Character_reference/1F000-1FFFF

The-10-Pen · Unread post by **The-10-Pen** » 18 Apr 2026, 13:44

So just from those two, the very first 149 was SLOWER than 148.
And every 149 since that first just got SLOWER.
I'll grab one "in the middle" (Feb 2nd) here shortly.

Unread post by **Duke** » 18 Apr 2026, 13:46

the_r3dacted wrote: ↑18 Apr 2026, 13:06 uMatrix is not the same sort of content blocker as uBlock Origin. They're kinda made to be used together, which I do.

You may also want to check this one (remember RequestPolicy):
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tprb/

The-10-Pen · Unread post by **The-10-Pen** » 18 Apr 2026, 13:54

first = 452
middle = 416
last = 407

That seems like enough data points to me. 149 just got slower and slower and slower with each and every nightly.

: 2026-04-18_9-50-13.jpg (167.29 KiB) Viewed 221 times

YouTube · Unread post by **the_r3dacted** » 18 Apr 2026, 13:55

The-10-Pen wrote: ↑18 Apr 2026, 13:44 So just from those two, the very first 149 was SLOWER than 148.
And every 149 since that first just got SLOWER.
I'll grab one "in the middle" (Feb 2nd) here shortly.

Yeah, the nightly builds are built with less optimizations (afaik could be wrong) as building with LTO and PGO and such increases the amount of time required to build. So for something they need to compile 1-2 times per day, I could see them wanting to skip that process.

It could also be that the time from last nightly to first release (I think like 1-2 months) resulted in more optimizations being added or performance reducing bugs being fixed.

Duke wrote: ↑18 Apr 2026, 13:46
the_r3dacted wrote: ↑18 Apr 2026, 13:06 uMatrix is not the same sort of content blocker as uBlock Origin. They're kinda made to be used together, which I do.
You may also want to check this one (remember RequestPolicy):
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tprb/

I don't think I've ever used RequestPolicy, and I'm not sure how this would be better. It looks like it does the same thing as uMatrix but with less fine grained control.

The-10-Pen wrote: ↑18 Apr 2026, 13:54 first = 452
middle = 416
last = 407

That seems like enough data points to me. 149 just got slower and slower and slower with each and every nightly.

416 to 407 is small enough that it could just be run variance. The +- is literally 39.

The-10-Pen · Unread post by **The-10-Pen** » 18 Apr 2026, 14:05

Duke wrote: ↑18 Apr 2026, 13:41 Please can you check these pages with Chromium:
https://www.unicode.org/Public/emoji/latest/emoji-test.txt
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Unicode/Character_reference/1F000-1FFFF

You're on a different train of thought.
UCyborg and I have a history of discussing Chrome fonts so we just picked up where we last left off (I add this part to not end in a preposition).
We're talking about how "thin and faded" some fonts are on Chrome, we're not talking about fonts that cannot render.

Here is a 2x zoom-in *without* my font fixes:

: 2026-04-18_10-00-48.jpg (45.48 KiB) Viewed 210 times

Here is a 2x zoom-in *with* my font fixes:

: 2026-04-18_10-02-47.jpg (46.21 KiB) Viewed 210 times

Unread post by **Duke** » 18 Apr 2026, 14:12

The-10-Pen wrote: ↑18 Apr 2026, 14:05 You're on a different train of thought.
We're talking about how "thin and faded" some fonts are on Chrome, we're not talking about fonts that cannot render.

Yes, I know. I just jumped on the train because it reminded me about Chromium having troubles to display some emojis, at least on Windows 8.1.
So I just want to know how it behaves for you on Windows 10, if possible.

The-10-Pen · Unread post by **The-10-Pen** » 18 Apr 2026, 14:22

Well, on the unicode.org emoji test, the best way to "quantify" is a ctrl-f search and let it count the results.

fully-qualified = 3,948 with 3 being in the top paragraph and not really within the font subgroups
minimally-qualified = 1,033 with 3 being in top paragraph
unqualified = 247 with 3 being in top paragraph

The-10-Pen · Unread post by **The-10-Pen** » 18 Apr 2026, 14:24

That second web site has no way for me to report a quantified result.
Aside from me manually counting "squares" representing an un-rendered font (which I'm not going to count, sorry).

The-10-Pen · Unread post by **The-10-Pen** » 18 Apr 2026, 14:35

the_r3dacted wrote: ↑18 Apr 2026, 13:55 416 to 407 is small enough that it could just be run variance. The +- is literally 39.

While statistically true, I DISAGREE, v149 just got SLOWER and SLOWER with each nighly build.

Here's why I *DISAGREE*.
Multiple runs "cluster" and statistically indicate an accurate clustering.
In gun-shooting speak, the scores hit the nose each and every time, none of the bullets hit the chin, forehead, or ears.
A very tight CLUSTERING.

I'll redownload and test again. But again, the clustering is all on the NOSE.
That run variance is NOT what you think it is.

The-10-Pen · Unread post by **The-10-Pen** » 18 Apr 2026, 15:22

This is going to be my last run (at least for today).
I kind of have to feel like you are "making excuses" for v149, sorry, that's just how it sounds TO ME, lol.

Jan 12 v149 multiple Speedometer 2.1 scoring
1) 448 +/- 18
2) 457 +/- 7.1
3) 453 +/- 14
4) 455 +/- 14
5) 452 +/- 11
AVERAGE: 453

Feb 2 v149 multiple Speedometer 2.1 scoring
1) 448 +/- 23
2) 457 +/- 8.1
3) 448 +/- 7.2
4) 454 +/- 12
5) 444 +/- 12
AVERAGE: 450.5

Feb 23 v149 multiple Speedometer 2.1 scoring
1) 446 +/- 21
2) 450 +/- 8.9
3) 451 +/- 12
4) 448 +/- 10
5) 441 +/- 15
AVERAGE: 447.2

Q.E.D.
v149 just got slower and slower and slower with each nightly.
Sure, not "night and day" speed differences, but slower is slower is slower is slower.

If you want a "faster 'fox", STICK WITH v148 !!!

The-10-Pen · Unread post by **The-10-Pen** » 18 Apr 2026, 15:43

Disregard on v148 being faster. I'm not seeing that to be honest.
But this is also taking up way too much time.
I would have to do further studies, but it seems to me that the NIGHTLY v148 is SLOWER than the STABLE v148.

: 2026-04-18_11-39-37.jpg (170.96 KiB) Viewed 160 times

YouTube · Unread post by **the_r3dacted** » 18 Apr 2026, 15:48

The-10-Pen wrote: ↑18 Apr 2026, 15:22 This is going to be my last run (at least for today).
I kind of have to feel like you are "making excuses" for v149, sorry, that's just how it sounds TO ME, lol.

I think I was thinking at this the way I do browser issues, in that it either works or it doesn't. In which there is one specific last version where a given thing works, and one first version with it doesn't. I guess that is not the case for issues like this idk.

The-10-Pen · Unread post by **The-10-Pen** » 18 Apr 2026, 15:58

Maybe (just MAYBE!), I may have been biased by the original A.I. query.

That *and* another poster cited the same, that he noticed a speed DOWNGRADE:

DoNotThrowOldPCsAway wrote: ↑16 Apr 2026, 15:14 Anyone else noticed how fast version 148 was only for the whole speed improvement to go away in 149?

Repost of A.I. query:

The-10-Pen · Unread post by **The-10-Pen** » 18 Apr 2026, 16:07

Oops! My v148 test still had a v149 still running. This would have clearly skewed the result.
At any rate, not testing more for now. Got real life to attend to, lol.

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Unread post by **Duke** » 18 Apr 2026, 16:50

The-10-Pen wrote: ↑18 Apr 2026, 14:22 Well, on the unicode.org emoji test, the best way to "quantify" is a ctrl-f search and let it count the results.
fully-qualified
minimally-qualified
unqualified

This is about the Unicode codes that are being used. They have evolved over time. Some old codes are now unqualified and replaced by new ones.
But that doesn't tell me which emojis are displayed and which are not.

The-10-Pen wrote: ↑18 Apr 2026, 14:24 That second web site has no way for me to report a quantified result.
Aside from me manually counting "squares" representing an un-rendered font (which I'm not going to count, sorry).

I'm not asking you to count one by one. But in both pages emojis are sorted by sections or subgroups.
Just tell me which of these subgroups are displaying squares instead of emojis. Or make screen captures if you can.

The-10-Pen · Unread post by **The-10-Pen** » 18 Apr 2026, 17:02

Seems like a sh#tload to screencap.
And the first "video cap" exceeded the attachment size.
I'll see what I can do... But holy h#ll, how would you screencap this sh#t?

The-10-Pen · Unread post by **The-10-Pen** » 18 Apr 2026, 17:18

You'll get no screencaps from me.
That first emoji test page is ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY "pages"
Screencap #1. Page down. Screencap #2. Page down. Sorry, but F Dat.

I can capture as a scrolling video, but I get an "http error" from Board.Eclipse when trying to attach. So again, F Dat.

Unread post by **Duke** » 18 Apr 2026, 19:20

The-10-Pen wrote: ↑18 Apr 2026, 17:02 how would you screencap this sh#t?

Sorry, I thought Chromium had a built-in screenshot tool like Firefox has.
You can use free third party tools which can capture scrolling windows:
PicPick: https://picpick.app/en/download
ShareX: https://github.com/ShareX/ShareX/releases

A portable version is available for both of them.
And to reduce file size save as JPG rather than PNG.

Or maybe you can print as PDF ? If available in Chromium, because Firefox also has this feature. But it may create larger files than JPG images.

The-10-Pen · Unread post by **The-10-Pen** » 18 Apr 2026, 19:43

I'm not playing this GAME.
Chromium has those features also! I have *ZERO* interest in the output, therefore *ZERO* interest in spending *MORE TIME* for this request.

I already use a portable third-party capture for scrolling windows, but it narrowed the width and truncated 80% or so of the screen.
No d@mn clue why. No d@mn need to replace a third-party tool that has worked for EVERYTHING else I've ever needed to capture, pic and video.

Sorry, you are going to have to find somebody else to "do your dirty work".
I have lost any and all interest at this point. If I get bored, and I mean *VERY* bored, I may revisit - but you are better off "finding somebody else".

Besides, emoji's and use thereof is for TEENAGE GIRLS and their PHONE apps. NOT for adults. Just my opinion, of course.
A smiley face or frowny face, a shoulder shrug or thumbs up emoji, sure, adults can use those.

But only a TEENAGE GIRL is going to be PSYCHOLOGICALLY IMPAIRED if a couple dozen out of three or four THOUSAND emoji's don't render.

UCyborg · Unread post by **UCyborg** » 18 Apr 2026, 19:51

For the record, that 4 GB laptop isn't mine, I just set it up at some point for a family member and I don't really have a reason to use it normally, I just happened to used it once in recent times to look something up. Who knows, maybe an old crooked Firefox profile, maybe Windows running for too long and getting crapped...that one does get crazy uptimes. I get by fine with 6 GB on my desktop.

That water company issue is really only in combination with two extensions that I do use. And generally, I don't find local websites to be particularly demanding of features they want. I already minimize the use of the internet and really only regularly lurk on few forums. But few random sites still make the cut, Gmail, GitHub, YouTube...some of the local online shops...

I don't really feel like changing the browser at this point, I just find it to be unnecessary source of additional stress. Unless if the potential replacement is a significant upgrade without additional compromises.

UCyborg · Unread post by **UCyborg** » 18 Apr 2026, 20:32

So CustomCSSforFx project has come to an end as well. And https://github.com/xiaoxiaoflood/firefox-scripts earlier.

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