[GTALUG] Looking for assistance with Firefox

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

All my knowledge of FF is superstition, not science.  The
specifications, the manual, and the code base are too large to
understand.

If I type ^Q in FF, I am currently told that I have 53 windows with
386 tabs.  Then I tell it not to quit.  This shows bad discipline on
my part.

Go to URL "about:performance" for some hints about what different tabs
cost.  I'm not sure that it is accurate.

Superstition: when things get bad, quit and restart.
Model: garbage collection of something is imperfect.

Superstition: some pages are way more expensive than others -- a
simple page-count isn't a great measure

Superstition: javascript eats my CPU.  Sometimes it makes my coputer's
fans sping up.  Sometimes FF tels me FF is taking a lot of CPU..
Often it is on Globe and Mail pages.

| From: o1bigtenor via talk <talk at gtalug.org>

| > Are there hard limits that force Firefox to not renew pages as they were
| > (so more than xx number of pages)?

What do you mean by "renew pages"?  Is that "reload"? ^R

| > Are there hard limits that force Firefox to not renew 'a' page (I've had
| > this happen where one page doesn't renew but all the rest do)?

I'd take it as a sign to close tabs you don't need any longer, quit
FF, and then restart it.

| > If there are no 'hard' limits (programmed in per se) are there amounts of
| > pages or tabs or perhaps tabs/page or something else from this stew that
| > greater than xx tabs or yy pages or even a small number of pages having
| > more than xy tabs where such activity results in firefox not restarting as
| > it is listed to do so (restart the pages and tabs present upon shutdown) is
| > considered 'usual'?
| > I am trying to find parameters where I'm not faced with what I have right
| > now.

I think that it just runs out of RAM or processor cycles.

| > There were about 30 odd different pages and from 15 to who knows how many
| > tabs per page. Some tabs were held as I was working on business deals.
| > Re-establishing this amount of stuff is a royal pita. If I know that any
| > behavior over a level described as 'x' is dangerous then I can work hard to
| > stay under those levels.

Superstition: no.

| > Please advise

Cut down on tabs.  FF is a lot snappier, starting and running, when it
isn't dragging all those tabs around.

You could start up another browser (I use Chromium) if you hav
something quick to do and FF isn't yet started.