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Firefox Quantum works better with modern high DPI displays. It’s more than just a new theme-the browser interface has been overhauled with something Mozilla is calling “Photon Design”. We cover that in more detail below.įirefox now looks different, too.
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If you rely on an extension that hasn’t been updated yet, you can switch to Firefox ESR to keep using an older version of Firefox. There may be some teething problems in the early days as developers rush to update their extensions, but you should be able to find a good replacement for most extensions that won’t be updated. Browser extensions that are compatible with Firefox Quantum will be shown under Extensions, while deactivated browser extensions will appear under Legacy Extensions with helpful “Find a Replacement” buttons to help you find a new extension that can do something similar. You can see what’s happened with your extensions by clicking Menu > Add-Ons. However, some extensions will be left behind as a result of the switch. Some of the extensions you use may already be WebExtensions that will continue to function normally. Firefox has supported both traditional extensions and WebExtensions for quite some time. Instead, Firefox now only supports WebExtensions, which are more limited in what they can do and similar to Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge extensions. Traditional Firefox extensions, often written in XUL, are no longer supported. With all these changes, Firefox has to make a break from the past.
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RELATED: How to Check if Your Extensions Will Stop Working With Firefox 57 Traditional Firefox Extensions Are Being Left Behind We recommend against this, though, as Firefox will perform better on modern multi-core computers with more processes. This allows you to control the trade-off between memory and performance.ĭon’t want a multi-process browser? Set the Content process limit to “1” and it will behave just like the last version of Firefox did. To find this open, click menu > Options, scroll down to the Performance section on the General tab, uncheck “Use recommended performance settings”, and change the “Content process limit” option. Mozilla calls this a “ just right” number of processes for many Firefox users, and says it makes Firefox use 30% less memory than Chrome.Įven better, you can configure the number of processes Firefox uses if you want more or less on your PC. Instead, Firefox uses a maximum of four processes for web page content by default. However, Firefox Quantum doesn’t just copy Chrome and open a new process for each tab. With Firefox 54, Firefox used two processes: One for the user interface and one for web pages. And if a web page crashed the browser, everything would go down instead of just a single tab. Firefox used to run everything in a single process, which meant a slow web page could slow down your entire browser interface.
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Firefox Is Now a Multi-Process Browser (But Still uses Less Memory Than Chrome)įor the first time, Firefox is now a proper multi-process browser as well. In layman’s terms, it’s just newer and faster.įirefox’s developers have also been sprucing up every bit of the browser, trying to eliminate any instances of slowness you might encounter.
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It can run in parallel across multiple CPU cores to better take advantage of modern multi-core CPUs. In Firefox Quantum, the new Quantum CSS engine, also known as Stylo, is now integrated into Firefox. Mozilla plans on gradually swapping out parts of Firefox’s internals for the newer, faster Servo technology. Firefox should be faster when doing just about everything, from rendering web pages and scrolling around to switching between browser tabs and using the interface.įirefox Quantum integrates technology from Mozilla’s Servo research project, which is written in the Rust programming language. According to Mozilla’s tests, Firefox Quantum is about two times faster than Firefox 52. Let’s start with the good stuff that everyone will love: Firefox is just faster now.
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