For quite some time now, Google Chrome has been the go-to browser for the vast majority of internet users. What made Chrome stand out was its speed and simplicity, especially at a time when Firefox felt like it was getting slower and heavier with every update. But times have changed.
Developers of Mozilla Firefox, have been pretty busy over the course of past couple of years. Last October, Mozilla announced its Project Quantum, as their effort to create a next-generation engine for modern computers. This year, they have launched several major improvements to Firefox that have made it better than ever — fixed 468 bugs that were slowing down the Firefox browser; enabled multi-process in Firefox browser, striking the right balance between speed and memory usage. In addition, they have launched game-changing features like WebAssembly and WebVR, enabling super fast, near-native performance for web apps on the desktop and on VR headsets.
Now this week, Mozilla released a new web browser what it claims is the fastest Firefox ever.
Firefox Quantum vs. Google Chrome – Which One Is Faster?
Mozilla claims its new browser is twice as fast as last year’s Firefox and is often noticeably faster than Google Chrome. Here is a short video released by Mozilla, comparing Firefox Quantum and Chrome on various websites.
Why is Firefox Quantum so fast?
Firefox has historically run mostly on just one CPU core, but Firefox Quantum takes advantage of multiple CPU cores in today’s desktop and mobile devices much more effectively. This improved utilization of your computer’s hardware makes Firefox Quantum dramatically faster.
Project Quantum and its new Features:
- As Mozilla calls it, the users are expected to experience a “quantum leap” in the performance. One will be able to scroll through the web pages smoothly, the loading will dramatically decrease, and you will be able to use complex interactive apps with more fluidity.
- Quantum prioritizes the loading of your active tabs. “We’ve also improved Firefox so that the tab you’re actively using downloads and runs before other tabs you have open in the background,” the company said in a blog post, noting that the process “results in Firefox Quantum often being faster than Chrome while consuming roughly 30% less RAM.”
- Firefox Quantum is powered by a new proprietary CSS engine, Quantum CSS, which claims to incorporate a feature called “style sharing cache,” inspired by Chrome and Safari, to further speed up the browser and reduce the RAM it demands.
- Apart from improving the performance, Mozilla has improved the Firefox UI via Project Photon. The new browser boasts an interface redesign featuring square tabs (getting rid of its rounded tabs), smoother animations, menus that change size based on the fact that you touch with a finger or click with a mouse, and extensions (like Chrome’s). This design also introduces a Library, which is home to all the saved content, including bookmarks, browsing history, downloads, screenshots, tabs, and Pocket.
- Mozilla will also recommend sites you might be interested in and there will be a screenshot tool that generates a link, allowing you to share the image on Twitter or email.
The new browser, called Firefox Quantum (or, Firefox 57) will be releasing on November 14, 2017, which is now available in beta and developer editions for desktop, Android, and iOS.
Now, it’s time to give Firefox another chance!
