Browser speed comparison - help!

[gavin19]

I don't think I've ever deliberately used IE unless I had to so I'm not including it here. I have used Opera, Firefox and Chrome/Chromium on a pretty much equal basis over the past year or so, with Chrome probably taking the lead.

What I've found is that published browser speed comparisons just measure javascript/css rendering speeds (although I could be wrong). Basically I find that when comparing loading of the complete page FF/Opera are roughly on a par depending on releases, while Chrome which is supposed to be the fastest by quite a stretch, is invariably the slowest.

I found this site - Link Removed - Invalid URL which allows you to compare complete page load times. Using the latest stable builds of all 3 aforementioned browsers with Tucows shows FF/Opera loading the site in 3-4 seconds, while Chrome takes almost 10.

I was wondering if anyone else would care to run a few tests themselves to compare? I was running the test with the various links provided under the url box at the site like Yahoo, Tucows etc but it's all relative I guess.

 

[cybercore]

I found this site - Link Removed - Invalid URL which allows you to compare complete page load times. Using the latest stable builds of all 3 aforementioned browsers with Tucows shows FF/Opera loading the site in 3-4 seconds, while Chrome takes almost 10.

My preference is Opera, comfortable and fast. Sorry for not doing tests.

Link Removed due to 404 Error, I like it.

 

[gavin19]

My preference is Opera, comfortable and fast. Sorry for not doing tests.

Link Removed due to 404 Error, I like it.

Thanks. I always wanted to be able to search various sites by highlighting text though most browsers support this now anyway, though maybe not as customisable.

I have gone back to Opera, especially since I found Opera Launcher which makes it easy to hide the Title Bar. Also the new 'Hide Menu Bar' in Opera saves even more space so now it uses exactly the same amount as Chrome/Chromium, though they have the advantage of Jumplists where Opera/FF do not (yet).

 

[cybercore]

Thanks. I always wanted to be able to search various sites by highlighting text though most browsers support this now anyway, though maybe not as customisable.

I have gone back to Opera, especially since I found Opera Launcher which makes it easy to hide the Title Bar. Also the new 'Hide Menu Bar' in Opera saves even more space so now it uses exactly the same amount as Chrome/Chromium, though they have the advantage of Jumplists where Opera/FF do not (yet).

Yes, very good extension. Talking about Opera 10, I find it better but still missing features. Why didn't they listen to users and make visual tabs showcase-like, why didn't they provide better cookie management with white and black lists, where's SOCKS5 support ? I am quite satisfied with as it is, but sometimes I do think of those features.

Could there be a way to compose Opera button to show/hide visual tabs ?

 

[gavin19]

Yes, very good extension. Talking about Opera 10, I find it better but still missing features. Why didn't they listen to users and make visual tabs showcase-like, why didn't they provide better cookie management with white and black lists, where's SOCKS5 support ? I am quite satisfied with as it is, but sometimes I do think of those features.

Could there be a way to compose Opera button to show/hide visual tabs ?

The SOCKS5 and cookie features don't bother me at all but they would have been welcome additions. The showcase thing I don't have any experience of. I did use that Firefox Showcase extension ages ago but I can barely remember what it actually did. You know that tabs can be dragged up/down to show a visual representation of the page now?

Link Removed

Maybe you mean something else altogether

 

[cybercore]

Yes, I know about the visual tabs, that I can place them Top/Bottom/Left/Right:

Link Removed

I mean it is inconvenient to every time drag the mouse to stretch them and then to manually close them when you click the needed tab. Besides, the previews look messed when there are like 12 tabs open.


Opera Button - can't find now, but I know some users can make custom buttons to perform certain opera actions.




The FF Showcase is Link Removed.

 

[gavin19]

I mean it is inconvenient to every time drag the mouse to stretch them and then to manually close them when you click the needed tab. Besides, the previews look messed when there are like 12 tabs open.

Opera Button - can't find now, but I know some users can make custom buttons to perform certain opera actions.

The FF Showcase is Link Removed.

I don't really see the point in Showcase unless you have a whole mass of tabs opened, maybe I'm missing the point. I did try it though and I guess I could see the benefits in some situations but I just don't really care for visual tabs. I f I want to see the site I'll just click the tab itself! For the few times that I do have a lot of tabs open I just Ctrl+tab through them, which gives a thumbnail of each tab as you cycle through them.

If you use 'Hide Menu Bar' then you can get the 'File, Edit, View' replaced by a small drop-down menu which is placed to the left of your tabs, saves a lot of space. You could also try Opera 10 Slim to save space too especially if you are dragging the tabs down, although it's not exactly the prettiest skin you'll ever see. Also you could remove that Google search bar altogether and just use the address bar to search Google, like 'g Windows'.

There is a button maker widget for Opera but there is very little guidance on how to use it. You basically need to know about shortcut commands and the internal code of Opera to be able to make good use of it. Pretty much the single best page to learn from is here, but compared to Firefox it's a lot harder to learn and there's much less help about when you do get stuck on something.

 

[cybercore]

I don't really see the point in Showcase unless you have a whole mass of tabs opened, maybe I'm missing the point.

You sure do see the point which is "a whole mass of tabs opened." For example, 10.

I did try it though and I guess I could see the benefits in some situations but I just don't really care for visual tabs. I f I want to see the site I'll just click the tab itself! For the few times that I do have a lot of tabs open I just Ctrl+tab through them, which gives a thumbnail of each tab as you cycle through them.

I quite often use the new Ctr-Tab with the preview, very cute.

There is a button maker widget for Opera but there is very little guidance on how to use it. You basically need to know about shortcut commands and the internal code of Opera to be able to make good use of it. Pretty much the single best page to learn from is here, but compared to Firefox it's a lot harder to learn and there's much less help about when you do get stuck on something.

Thank you for the links.