Firefox keeps dying

[Webskater]

Most of the stuff I do is in-house type web apps - so I tend to design for IE users. But, recently had to do a public web site so I tried to write stuff that works in all browsers (at least modern ones).

So I test regularly using Firefox 1.5. And, lots of people on here rave about it and say how much better than IE it is. But, I keep finding that, using Firefox, randomly, you click on a hyperlink and nothing happens. You click and click and nothing. It says 'waiting for www.whateversite.com' in the bottom of the browser window. If you refresh the page by clicking Go and then click the link (the one you were just clicking that did not work) - it works okay. Now this is not just on my site. It does it on Google and others.

Having looked on the web there is a load of stuff on this - and recommendations to change various settings. I have tried this but I still have the problem. How widespread is it I wonder?

My question is - what is the point of a web browser that, sometimes, when you click on hyperlinks nothing happens? And, does anyone know a way to fix this?

[ray326]

Do you have some extensions installed? The Firefox programmers are generally more consistent than the extension writers and most problems I've seen like you're seeing are extension or plugin related. Still, everyone knows that Netscape descended browsers have had a couple of consistent lock up modes regardless of their code base. I don't know how they do it. Must be in the specs. :)

[Daniel T]

I've noticed, too, that past releases of Firefox have not been up to par. By this, I mean they consistently crash and eat up large amounts of memory.

One thing in particular that seems to be a problem is memory leaks... because when I run a Java applet that uses over 100mb of RAM, then close the window/tab the Java applet is in, it continues to hog all the memory.

:(

[WebJoel]

I've noticed, too, that past releases of Firefox have not been up to par. By this, I mean they consistently crash and eat up large amounts of memory.

One thing in particular that seems to be a problem is memory leaks... because when I run a Java applet that uses over 100mb of RAM, then close the window/tab the Java applet is in, it continues to hog all the memory.

:(

I'm not 100% sure what you say, but yes, upon occasion I too have noticed that Firefox doesn't shut down cleanly or fully. Even though the browser is closed and I am back at my desktop, doing something else, I can't re-start Firefox. I get a messsage that Firefox is 'still running in the background' so I have to do a Ctrl+Alt+Del and pick it from the list of things still running, and kill it, before I can re-start the browser...

[drhowarddrfine]

My question is - what is the point of a web browser that, sometimes, when you click on hyperlinks nothing happens?Obviously, this is a problem you are having and not others. If this was a constant problem, no one would use it.
One thing in particular that seems to be a problem is memory leaksNot true. As posted elsewhere, Firefox uses as much memory as it can for the cache. This can be adjusted easily but I need to find the link on how to do that.

Perhaps it would be best for you to uninstall Firefox, restart Windows, then re-install FF. I have never had the non-working links problem you talk about.
I tend to design for IE users.
This is bad practice. IE is old, buggy and not very standards compliant. Since you are now writing for the public web, you need to get into the practice of testing in Firefox first. Then you know your code is correct and will probably run in all browsers. Writing for IE means it will, most likely, only run in IE and you will have to try adjusting your buggy code to each of the more modern browsers.

[NogDog]

I noticed FF was dying on me often after viewing a series of pages with Flash objects (such as webdeveloper.com forums :( ). So I disabled Flash by deleting the npswf32.dll and flashplayer.xpt files, and now things seem a lot more stable. (Plus I don't get all those distracting animations in the ads now. :) )

[Webskater]

Obviously, this is a problem you are having and not others. If this was a constant problem, no one would use it.
Not true. As posted elsewhere, Firefox uses as much memory as it can for the cache. This can be adjusted easily but I need to find the link on how to do that.

Perhaps it would be best for you to uninstall Firefox, restart Windows, then re-install FF. I have never had the non-working links problem you talk about.

This is bad practice. IE is old, buggy and not very standards compliant. Since you are now writing for the public web, you need to get into the practice of testing in Firefox first. Then you know your code is correct and will probably run in all browsers. Writing for IE means it will, most likely, only run in IE and you will have to try adjusting your buggy code to each of the more modern browsers.

Hi, Thanks for your comments.

You said in response to my comments about 'what's the point of a browser that when you click on links nothing happens' and you said 'Obviously, this is a problem you are having and not others. If this was a constant problem, no one would use it.' Well, true, obviously not everyone has it, but, a quick search on the web showed me at least hundreds of people who have the same problem and thousands of bits of advice on how to overcome it.

Apart from the problems with links not working from time to time (persistent clicking usually gets them going in the end) I have to say I don't find Firefox the be all and end all that lots of people seem to think it is. I am taking care now to write standards compliant code but Firefox lays stuff out pretty weirdly sometimes and, frustratingly, is not consistent. You get a different page layout every time you click the refresh button. I'm no Microsoft lover, but IE never does this.

[drhowarddrfine]

For a review of just how bad IE is at standards compliance, check my links below and this site. (http://www.webdevout.net/browser_support.php) If it works in IE but not Firefox, then something is wrong with your code. Another place to look is also positioniseverything.net, but there are thousands of sites for fixing IEs bugs and quirks. If you care to go to Microsoft and find their IEBlog, you can read Microsofts own apologies for IEs ineptness, and IE7 won't be much better.

Like I said, when you start writing for the public web, these are things you will have to deal with and the reality is Firefox/Opera/Safari/Konqueror are the better, modern browsers while IE is a cancer on the web.

[Kevey]

Webskater, I am having issues as well with 1.5.0.1. Firefox is crashing and giving me an error message and an option to debug. This usually occurs when I have several tabs (6 max) open at once. If I close and restart it works fine again. I really like FF, but it has been driving me nuts lately.