Multiple Processes, Commands and More Coming to Firefox

by Sam Dean - Jul. 08, 2009Comments (1)

Since it was first released, one of the Google Chrome browser's claims to fame has been how it splits the work of displaying web pages and running web applications among multiple processes. This makes the browser more stable, and increases performance. Mozilla's Benjamin Smedberg put up a post last month on Electrolysis, an effort at Mozilla to allow the Firefox browser to take advantage of multiple processes. Smedberg confirms there that Mozilla has been looking at this challenge since before Chrome arrived. As Ars Technica reports, multiple processes are indeed coming to Firefox, and should make it more stable and more secure. And that's not all that's coming.

Ars Technica writes:

"According to Mozilla, splitting up the page rendering workload into multiple processes will improve the browser's performance, security, and stability. The developers have already assembled a prototype that renders a page in a separate process from the interface shell in which it is displayed."

Mozilla hasn't confirmed yet that multiple processes will make it into the next version of Firefox, code named Namaroka, but I'm betting that it will. In addition, Mozilla is working on adding the functionality of its Ubiquity project to the next major version of Firefox. Ubiquity lets you enter commands for browser based tasks. For example, you might type "e-mail" and instantly pull up e-mail related options for content you are reading.

Firefox is way ahead of Chrome in terms of the number of extensions available for it, and fully realized cross-platform versions of the browser. Multiple processes will make it even more competitive with Chrome, and I've been using the Ubiquity features within the Ubiquity Firefox extension. Although some people might scoff at using command-line tools within their browsers, it's actually very useful and saves time. There will be lots to look forward to in the next version of Firefox.