On Thu, 2015-08-27 at 20:12 +0200, Andras Simon wrote:
2015-08-27 18:11 GMT+02:00, Patrick O'Callaghan < pocallaghan@gmail.com>:
On Thu, 2015-08-27 at 22:54 +0930, Tim wrote:
On Tue, 2015-08-04 at 12:40 +0200, Roberto Ragusa wrote:
This abandoned extension is incredibly useful:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/61ovoc4hzgtm0qf/Suspend-background-ta bs-m aster.xpi?dl=0
Javascript is disabled for all background tabs, so they won't use CPU time anymore.
I always wondered why that sort of thing wasn't the default. Other than listening to some music being played from a backgrounded tab, you can't do much with a web page that you're not currently looking at. It doesn't seem practical to let it suck up your CPU while you're trying to do other things.
Currently Firefox tabs are not separate processes. Mozilla has been working on it for a while now but it will mean a change to the add -ons system. See http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/08/mozil la-sets-plan-to-dump-firefox-add-ons-move-to-chrome-like -extensions/
I don't think it follows from this that javascript running in background tabs couldn't be suspended. Actually, the existence of the extension Roberto mentioned above seems to prove that they can.
No doubt that is true, but my point is that Mozilla are working on a more comprehensive change so I doubt they'll bother with an interim solution such as this. Especially as they could have done it at any time in the past.
poc