Scroll performance

suser · Post by **suser** » June 2nd, 2008, 12:06 pm

Of course I cant speak for others, but at least here enabling or disabling smooth scrolling does not have any impact at all on the performance issue. So personally I'd assume smooth scrolling isnt really involved here.

KevL · Post by **KevL** » June 2nd, 2008, 6:28 pm

Enabling or disabling smooth scrolling makes no difference on my computer. Firefox is simply slow as treacle compared to Opera, Konqueror or any other browser I've tried. I'm certain there is a Microsoft mole in the development team.
Looking for fault in computer hardware or other software settings serves no purpose. It's hiding your head in the sand. Simply put, Firefox USED to work on this computer. Now it doesn't.
Therefore... the problem lies squarely with Firefox.
I'm using Opera now, but would much prefer Firefox as one or two web pages I use don't behave properly in Opera.

Kev

schapel · Post by **schapel** » June 2nd, 2008, 7:55 pm

No one is trying to find fault in computer hardware or other software settings. We all recognize the performance problem with Firefox. I simply realized that a problem with smooth scrolling may make the problem worse, and by fixing that problem we could possibly make the situation tolerable for users. Sorry for trying to help.

watervole02 · Post by **watervole02** » June 2nd, 2008, 9:18 pm

For me, disabling smooth scrolling doesn't get rid of the lag, but it does make it more bearable (fine except for redraws).

schapel · Post by **schapel** » June 2nd, 2008, 9:46 pm

On my 4-year-old Pentium 4, disabling smooth scrolling makes scrolling several times faster on the example pages posted. Scrolling shouldn't actually be slower with smooth scrolling on; the fact that it is is <a href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=202718">bug 202718</a>. If disabling smooth scrolling causes Firefox to scroll faster for you, please vote for that bug report. I'll request that the problem be fixed for Firefox 3. This won't do anything about the scrolling speed when smooth scrolling is off, but at least getting that bug fixed will make it so it's not even slower than it already is when smooth scrolling is on.

watervole02 · Post by **watervole02** » June 2nd, 2008, 10:04 pm

That bug is pretty old though. The scrolling problems in this thread appear to be specific to firefox 3. This bug is the closest I could find: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=418948

teoli2003 · Post by **teoli2003** » June 3rd, 2008, 12:47 am

@schapel: do you know if there is a meta-bug for that problem? It is now clear that the bad feeling comes from a whole set of bugs: some will be fixed by the new Compositor, others are specific case introduced in Fx 3 that, properly identified, may lead to patch in a 3.0.x .

schapel · Post by **schapel** » June 3rd, 2008, 4:52 am

watervole02 wrote:That bug is pretty old though. The scrolling problems in this thread appear to be specific to firefox 3. This bug is the closest I could find: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=418948

Yes, for the last time, they are two separate bugs. The bug reported in this thread is new to Firefox 3 and will not be fixed for Firefox 3. The <a href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=202718">smooth scrolling bug</a> has been around for a long time, but it makes <i>any</i> scrolling speed problem <i>worse</i> and can be fixed for Firefox 3.

teoli2003 wrote:@schapel: do you know if there is a meta-bug for that problem? It is now clear that the bad feeling comes from a whole set of bugs: some will be fixed by the new Compositor, others are specific case introduced in Fx 3 that, properly identified, may lead to patch in a 3.0.x .

The meta bug for slow scrolling bugs is <a href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=100951">bug 100951</a>. I think switching to the cairo engine made some pre-existing scrolling speed problems worse, and it will likely take Compositor to truly fix them.

teoli2003 · Post by **teoli2003** » June 3rd, 2008, 11:34 pm

Thank you,

FYI, I have filled https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=437178 for a specific slow scrolling with NVidia and hardware acceleration (with comparison with an Intel chipset not showing the same regression).

schapel · Post by **schapel** » June 4th, 2008, 4:00 am

That's another tip that can help... hardware acceleration on some video cards can cause excessive CPU usage. I've created the article http://kb.mozillazine.org/Scrolling_is_slow with all the information from this thread and other information I've been able to find.

wolfpackfan · Post by **wolfpackfan** » June 4th, 2008, 10:07 am

Well I've tried it with both smooth scrolling on and off and when on the scrolling becomes more jumpy. When off, it is still pretty bad. Basically I'm staying with FF2 until this is fixed or until IE8 comes out, whichever comes first. I tried both Opera and Safari and they both had problems with various websites I frequent. So it's either FF or IE.

iwod · Post by **iwod** » June 9th, 2008, 9:30 pm

i have this problem and it is getting very serious that i have to chim in as well

tuaw.com scroll VERY slow for me.

Anyone else have same experience.

teoli2003 · Post by **teoli2003** » June 9th, 2008, 9:40 pm

Those having the slowliness problem should report it to hendrix.mozilla.org . But be sure to give numbers comparing with 2.0.0.14 so that devs can judge if it is "expected" or not. Gives also graphic card and drivers numbers.

lakrids · Post by **lakrids** » June 10th, 2008, 4:52 am

iwod wrote:tuaw.com scroll VERY slow for me.

Anyone else have same experience.

I can confirm this. At the bottom of the page, the scrolling is really HORRIBLE...
Fx3 RC2
winxp sp2

schapel · Post by **schapel** » June 10th, 2008, 4:56 am

Did you try the suggestions at http://kb.mozillazine.org/Scrolling_is_slow