Mozilla cracks down on slow add-ons

SOFTWARE MAKER Mozilla is cracking down on slow add-ons that increase the start-up time of Firefox.

Mozilla discovered that on average each add-on increases Firefox start-up time by 10 per cent, meaning that ten add-ons effectively double the time it takes for Firefox to initially open. In reality some add-ons take less time and others take more, which means that it could take 20 to achieve this for one user and only five for another.

To address this problem Mozilla is introducing automated performance testing on all new versions of add-ons submitted to its database. The company already tests the top 100 add-ons, but rolling out tests to all add-ons will ensure that the performance of less popular ones is monitored.

It will also offer developers on-demand performance testing to help improve their add-ons. Mozilla has updated its performance best practices to encourage developers to improve their add-ons in this regard. The company wants the impact of each add-on on start-up time to be five per cent or less.

Mozilla will be introducing warnings for extremely slow add-ons that add 25 per cent or more to the start-up time of Firefox. This will display in the Add-ons Manager in the upcoming release of Firefox.

The next version of Firefox will also feature a system where third-party add-ons, such as toolbars, must be approved and installed within Firefox itself, helping to eliminate the situation where such software is installed without a user's knowledge. Mozilla believes that these toolbars often have a big impact on Firefox performance and can be hard for some people to uninstall. µ