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Topic: Browser

SunSpider JavaScript benchmark and ACID 3 compatibility charts - Firefox 3.0 RC 3 and Opera 9.50 added

Summary: Time to add Firefox 3.0 RC 3 and Opera 9.50 to my SunSpider JavaScript benchmark and ACID 3 compatibility charts. How do these new browsers compare to the rest?

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

By for Hardware 2.0 |

Time to add Firefox 3.0 RC 3 and Opera 9.50 to my SunSpider JavaScript benchmark and ACID 3 compatibility charts. How do these new browsers compare to the rest?

SunSpider JavaScript benchmark

This latest run of the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark was carried out on the same hardware and software platform as previous tests (to make sure nothing had changed we re-ran some of the browsers to check that we got the same results).

Here are the results:

[poll id=308]

This is the first time that I've not seen a release of Firefox 3.0 being faster than the previous release - the speed of Firefox 3.0 RC3 is virtually identical to that of Firefox 3.0 RC1 (within the tolerances of the test at any rate). On the other hand, Opera 9.50 final shows dramatic improvement over the betas. However, Opera has a long way to go to catch up with Firefox and Safari.

ACID 3

I also took the opportunity to put each browser up against the ACID 3 CSS compliance test.

Here are the results:

Opera 9.50 final takes the crown, scoring an 83.

Thoughts?

Topic: Browser

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36 comments
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  • My Java 6 in Advanced is pulling off three other java proteges.

    It seems to be broke-in an in stalled correctly.
    rtirman37@...
    Reply Vote

  • RE: SunSpider JavaScript benchmark and ACID 3 compatibility charts - Firefox 3.0 RC 3 and Opera 9.50 added

    We ported our application to use the Google Web Toolkit, which generates quite a lot of Javascript code. Boy does our application fly on Firefox and Safari. Will definitely be recommending heavily that users access our application through one of these browsers.
    Stephen.Smith@...
    Reply Vote

  • Speed Is Always An Issue

    This is something Microsoft just doesn't get. Whether its operating systems or browsers, speed counts. I love my Firefox.
    chessmen
    Reply Vote

    • And compatibility

      I'm building a web app with a siht load of Javascript, and it abuses the DOM quite heavily.

      FF3 absolutely flies through it, without even blinking, and without having changed a single line of code ANYWHERE.

      IE, on the other hand .....
      fr0thy2
      Reply Vote

  • Anyone know of a utility to auto-refresh a single FRAME in a web page ?

    Firefox and Opera will do an entire page refresh, but that screws up the page. I need it to refresh just ONE specified frame.

    IE is a lost cause on this I've determined.
    BitTwiddler
    Reply Vote

  • speed is nice, but...

    ...for businesses and government entities, the primary concern is security. The more secure the browser, the better.

    For personal use, perhaps you would prefer speed because you falsely assume your OS is immune to malware attacks. Once your box has been pwned, your tune will likely change.

    Having used both Opera and Firefox for quite some time in both Windows and 'nix environs, I can state that both are excellent browsers, and superior in nearly every way to IE.

    Of the two, my preference is for Opera. In my experience, I have found them to be the most responsive to security issues of the two camps. Your mileage may vary, but as long as you have a more secure alternative to IE, that is my primary concern.

    For the record, I am not paid by anyone who develops for Opera, Firefox, Apple, or M$. My opinion is solely based upon my own experience.
    srobtjones@...
    Reply Vote

    • The downside

      is when your users have to switch between IE7 and your preferred browser. I've used FF3 since beta 4 (didn't like FF2) and I love it, but I still have to go back to IE7 for some sites. It's unfortunate but that's how it is. It makes supporting another browser in a large corporate environment a huge pain.
      LiquidLearner
      Reply Vote

  • It would be nice ...

    ... if some Mac blogger could do some similar tests in OS X (10.4 or 10.5) running on PPC and Intel HW.

    I tried FF 2, FF 3 RC # (1 or 2 don't remember), Opera 9.5 and Safari 3.1 on OS X Tiger PPC. The first two suck, are slow and constantly increase the CPU usage. The latter two are far faster. I installed Opera 9.5 when it was available and it is really memory efficient (more than Safari) and fast.

    Adrian, didn't you spend your hard earned money on a Mac mini? In case you did not leave it collecting dust, could you do some comparison at least on Intel HW?
    markbn
    Reply Vote

  • I am thinking how many people

    will choose Firefox 3 simply because of the ability to customize, not aware of the amount of customization that Opera allows.

    Also, I continue to be bewildered by the number of sites that give me the 'unsupported browser' notice, when your tests show (along with others) that Opera, the browser I've used for quite some time, is the most standards compliant. If websites were simply coded to the standards, all the browsers would have to fall in line, and then could be judged on other merits.

    More than that, why have standards if so many simply ignore them?
    chrome_slinky@...
    Reply Vote

    • why have standards if so many simply ignore them?

      It was/is a Microsoft tactic to support non-standard extensions that broke non-MS browsers. The hope/expectation was/is that if enough people experience enough problems with enough sites using FF, et. al., they'll come swarming back to IE. Under pressure, MS is apparently planning to abandon this pernicious tactic in IE8.
      Henry Miller
      Reply Vote

  • RE: SunSpider JavaScript benchmark and ACID 3 compatibility charts - Firefox 3.0 RC 3 and Opera 9.50 added

    Why do people still use OPERA & FIREFOX? It sucks. AVANT RULES!!!
    bananatwinkie
    Reply Vote

  • RE: SunSpider JavaScript benchmark and ACID 3 compatibility charts - Firefo

    I use Opera on Fedora and is the fastest one I have ever used...tho opera in windows is a bit slow...
    vvvijaya
    Reply Vote

  • RE: SunSpider JavaScript benchmark and ACID 3 compatibility charts - Firefox 3.0 RC 3 and Opera 9.50 added

    While speed is a concern there are still one or two things Opera could do to win me over. Main thing is allow multiple tabs as a "home page". While Opera does let you have multiple tabs going you can still only have one as a start when you fire it up.
    lyndonap@...
    Reply Vote

    • Sessions = multiple tabs as homepage

      Using multiple tabs (and even windows) as a home page can be easily be achieved in Opera:
      1. Open all the tabs in as many windows as you would like.
      2. Choose File > Sessions > Save this session
      3. Give it a name and check "Show theses tabs and windows everytime I start Opera"
      4. Click OK
      Done.
      fearphage
      Reply Vote

  • Firefox should really improve on compatibility

    I think the score of Firefox on compatibility is still somewhat disappointing. The king of open source browsers should be above 95 % compatibility, if not at 100 %.

    After all, don't we all want 100 % compatibility for all browsers? Open source should be a shining example in this.

    Furthermore, the SQLite problem for Firefox 3 on Linux isn't entirely solved yet: it's therefore still best to disable the warnings for attack sites and forgery sites, in the Security section of the Preferences of Firefox 3.

    Greeting, Pjotr.
    pjotr123
    Reply Vote

  • Rest of the story on compatibility?

    Is there another aspect to compatibility with "Microsoft" written on it? Over the past few years, I've run into several e-commerce sites and a few other sites that work with IE7 but not with FF2. Does FF3 improve that situation?

    A related problem that drove me to IE7: FF2 does a lousy job printing some sites, omitting or truncating text (especially bad between pages). Has this been improved?
    w_c_mead
    Reply Vote

  • Yes, but really only one to be avoided.

    Opera VS FireFox, do I care about 15 msec difference in rendering a picture or spawning that applet, no (meaning whats 1 second vs 1.015 sec).

    I think MS needs to get the optimization engines out for IE8 though, 3Xs slower isn't going to cut it. Anyone here still use IE7 except when they have to?

    TripleII
    TripleII-21189418044173169409978279405827
    Reply Vote

  • take a math course in precision

    2387 POINT 4 !
    Come on. 2387 is good enough.
    The POINT 4 is silly and shows that you have no clue about arithmetic precision.
    davebarnes
    Reply Vote

    • The makers of SunSpider ...

      ... don't seem to think so ...

      Do you suggest I take the figures and round? Why? To save on bandwidth?
      Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
      Reply Vote

  • RE: SunSpider JavaScript benchmark and ACID 3 compatibility charts - Firefo

    Who cares I have comcast and my browser does everything i need it to in a matter of seconds...idk what you dorks are doing but for the average user the browser is fine
    MRD.
    Reply Vote
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