Web Browser Grand Prix 7: Firefox 7, Chrome 14, Opera 11.51

Features
By Adam Overa
published

Mozilla released the hotly-anticipated Firefox 7 two days ago. Does it deliver on the promise of speed and memory improvements? Does Firefox 7 have what it takes to dethrone current Web Browser Grand Prix champion, Google Chrome? Read on to find out!

Standards Conformance

HTML5Test.com

The placing of the HTML5Test.com results remains unchanged from WBGP6. It's still: Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, IE9. Chrome 14 picked up a single point over version 13 though, while Firefox 7 adds eleven points to what we got from Firefox 6.

Ecma test262

Because Ecma test262 is still a work in progress, the scores of all five Web browsers are up since WBGP6. The placing order, however, doesn't change. It's still Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari, and Opera.

Acid3

As we reported earlier this month, Acid3 underwent a few changes, most notably the removal of the SVG fonts portion of the test. Now all five major Web browsers pass the test 100%. Unfortunately, fixing Acid3 also means killing it. Since comparison is now no longer useful, we will be retiring this test from the Web Browser Grand Prix. The Acid3 scores will not be factored into the conformance composite.

Conformance Composite

With no more CSS3 Selectors Test or Acid3, we are only counting areas that still require improvement. So, this time, the composite grades for each of the five Web browsers are expected to plummet.

As expected, all of the scores dropped from what we saw in WBGP6 due to the removal of Acid3. Chrome went from a B+ down to a solid B. Firefox remains a B, but a much lower one. Safari drops from a B to a C. Opera and IE9 both drop from Cs to Ds. Ouch! As you can see, that perfect score in Acid3 was really holding Safari and Opera above water. Chrome, however, remains mostly unaffected.

Adam Overa
131 Comments Comment from the forums
  • gerchokas
    Well done Mozilla!
    Now they could change their famous icon to a more minimalist/modern style and we're done. Speedy AND classy, just like a fire fox.
    Reply
  • shiftmx112
    Enjoy it while you can Firefox fans

    Indeed. I have been quite content with FF8 though.
    Reply
  • soccerdocks
    Until another browser beats Chrome in the speed/performance benchmarks I'm sticking with it.
    Reply
  • iam2thecrowe
    im sticking with IE, its perfectly fast enough and stable and why should I have to install another browser when it works perfectly fine?
    Reply
  • JOSHSKORN
    I'm on FF10. :D Nightly 64-bit!
    Reply
  • compton
    I have to say, I do really like chrome. I stopped using Firefox as much one I tried the chrome beta, and now I use IE9 and chrome all the time. I used opera for a while, but Netflix streaming doesn't work with it, nor do many other sites I use.

    Now that IE is good again, I can't fault anyone for using it in lieu of the others.
    Reply
  • makaveli316
    "Until another browser beats Chrome in the speed/performance benchmarks I'm sticking with it."

    lol people still think they can feel the difference in terms of speed in real world performance and there's still people that doesn't use a browser for their needs and preferences, but just because they have seen some silly benchmark.
    Ridiculous. I bet those are the same people that are always complaining in the forums about crashes, viruses and blue screens.
    Reply
  • killik
    Even better yet,if you use FF7 with the MemoryFox addon,Firefox simply obliterates the competition.try it for yourself.
    Reply
  • killik
    Even better yet,if you use FF7 with the MemoryFox addon,Firefox simply obliterates the competition in the memory management department.try it for yourself.
    Reply
  • frostmachine
    I noticed firefox will use progressively more memory. Even if it's just refreshing the same pages. I use firefox, opera n chrome, keeping them open 24hr/day. It can go from intial 100mb to over 500mb. I don't see this in the other browsers.
    Reply