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Firefox 57's Speed Secret? Delaying Requests from Tracking Domains (zdnet.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the Quantum-improvements dept.

An anonymous reader quotes ZDNet: A Mozilla engineer has revealed one of the hidden techniques that Firefox 57 -- known as Quantum -- is using to improve page load times... It delays scripts from tracking domains, such as www.google-analytics.com. The technique was developed by Mozilla engineer Honza Bambas, who calls it "tailing". It works by delaying scripts from tracking domains when a page is actively loading and rendering...

Tailing only briefly prevents the tracking scripts loading, rather than disabling them entirely. Page load performance is improved by saving on network bandwidth and computing resources while loading a page, in a way that prioritizes site requests over tracking requests. "Requests are kept on hold only while there are site sub-resources still loading and only up to about 6 seconds. The delay is engaged only for scripts added dynamically or as async. Tracking images are always delayed. This is legal according all HTML specifications and it's assumed that well built sites will not be affected regarding functionality," explains Bambas.

11 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Clickbait article. Not related to speed by not+flu · · Score: 3, Informative

    It isn't a false sense of speed at all, you really are getting the content you actually want faster.

  2. Re:But ... by Aighearach · · Score: 5, Informative

    Too bad some websites have noticed the NoScripters and made their website unusable once your disable JS execution.

    I say to them, Thank you! I'm glad we agree that it is best if I use another site. Everybody wins!

    Lets not fight about this adblock stuff. Not everybody agrees, and that is wonderful, it is a sign of Freedom. There is no need to be passive-aggressive and make the site appear to work at first, and then fail later when you get to the heart of the content. Detect what is detectable, and be honest and straightforwards; if you don't want me as a user, great! I can agree to that, no problem!

  3. Re:Save even more time and block them altogether by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    You can enable this in Options/Preferences > Privacy & Security > Tracking Protection, fyi.

  4. Ghostery and Privacy Badger by baomike · · Score: 3, Informative

    I notice that no one has mentioned these, why not?

    1. Re:Ghostery and Privacy Badger by Misagon · · Score: 3, Informative

      I saw "Google Analytics" listed as one of the sites that Firefox delays. I run Privacy Badger in Chromium, so I checked quickly what it blocks on this site and apparently, Slashdot uses Google Analytics but Privacy Badger does not block it.
      I suppose that there could be lots of other sites that are let through but which Firefox prioritises down when loading.
      This means that running Privacy Badger is not a replacement for the prioritisation scheme that Firefox is doing.

      --
      "We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
    2. Re:Ghostery and Privacy Badger by theweatherelectric · · Score: 1, Informative

      Probably because Firefox 57 broke almost every single plug-in

      Ghostery and Privacy Badger both work with Firefox 57+ and so do 7,799 other add-ons. Your narrative doesn't hold up.

    3. Re:Ghostery and Privacy Badger by Sannemen · · Score: 4, Informative

      Ghostery, probably because it keeps you private while, guess what?, selling your data... https://www.ghostery.com/faqs/...

  5. Who is going to write the mod? by Required+Snark · · Score: 3, Informative
    The one that doesn't even send the tracking data back, or even better sends random results?

    It's not like any of us asked to be tracked, or get any benefit out of it. Our online existence has become a huge source of income while government and big business know far too much about our private lives. Maybe we should be taking the initiative to "opt out" of tracking in a way that will make a real difference.

    --
    Why is Snark Required?
  6. Re:With adblocking this is not even an issue. by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Informative

    An advertising site serves ads. A tracking site tracks you.

    To clarify:

    Advert: a picture, movie, or some text, intended to impart a message not associated with the core article, that is there because someone paid for it to be shown.

    Tracking: the act of determining a user's path through a website or collection of websites. Typically used by marketing departments to determine the success of a page in terms of keeping users engaged within a so-called 'funnel', a series of webpages that delivers a user to a store front, sometimes by UI designers and developers to debug usability issues.

    Does this help?

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  7. Re:With adblocking this is not even an issue. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    don't run the default... duh.

    abp only enables easylist by default.

    https://adblockplus.org/subscr...

    you should run easylist+easyprivacy, any easylist specific to your country, fanboy annoyances, then whatever extras near the bottom of that list you want (nocoin, malware domains, spam404, etc).

  8. Re:Really kill those third party user trackers by Pieroxy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Exactly what Apple has done with Safari, on both iOS and OSX. Except that Apple enabled the option by default.

    --
    Write boring code, not shiny code!