511964 - optimize session restore session saving for case when many tabs are opened. (was youtube jumpiness)

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 485976

(Firefox :: Session Restore, defect)

Description

[chris hofmann]

I don't know what the optimization might look like or how bad the problem really is, but recording this report seen on 
http://lifehacker.com/5342636/how-to-fix-annoying-youtube-jumpiness-in-firefox

there are also other kinds of bugs that suggests delays in typing, opening new windows, and other user actions that may or may not be related.

lifehacker report.

    Many users, myself included, visit YouTube on an almost daily basis. Ever since Firefox version 2.0 implemented the session restore function, when you are watching a video on YouTube (perhaps on other video sites as well, I haven't really tested that), you may notice a tiny freeze-up of the video every 10 seconds or so. This happens because the session restore is by default set to save all open tabs every 10 seconds. This is especially noticeable if you happen to have a lot of tabs open at once.

    The quick fix for this problem, at least for my own sake, is to increase the time between each of the saves performed by session restore. By opening about:config in your Firefox address bar, then typing browser.sessionstore.interval in the filter box, you'll see a value of 10000, which is in milliseconds. (Meaning your session is saved every 10 seconds.) I changed this to 300000, or every 5 minutes, as I don't have the urgent need for tab restoration. If you feel like being more on the safe side, try increasing it to something a bit lower, say 120000, or every 2 minutes.

We did a bit of research, and it looks like Bernard's not alone with his solution. I've experienced this problem plenty in Firefox, so it's great to see a relatively simple solution, even if it does mean sacrificing a bit in the way of up-to-the-minute session saving. If you give it a try, let's hear if it does the trick for you in the comments (assuming you've experienced this problem in the first place).

Comment 1

[Kyle Huey (Exited; not receiving bugmail, old account, do not use)]

Please reopen if you don't think this is an accurate dupe.

Comment 2

[Shawn Wilsher :sdwilsh]

This may not be a total dupe of bug 485976.  Bug 508740 will be a more proper fix I suspect, but bug 485976 is certainly a good mitigation for the time being.

It's a shame so many people are going to have crappy values for this preference because of this post.  I fear my blog post may have been a factor when I tried to explain why we made the change in bug 485976.

Comment 3

[chris hofmann]

so should we open this bug up again?  I guess we could also wait for the testing results on bug 485976 to if the fix there resolves this problem for the people that see youtube delays?   bug 485976 made it on to the branch that firefoxx 3.6 will ship off, right?

Comment 4

[Shawn Wilsher :sdwilsh]

Yes, it is in 3.6a1

Comment 5

[u279076]

Created a litmus test case specifically for the YouTube issue:
https://litmus.mozilla.org/show_test.cgi?id=9484