by markerz on 6/29/24, 7:02 AM
Oh hey, I wrote that last issue linked! What crazy Deja vu. Here’s me discovering the issue that led me to find some wild behavior.
Basically Firefox loaded favicons 4x the number of tabs opened to that website. It would do this every time I opened or closed any tab.
https://aggressivelyparaphrasing.me/2022/12/12/why-does-my-l...
It was resolved a while back so maybe it’s similar symptoms but different root cause, or maybe it’s people using older versions?
by seism on 6/29/24, 6:56 AM
It's an open source project, with a good discussion of the technical issues on GitHub[1]. Probably linked to certain user behaviors, like having hundreds of tabs open, but surely also contingent on the complexity of wedging a browser in iOS. Like maneuvering an excavator into a sandbox.
[1] https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/firefox-ios/issues/12113
by Aardwolf on 6/29/24, 10:02 AM
I thought firefox on ios was just safari with a reskin because apple doesn't allow other browser engines on their phone?
Firefox on android is amazing with its plugin support, though I still prefer their pre-2021 UI
by jepler on 6/29/24, 12:43 PM
The author of this site usually takes pains to obfuscate whatever big commercial entity she's talking about who did dumb stuff. But when it's Firefox, she names names. Huh.
by bennettlp on 6/29/24, 7:57 AM
I remember something similar with Internet Explorer back in the day, where it would ask for the favicon (which we didn’t have setup at the time) so our 404 page would be returned, which then seemed to trigger another request for a favicon. (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
by jb1991 on 6/29/24, 6:53 AM
Interesting. From a user experience, Firefox for iPhone has been a really excellent app, it’s been my preferred browser for years.
by userbinator on 6/29/24, 6:51 AM
It's not part of individual directories. That would be stupid.Having a path-specific favicon actually sounds like a feature.
by alexchamberlain on 6/29/24, 7:44 AM
by perfect_wave on 6/29/24, 6:48 AM
I use Firefox for iPhone. Sorry
At least if probably wastes less energy than messing around with generative AI
by johnp_ on 6/29/24, 12:58 PM
by shantara on 6/29/24, 10:40 AM
I recall seeing some users complain about getting a temp ban on a niche forum when using Firefox for iOS, which was probably caused by this issue.
by yokoprime on 6/29/24, 10:50 AM
I get it, everything adds up and over millions of page-loads there will be a bit of wasted bandwidth. But it seems the original author blew this issue out of proportion with this post. Why even be annoyed by such a minor issue?
by ggm on 6/29/24, 6:33 AM
I have to laugh when the robots fetch the .ico file
by lopkeny12ko on 6/29/24, 12:45 PM
> And yet, this thing decides to beat the shit out of the web server while trying to get it.
This is an exhorbitant exaggeration. They are duplicated requests for a favicon. Not only is that a tiny resource, most of these requests are 404ing which is cheap. And even if it isn't 404, your favicon is a tiny static asset, it should either be served by CDN or in the server's filesystem cache anyways.
by fnord123 on 6/29/24, 8:21 AM
Now let's see the savings from not talking to ad servers and running the Javascript from those trackers.
by justsomehnguy on 6/29/24, 8:01 AM
Makes me wonder what it would do if you throw a couple of 301/307/308 at it.
by mock-possum on 6/29/24, 7:45 AM
Title implies that this article thirdly explains how to waste annoying sysadmins, which is an entertaining prospect.
Are we talking about not putting annoying sysadmins to good use? Or are we talking about, you know, makin sure they don’t cause nobody no trouble again, boss?
by hulitu on 6/29/24, 6:55 AM
> First up, why in the hell do you need to request the same link 12 times? No, scratch that, 15 times, since it does 3 more after getting the css and feed icon.
It makes a debouncing. It compares the result with the previous to be sure it is OK. /s
by globular-toast on 6/29/24, 7:26 AM
This isn't a very constructive post. Are we supposed to believe this is the only inefficient and buggy software out there? Seems weird to call out a particular project like that.