2015-12-01 Update
xxxterm has been rebranded as Xombrero. I began using Xombrero due to the results in this post and have since started using it for all of my browsing. Xombrero’s performance/footprint has continue to get better over the year (plus) use and the browser has continued to get support and enhancements.
Background
| Date Performed: | 2014-03-27 |
|---|
This post provides the results I found when comparing several of the common browsers available in debian. This list is far from exhaustive, yet it provides a look at some of the common/popular browsers available.
Requirements / Caveats
- Must be a graphical (non-text) browser
- Must support javascript
- No consideration given to flash
- No consideration given to install/disk space
- No consideration given to chrome/chromium
Test Methodology
To test each browser, I open a set of pages in the browser being tested (see Page List) and performed the test specified (see Test Measure list). The results are displayed in the Test Results Matrix.
Page List
- Page 1: very light local html only file (see attachment)
- Page 2: heavy data/javascript page: http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?brand=wxmap&zoom=11&query=Natick%2C+MA
- Page 3: heavy data/javascript page that is local: (my current TiddlyWiki page which is 1.1mb)
- Page 4: light/medium webpage: http://adercon.com/ac/node/114
Test Measure List
- TtL P#: Time to Load Page # (where # is the corresponding page from the Page List) is the time it takes from execution until the page is up and all applicable data on the screen
- MI: Minimal Interface is the ability to show only content and little or no chrome of the browser. This ability is scored as follows:
- 1: cannot - cannot minimize interface and/or interface is not minimal
- 2: some - can minimize some but not all/most
- 3: most - can minimize most but not all
- 4: all - completely minimize all chrome
- MPT P#: MemoryProfile using pmap (total memory)
- MPR P#: MemoryProfile using ps (RSS - ‘used’ memory)
Details
The results of the tests performed are shown below in the Summary (and the Matrix if you want the hard data).
Test Results Summary
luakit, midori, and xxxterm are all comparable with dwb in the same realm but it appears to take a bit of work to get it to a minimal interface like the other three. Qupzilla is not bad as it offers some improvement in memory usage over firefox; however, arora is not in the same league when it comes to being lightweight.
While the top three (luakit, midori, or xxxterm) are all capable of making a nice ‘webapp’ launcher, I would recommend xxxterm as it is enough quicker to launch to make it worthwhile.
Test Results Matrix
| P1 | P2 | P3 | P4 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Browser | MI | TtL P1 | MPT P1 | MPR P1 | TtL P2 | MPT P2 | MPR P2 | TtL P3 | MPT P3 | MPR P3 | TtL P4 | MPT P4 | MPR P4 | TtL Avg | MPT Avg | MPR Avg | Notes | |||||
| luakit | 4 | 0.5 | 1,886,728 | 34,280 | 4.55 | 2,621,632 | 123,836 | 2.4 | 2,112,576 | 69,814 | 2.27 | 2,377,148 | 37,938 | 2.43 | 2,249,521 | 66,467 | very fast startup; not sure why but my instance of this is a LOT slower! | |||||
| midori | 4 | 0.5 | 2,031,720 | 38,784 | 4.3 | 2,737,324 | 104,470 | 2.2 | 2,145,772 | 74,064 | 2.24 | 2,590,920 | 42,508 | 2.31 | 2,376,434 | 64,957 | very fast; slight lag in startup | |||||
| xxxterm | 4 | 0.1 | 1,992,176 | 35,112 | 3.64 | 2,704,401 | 105,132 | 1.7 | 2,104,998 | 69,060 | 1.22 | 2,220,904 | 39,100 | 1.665 | 2,255,620 | 62,101 | for min: -STt; very fast startup | |||||
| dwb | 3 | 0.5 | 1,906,232 | 40,616 | 3.8 | 2,595,912 | 99,116 | 2.11 | 2,127,668 | 72,354 | 1.69 | 2,330,436 | 44,068 | 2.025 | 2,240,062 | 64,039 | start with: -nR; fast startup (maybe slightly slower than xxxterm); I think we can get MI to 4 with some stylesheet work | |||||
| qupzilla | 3 | 1.96 | 1,864,072 | 99,648 | 3.96 | 2,135,780 | 153,146 | 3.09 | 2,000,276 | 128,256 | 2 | 1,947,785 | 103,213 | 2.7525 | 1,986,978 | 121,066 | not a bad browser; cant get rid of nav bar or menu bar (one must be showing) | |||||
| firefox | 2 | 1.45 | 780,244 | 121,092 | 7.37 | 867,496 | 157,501 | 2.61 | 819,532 | 140,065 | 2.5 | 809,828 | 122,653 | 3.4825 | 819,275 | 135,328 | start with: -P tester (this is a new/clean profile with no mods); slow startup; can't get rid of tab bar and nav bar (in nightly anyway) | |||||
| arora | 3 | 10.34 | 2,145,324 | 463,512 | 20.4 | 2,350,557 | 508,921 | 11.31 | 2,170,976 | 490,092 | 10.24 | 2,303,132 | 467,537 | 13.0725 | 2,242,497 | 482,516 | startup is very slow; seems no way to get rid of Menu bar | |||||
Notes
- Firefox is not exactly a light browser but it has been included for comparison purposes
Other Browsers
Other browsers worth mentioning but that did not fit my requirements:
- dillo: a great browser, very fast, but no javascript
- netsurf: interesting and fast browser
- w3m: fast text-based browser (probably already installed on your system)
