Apart from an update of the code base to Firefox 9.0.1, this release includes the following:
- Under the hood changes and improvements to the way memory is handled by the Javascript engine.
- WebGL has been changed to use ANGLE by default instead of using native OpenGL to give better performance on a number of systems that would otherwise suffer from high CPU usage and lower frame rates.
- Change in compiler: from this point on, Visual Studio 2010 will be used for all "next gen" builds.
- Build environment changed to cater to the ever-growing XUL dll size without having to compromize on what modules to optimize. (Prevent running into the 3GB address space limit)
- DNS prefetching disabled by default to prevent router hangups
- Changes to timings for UI script execution and content script execution to prevent unnecessary dialog popups about unresponsive scripts.
- Some image decoding tweaks.
- Eye candy: animated preferences dialog (resize when switching category).
(Source: http://www.softwarecrew.com/2012/01/pale-moon-9-0-introduces-new-firefox-speedups/)Softwarecrew wrote:When we tested both browsers at Dromaeo, for instance, Pale Moon 9.0.1 took a major lead in the important DOM tests, with a 37% advantage on DOM Attributes, and a 33% lead on the DOM Queries benchmark. It also scored well on the math and logic tests. And while the story elsewhere was more mixed, Dromaeo still gave Pale Moon 9.0.1 an overall performance lead of 9% over Firefox (that’s up from a 5.8% advantage when we tested version 8.0).
Surprisingly, SunSpider 0.9.1 delivered even better results, with improved string and date operations in particular helping Pale Moon to a 9.5% lead over Firefox (that’s up from 1.8% last time).