Found one way to get a bit of a speed boost on Firefox–grab one of the Mac CPU optimized compilations from Neil Lee’s BeatnikPad site.
Neil offers versions of Firefox 2 compiled for G4, G5 and Intel CPUs…with standard form widgets or “aqua†widgets (which bring the look and feel of Firefox closer to the typical Mac application).
I put the G4 version on my older Powerbook and an Intel version on my MacPro. In both cases I could see an increase in speed and recommend Neil’s work. You’ll notice when you install one of these versions, the name changes from Firefox to Bon Echo and the icon’s a bit different. To quote from Neil’s blog:
“The Firefox name and icon are copyrighted and cannot be used with non-official builds. These are non-official builds, so they cannot have the official branding. Pretty straight-forward. Please don’t ask me to build versions with the official branding.â€
Any extension or plugin you’ve installed for Firefox 2 will show up and work as advertised in one of these BonEcho builds.