Loading in profiles for development section of Contributing to the Firefox Profiler guide is confusing.

I am reading through the Contributing to the Firefox Profiler guide while trying to set up the project locally. loading in profiles for development section briefly confused me because the introductry statement says:

The web app doesn’t include any performance profiles by default, so you’ll need to load some in. Make sure the local Webpack web server is running, and then try one of the following:

Being a newbie, my first interpretation of “and then try one of the following” closing statement was to try one of the steps mentioned in the first three bullet points i.e. one of:

• Use an existing profile from the web: replace the https://profiler.firefox.com with http://localhost:4242 (be careful: the leading https changes to http!).
• Drag in a saved profile to the loading screen (this makes refreshing hard).
• Record a new profile.

instead of trying the steps outlined in the first set of bullet points or the second set of bullet points.

It think it would be less confusing if the statement was modified to “Make sure the local Webpack web server is running, and then try either Method 1 or Method 2”. Then the two methods can be modified to:

Method 1

1. Use an existing profile from the web: replace the https://profiler.firefox.com with http://localhost:4242 (be careful: the leading https changes to http!).
2. Drag in a saved profile to the loading screen (this makes refreshing hard).
3. Record a new profile.

Method 2

1. Open about:config in Firefox.
2. Change devtools.performance.recording.ui-base-url to http://localhost:4242 or to the localhost with the proper port you have configured.
3. Ensure the profiler menu button is active by clicking the button on the profiler.firefox.com homepage to enable it.
4. Record a profile using the menu button, and it should open up in your local environment.

Instead of Method 1 and Method 2, a meaningful name can be used.

I think it will help other beginners following through the set-up instructions from getting confused like me.

[Somaru-chan]

Following the advice kindly provided by @mstange, I’ve edited a few things emphasized in italic:

“…and then try one of the following methods:” 1- Record a profile: if you are setting up your environment for the first time. 2- Use an existing profile: using a profile that’s been shared with you.

1- Record a profile:

• Open about:config in Firefox.
• Change devtools.performance.recording.ui-base-url to http://localhost:4242. Or to the localhost with the proper port you have configured.
• Ensure the profiler menu button is active by clicking the button on the profiler.firefox.com homepage to enable it.
• Record a profile using the menu button, and it should open up in your local environment.

2- Use an existing profile:

• On the web, replace the https://profiler.firefox.com with your existing profile URL.
• Alternatively, if a profile has been previously downloaded, drag and drop it to the loading screen (this may hinder refreshing).

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How does this sound?

[Somaru-chan]

How about:

“…and then try one of the following methods:” 1- Record a profile: if you are setting up your environment for the first time. 2- Use an existing profile from the web: using a profile that’s been shared with you.

1- Record a profile:

• Open about:config in Firefox.
• Change devtools.performance.recording.ui-base-url to http://localhost:4242 or to the localhost with the proper port you have configured.
• Ensure the profiler menu button is active by clicking the button on the profiler.firefox.com homepage to enable it.
• Record a profile using the menu button, and it should open up in your local environment.

2- Use an existing profile from the web:

• Replace the https://profiler.firefox.com with http://localhost:4242 (be careful: the leading https changes to http!).
• Drag in a saved profile to the loading screen (this makes refreshing hard).
• Record a new profile.

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I’m not sure if the brief description of “Record a profile” is sufficient or requires editing. Any feedback is welcome 👍