I fixed slow loading showthread (kind of)

[jackbox]

I was noticing that the showthread.php script (i.e. the one you use to view threads) was loading very slowly when using Internet Explorer. A lot of my forum's users also reported this. I tried and tried to remove and compress the page, but it made little difference. I then tried removing the quick reply box (remove $quickreply from SHOWTHREAD) and hey presto! it now loads very fast.

This is just a tip I thought I would share in case anyone else ones to try it. It's a big drastic (quick reply is useful) but it works very well!

[Andy]

Thanks jackbox.

There have been many threads noting that there is a problem with Quick Reply.

I have many pictures in some of my threads. Its those threads that get slowed down when Quick Reply is activated.

What happens is the pictures get loaded first before the thread is shown, so if there are 10 pictures in a thread it takes a long time before the thread is displayed. That leads a user to think the connection is lost or there is something wrong with the server.

I have disabled Quick Reply until the problem is resolved.

[Scott MacVicar]

it was resolved in beta 7.

As soon as the HTML is loaded the script starts.

[RichM]

I tried it and when i disabled quick reply i did notice a big speed increase. However i NEED quick reply enabled, so disabling it is not an option for me.

I am using VB3 Beta 7, so i don't see how it was fixed in this version as i am still getting this problem.

[Andy]

Scott,

The problem is not fixed! I'm testing this on beta 7. My thread has about 10 posts with each one having a inline image using the [img] tags. Each picture is about 12" wide about 200k average. The pictures are not cached. If the pictures are cached, there is no problem.

With Quick Reply enabled, all the pictures have to load into memory and the thread is not displayed for up to a minute.

With Quick Reply disabled, the thread loads immediately and the pictures come in one by one.

[kyle0515]

Scott,

I'm having this same problem and am currently running beta 7. It seems to only affect IE users. I would be more than happy to set up a test admin or user acct. for you (or any of the other devs) so you can verify that there is a HUGE difference in how my (and obviously some other's) board loads when QR is enabled. Just let me know.

[Erwin]

It's the Javascript that has be loaded for quick reply in WYSIWYG. Maybe disable WYSIWYG. That should speed things up.

[Andy]

Sorry Erwin, I don't use the WYSIWYG editor. It has too many problems also.

[GMTalk]

Any further information on this? My users are complaining. I have disabled WYSIWYG, enabled gzip compression. Have done every trick that i can think of less removing QR. Users will not like that and will be quite upset if I remove it.

I have noticed that this site is slow also. I am on 6mb dsl line and header loads then about6 - 8 seconds later the rest shows. On my site it is similar with load time of 8 - 10 seconds on average. Some of the dial up users are getting far slower responses.

[RichM]

Bumping this...
I would like more info on this too, it is doing my head in and our rivals are saying we have slow servers because of it lol...
Quick reply is defiantly the cause, but i cannot disable it due to high demand. I hope this get's fixed in the next release anyhow.

[Erwin]

One way to fix this would be for the developers to include an option to use WYSIWYG for the Normal Reply, but to disable it for Quick Reply, and just have Quick Reply as a basic no JS text input box.

[SlackerAPM]

Erwin's right. To me quick reply should be the most basic of features, hence it being quick. When performance issues arise due to WYSIWIG/Quick Reply it detracts from the "quick" part

[GMTalk]

Actually i have removed some of the code that was in the vbulletin_quickreply.js and it has increased the speed of the showthread page. I have tested and retested, except in hybrid and threaded mode, since that is not utilized as much on the site.

I know I can not post that information on here unfortunately.

Of course I do agree with Erwin on this and QR should be basic with no JS input box.

[GMTalk]

Actually tested it out and it is just as quick in Threaded and Hybrid modes as well. Now I am not a js guru by anymeans. More like a novice. I have tested this out in NS7.1, IE6, Opera 7 Firebird. All noticably faster. I reinstated the old vbulletin_quickreply.js and it slowed it down, mostly on IE.

[Erwin]

Feel free to PM me with the changes. I'm interested to know what you did.

I've tried to disable WYSIWYG for just the QR box, but it's harder than I thought to do, with all the JS floating around.