Do XenForo sites lag that much?

Luxus

Well-known member
Allright, after I saw this occuring on one, two sites, I initially thought it's only due to their server. But after I experienced unbearable lags on more and more XF powered sites, I do wonder what's the cause of this might be.

It's not the load speed of the sites as XF sites are generally fast, but the lags that occur when you scroll the site. The scrolling doesn't look smooth like with other non-XF powered sites. The lags don't occur on xenforo.com, but for instance on http://8wayrun.com/, http://www.pfps.com.br/comunidade/forum/, http://www.8thos.com/, http://do4a.com/

I think the larger the amount of content, the worse those lags are, but I didn't experience those lags on other non-XF powered sites with a large amount of content. I don't think it's a browser issue as I experienced those lags both with Firefox and Chrome.

I do think it's related to javascript, because when I disable javascript, the lags are still not completly gone, but scrolling will be a bit smoother.
 
It would either be a browser issue relating to the content of a specific page (especially pages with embedded media), or a slow server. Content or server would be the two things to explain a difference in performance between two XF forums.

XF is actually one of the fastest forum applications in terms of server resources used.
 
You can rule out server related issues I think because when a site is fully loaded, you can even cut your internet connection and the lags will still be there. Yes I think it's content related, but why don't I experience any lags on this site for example? It has more content than 8wayrun.com and doesn't lag, whereas the latter lags like hell.
 
It must be a difference in the content of the page and how well your browser renders that content. I would guess javascript or embedded media such as movies or advertisements.
 
You can rule out server related issues I think because when a site is fully loaded, you can even cut your internet connection and the lags will still be there. Yes I think it's content related, but why don't I experience any lags on this site for example? It has more content than 8wayrun.com and doesn't lag, whereas the latter lags like hell.

Poorly coded addons / poorly sourced media delivery maybe?

How does p8ntballer feel for you. We are very image heavy.
 
All of the sites were a bit laggy for me on the first load.
(Chrome, Win XP).
But now ... on the "second load" all were fast but 8thOS.com

FWIW, 8thOS.com has the most Addons installed vs. any other site ... It might have every addon installed !!
 
How does p8ntballer feel for you. We are very image heavy.

It doesn't lag that much as with the other sites, but still a bit.

What browser do you use? Also, what usually kills my browser is either large, high resolution images or flash.
Hunch. Bear with me.

What're your machine's specs, and which browser/version are you using?
I use Firefox 3.6 and latest Google Chrome. WinXP, 3GB RAM and 2Ghz Celeron CPU.

Try my site. Let me know if it lags.
The social media widgets on the front page usually hang up load a small amount.
Nope, your site is smooth :)
 
I use Firefox 3.6 and latest Google Chrome. WinXP, 3GB RAM and 2Ghz Celeron CPU.
Hm, should be fine then. Firefox 3.6 doesn't have hardware acceleration either afaik. What about the video card?

My bet is it's something on your machine, be it malware, an over-eager antivirus, stone age hardware (though your machine doesn't sound too stone age so far), or whatever. No idea what though, and I've been known to be wrong before.
 
It seems to me that XF lag is caused by two main things...

1. The social widgets
2. The front page initial loading of the js and other such stuff for the first time.
3. Speed of js execution

These are all related to the "modern" web. I have started using Chrome more because I notice that even Firefox is quite a bit slower due to the js and other modern elements in current web pages.

We're not talking plain HTML with 1 or 2 K of JS anymore!
BTW, I use a Mac Pro 8 core and a Macbook Air. The Air is just as fast or faster, even with much slower CPU's.....
 
The social media bits were causing my pages to lag, so I disabled them.

See link in my sig if you want to see how quick it loads now
No lags on your site. Hm.. so it seems that those stupid social sharing buttons were the cause.
I never understood why sites use them. The absolute majority of sites that use them seem to use them just because "it's in", but nobody is actually clicking at those icons and sharing anything (maybe one, two a year or so).

What about the video card?

My bet is it's something on your machine, be it malware, an over-eager antivirus, stone age hardware (though your machine doesn't sound too stone age so far), or whatever. No idea what though, and I've been known to be wrong before.
My video card is a integrated graphics chip from intel. If I can watch 1080p video with it, there shouldn't be a problem with websites. I don't have any viruses or other malicious files on my computer as my anti virus software is always updated and I don't visit any suspicious sites.
 
You are using a 2 year old version of Firefox, upgrading it might alleviate the problem a bit. I haven't used Firefox in a few years, so I haven't kept track of the improvements, but I think both the Javascript engine and other performance improvements have been added.

If you think the social buttons are the problem, just block add the list below to your adblock+ subscriptions (if you have it installed):
https://adversity.googlecode.com/hg/Antisocial.txt

That should block most, if not all of those social features.
 
You are using a 2 year old version of Firefox, upgrading it might alleviate the problem a bit. I haven't used Firefox in a few years, so I haven't kept track of the improvements, but I think both the Javascript engine and other performance improvements have been added.
I am also using latest version of Google Chrome and the lags occur with it too.
 
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