Occasional 'sluggishness'

[mikea]

Newcomer here... I find that sometimes there's quite a lag between typing and characters appearing within the editing buffer..feels like typing in molasses. This becomes very noticeable when I select 'go advanced' in making a post, or whenever I'm replying to a post. It isn't occasional -- it happens all the time during message editing. And before the message has been posted, scrolling up and down the page containing the editing buffer is also very slow, with noticeable "ghosting" of parts of the page due to very slow screen refresh.

Is there some user setting I might change to reduce this sluggishness? There's no lag, no "ghosting," the rest of the time (scrolling through messages, that is). I haven't noticed this on other sites using the same kind of 'BBS' software.

Easy enough workaround: I just do the typing within a text editor and then paste it into the editing buffer. But I'd just as soon not have to do that...thanks in advance for any advice about it.

 

[mikea]

Very strange. That happened again today and I checked the task manager at the time it was happening. The CPU is pegged at a solid 100% the entire time that editing is taking place. Anyone know why that might be? I haven't seen it happen with other forum software.

 

[Oliver]

Hi Mike - I'm sorry you're having this trouble. It's not a problem I've heard of before - and I can't think of any plug-ins that I've installed at ECF that would be making this happen any more than on other copies of vBulletin.

Could you try using the other forum template (use the drop-down at the bottom left)?

Probably won't make any difference, but would isolate things somewhat if it did disappear.

Thanks,

SJ

 

[mikea]

SmokeyJoe -- thanks for your reply. My first clue -- wish I'd thought of this before -- was to try reading the site in IE7. I've been using Firefox 3. I'm showing nothing like 100% CPU during editing with IE. Drat, that's irritating. I kind of like Firefox... can't say for sure it's only a browser-specific problem but the difference in speed is dramatic with just the change of browser. I'll save this message, then log out, come back in with Firefox, edit the message, and see what happens...

Hi Mike - I'm sorry you're having this trouble. It's not a problem I've heard of before - and I can't think of any plug-ins that I've installed at ECF that would be making this happen any more than on other copies of vBulletin.

Could you try using the other forum template (use the drop-down at the bottom left)?

Probably won't make any difference, but would isolate things somewhat if it did disappear.

Thanks,

SJ

 

[mikea]

SmokeyJoe -- thanks for your reply. My first clue -- wish I'd thought of this before -- was to try reading the site in IE7. I've been using Firefox 3. I'm showing nothing like 100% CPU during editing with IE. Drat, that's irritating. I kind of like Firefox... can't say for sure it's only a browser-specific problem but the difference in speed is dramatic with just the change of browser. I'll save this message, then log out, come back in with Firefox, edit the message, and see what happens...

No, in 'Edit' mode I didn't get the sluggishness. Decided to reply to my message instead (now back on with Firefox 3). Whew. The CPU is pegged at 100% now, with no letup and the sluggishness is back. How weird. I'll try the other template...

 

[mikea]

No, in 'Edit' mode I didn't get the sluggishness. Decided to reply to my message instead (now back on with Firefox 3). Whew. The CPU is pegged at 100% now, with no letup and the sluggishness is back. How weird. I'll try the other template...

Replying again, still in Firefox and this time with the other template having been selected.

The CPU is not pegged at 100%.

That's good news. But this template's hard to read -- fairly thin greyish type on a black background. Maybe I can go into the user settings and enlarge the default font that's displayed to me...

Thanks,
Mike

 

[mikea]

One more test. Still using Firefox. Switched back to the 'Kirsch' template. The CPU is now pegged at 100% again. Hmm, wonder how a simple change of color scheme would do that to Firefox -- but then only when in 'post a new message' or 'reply to message' mode -- but not when editing a message already posted.

Possible workaround... enter a character or two, save, then immediately go into 'edit' mode and finish off the new post (or the reply) in 'edit' mode. Kind of a lame workaround, I must admit -- though, it does seem to work.

Replying again, still in Firefox and this time with the other template having been selected.

The CPU is not pegged at 100%.

That's good news. But this template's hard to read -- fairly thin greyish type on a black background. Maybe I can go into the user settings and enlarge the default font that's displayed to me. That'd be a workaround, I suppose. Type a single character, save, then do the actual typing in 'edit' mode. Kind of a lame workaround, I must admit...

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Oliver]

My goodness - that is totally bizarre. I'm afraid I have absolutely no idea why that's happening.

One more thing - does it make a difference whether you are in advanced or quick reply post mode?

 

[mikea]

It seems to happen in advanced mode. And yes, it is kinda bizarre. At least there are workarounds! Something even stranger: so I'm adding this reply within the Quick Reply window. If I use the browser's scroll bar to move up the page containing this thread, performance is fine. When I scroll back down, I get a suddenly slower-than-molasses response as the text-editing field of the Quick Reply editor is about to come into view. It seems to be something about the text editor itself.

Firefox is really messing with my mind. And here I thought it was just a browser...

 

[lordmage]

interesting i have been using advanced mode, firefox 3, for weeks and have not had this issue. it may be hardware or maybe your missing a needed plugin i cant tell ya yet but when i get back to my home pc in a few days i will let you know.

 

[mikea]

interesting i have been using advanced mode, firefox 3, for weeks and have not had this issue. it may be hardware or maybe your missing a needed plugin i cant tell ya yet but when i get back to my home pc in a few days i will let you know.

Thanks.

It's just some weird thing. Clearly it's not widespread or the moderators would have known about it. Not sure which Firefox plug-in I might be missing. The more of them I have, the more temperamental Firefox becomes when it's time to upgrade to the next version -- so I've been staying away from too many plug-ins. Or maybe it's that some plug-in I've got is causing the problem, and should be disabled. That'd take a while to figure out.

At any rate, there's the workaround of switching to the white-on-black color scheme, doing the editing, then switching back. It's a bit irritating, but only a bit -- and it prevents the sluggish behavior within Firefox. Maybe there's some hidden plug-in installed -- FireSloth or SlothFox some such.

 

[lordmage]

good that there is a work around but i never had an issue in the default way of things. i personall dont like the dark thing. maybe your are right some plugin or lack there of has done it to you. i usally run no ad and a few other but stick to the basic firefoxx and let it update by its self. who knows but good luck to you.

 

[mikea]

good that there is a work around but i never had an issue in the default way of things. i personall dont like the dark thing. maybe your are right some plugin or lack there of has done it to you. i usally run no ad and a few other but stick to the basic firefoxx and let it update by its self. who knows but good luck to you.

The darker UI is hard to read in places; if there's any blue text it kind of disappears into the black background. But, it's fine for editing purposes -- makes that sluggishness problem go away immediately.

The forum software must make heavy use of Javascript. For all I know this is a weird interaction between some Firefox plugin, and some Javascript code that appears on any page where there are text-entry fields... but only when I'm using the lighter color scheme. Leave it to me to find the esoteric problems. <g>