The wiki is loading like molasses for me

[Nicereddy 109]

Perhaps this can be attributed moreso to my terrible laptop than anything, but I haven't been editing the wiki as much recently because of the horrendous load times whilst trying to edit. I don't think this is the fault of the new server, nor is it the fault of the newer version of MediaWiki. If anything, I'd place blame on the Facebook "Like" and Twitter "Tweet" buttons in the header, as well as the PayPal donation button. Loading parts of the site by taking them from elsewhere seems to be taking longer than everything else, which is rather annoying.

 

I'm mostly making this post to light a fire under Andy's arse, since he isn't online on Steam at the moment and I can't complain to him directly.

 

^{Also the social icons I made haven't been added yet, Andy ;)}

[Nicereddy 109]

So I switched to Firefox (Using Ubuntu 13.04, newest version of Chrome unstable and v26 of Firefox because I have no idea how to update this thing) and it loads much faster now. That can probably be attributed to all the extensions I have in Chrome. Welp.

 

Still, I'd prefer to use Chrome because I'm a twat, and even on Firefox the Like and Tweet buttons are the last parts to load. If anyone knows more about web development than me (I could very well be completely wrong about my assumptions on these interactive buttons), feel free to tell me I'm an idiot.

[Marioysikax 89]

It's clearly visible how rest of the page loads first and then top part afterwards for some reason. You are also at least partially right about social buttons as there seems to be few errors on console when page loads with facebooks URL and objects to load last are facebook and twitter related. However loading times are pretty much par with other sites so nothing to actually worry about. And of course it's super easy to block social media tat outside of their own page and some people prefer it as they like to watch your internet behaviour and use those embeds for it. 

 

Ubuntu LTS just came out so definitly upgrade. 

[Andytizer 269]

Hi thanks for the feedback Nicereddy, icons are definitely next on the list.

 

The reason the top loads after the bottom is the way that the skin is designed for Wikipedia - it loads content first and then navigation. However with the way I've done the skin now it means that you see a weird thing at the top before everything loads.

 

When I next get to edit the skin I will move it so that the header loads first - this should make a better impression for users.

[Nicereddy 109]

Updated my install of Ubuntu to 14.04, updated Firefox, went back to Chrome, blocked the Like, Tweet, and Donate buttons. Loads much faster now, but I don't think we should have to manually block these things to be able to use the site. I'd hope that the icons would be enough to get people who wanted to to interact with our pages on those sites, and I'd prefer if we just got rid of them. Just my personal opinion, of course.

[Nicereddy 109]

Okay, so after using the wiki for a while after blocking the Like, Tweet, and Donate widgets I've noticed it loads at least twice as fast now. I'm not saying we should get rid of those, but we should get rid of those. They're making the user experience much worse for everyone whilst benefiting only a few, and there are other ways (such as the icons) for people to access our social media sites.

 

Also, how about making "Donate" a tab on the header?

[Andytizer 269]

Okay, so after using the wiki for a while after blocking the Like, Tweet, and Donate widgets I've noticed it loads at least twice as fast now. I'm not saying we should get rid of those, but we should get rid of those. They're making the user experience much worse for everyone whilst benefiting only a few, and there are other ways (such as the icons) for people to access our social media sites.

 

Also, how about making "Donate" a tab on the header?

 

Thanks for looking at this Nicereddy, I'll be taking an in-depth look at this sometime tomorrow. We have a brand new dev area set up by Soeb so I'll be perfecting it there before it gets made uploaded to the main site, I'll message you to take a look at my progress as I go along.