(We removed the Chat Feature until we can integrate it onto the site without causing Page Loading time delays and any user errors! I'm going to work with Ning tomorrow afternoon on trying to fix the chat so that it doesn't affect any of our users. If that doesn't work we can either wait 1-3 Months until Ning 3.0 is available to us or create an IRC)
We are trying to integrate a chat room feature without slowing down the page loading times on DIYDrones.com and we need your feedback and help.
What we need from the community:
- Do you like or dislike the chat feature? (Please explain why)
- Does it slow down your page loading times and alter your overall user experience on DIYDrones?
- Is this something you would like to see be perminent on DIYDrones.com?
- Do you have any suggestions on how to improve it?
Comments
I accept that I am weird, so I make no excuses for it. 8-)
I read the forum mostly from my iPhone with Safari, although I have been trying Chrome since the Chat was enabled. The mobile version doesn't provide the flow that I like, so I read in the full Desktop View.
Since the Chat was enabled, the forum is almost unreadable. Pages take forever to completely load, and they are frozen until they do. I can't even scroll or zoom until the page fully loads. I have noticed that the page unfreezes when the Conversations list completes its' count. Safari or Chrome, the same behavior. Agghhh !!!
It has been impossible to get to the Settings on my iPhone, I just found it on the main page on my laptop after logging out and back in again to the forum. Now that I have disconnected from the Chat, all is well again on the iPhone. Yeah !!!
To Parth's comment I think the Chat system also helps the newer users in the community as they are more willing to ask a quick question than write up a detailed post that they are unsure if the wording/terminology is even correct on.
The chat feature is good. Its really nice for users who want to ask questions and getting immediate answers.
Yeah if I disconnect from chat it runs normally. In IE10 it even shows a message at the bottom sometimes that says the page is loading unusually slow do to a script running, sort of message.
The annoying part is the entire page loads and then locks up for 5-10 seconds.. so you can see content but you can't interact with the page at all.. like clicking on the link in my email .. I couldn't click on this chat box until some random thing got done in the background... which is true in IE10 and Chrome that I am using.
Keeping with the good post from Marooned here are the developer console output from USA - Florida running Chrome 26.0.1410.64 with no data pre-cached.
Not Logged In - http://i.imgur.com/3tYxtGE.jpg
Logged in - All Resources - http://i.imgur.com/xtJttrE.jpg
Logged in - JS Only - http://i.imgur.com/YSzyJdW.jpg
From what I am seeing most of the resources in the 1+ second time are user image pics which I would imagine is acceptable.
@LanMark, Once you disconnected from the chat did the load times stay slow or go back to normal?
@Dwgsparky, I can remove the chat off the homepage if that would fix the loading time on the main page. Only problem is if I do that then the chat bar on the bottom right will be their while on the homepage.
Hi Joshua
No, the main page is a little slow to load but I see no problems after that, what is strange is that I dont see the connect/disconnect bar at all on the iphone, but on my desktop I see it lurking in the bottom right corner. Thats Ok as long as it stays there out of the way. dont mind it being missing on the Iphone as there is not much real estate to start with.
Personally it is in the piss me off slow category.. on both Chrome and IE10.. when clicking on a article on both browsers it takes around 5-10 second to actually scroll down or interact with the page at all... doesn't seem asynchronous at all... which is how it should be bound to the page. The slowness is really annoying for a rather low value feature.
If I were to suggest improvements I would suggest coming up with a way to improve the endless pages on threads... like the ability thumb up or down a posting or something.. since most messages on a thread when it is past a few pages are of little value to a user not being replied with... so either roll up responses to a comment with that comment and keep them compressed or something.
So having some ability to 'reply' to a comment and thus pair it with the original would be ideal.. instead of everything getting added to the bottom.. since there are often threads of the threads... comments only really being directed to a specific individual, etc.
@Dwgsparky, Are you experiencing the exact same issues again?
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