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Antithesisx

Member

Registered: 2015-02-12

Posts: 3

Web browsers run sluggishly

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Last edited by Antithesisx (2016-03-22 06:33:45)

drcouzelis

Member

From: Connecticut, USA

Registered: 2009-11-09

Posts: 4,092

Website

Re: Web browsers run sluggishly

Please post the specs, operating system, and web browser with which you are currently debugging this issue.

Does this problem happen with all Internet connections or only with your home router?

Last edited by drcouzelis (2015-02-12 17:13:48)

Antithesisx

Member

Registered: 2015-02-12

Posts: 3

Re: Web browsers run sluggishly

This computer uses an AMD Athlon processor, 2 GB RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT GPU. Here's the output of
- cpuinfo
- lspci
- hwinfo.

I have both Arch and Debian installed on this device.

I have indeed encountered the same problem on a different connection. That was on a Thinkpad X60. I also doubt it's a connection problem because I have download speeds of 1 MB/s with torrents.

nullified

Member

From: Massachusetts, USA

Registered: 2013-12-09

Posts: 468

Re: Web browsers run sluggishly

Is there anything web specific (or not) that you install across all these machines and OSes? Some kind of plug-in?

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"We may say most aptly, that the Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves." - Ada Lovelace

drcouzelis

Member

From: Connecticut, USA

Registered: 2009-11-09

Posts: 4,092

Website

Re: Web browsers run sluggishly

If every computer with every Linux distribution with every web browser on every Internet connection is sluggish then my only logical conclusion is that Linux hates you. Seriously, I'm really struggling with ideas on how to debug this.

Does the problem exist between different Internet service providers?

Can you quantify "a long time to fully render a page"? And "my entire browser seems to freeze / lag for a moment"?

And Dillo too?? Loads web pages slowly and stutters when scrolling?

bstaletic

Member

Registered: 2014-02-02

Posts: 658

Re: Web browsers run sluggishly

And Dillo too??

I was just going to suggest triing a text based browser. Links, or Lynx are my suggestions for first time users.

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My dotfiles

Antithesisx

Member

Registered: 2015-02-12

Posts: 3

Re: Web browsers run sluggishly

Is there anything web specific (or not) that you install across all these machines and OSes? Some kind of plug-in?

The only thing I could think of was my huge hosts file (which I've imported from hosts-file.net), but I've tested this out before, and replacing it with a normal hosts file didn't produce a different result.

Does the problem exist between different Internet service providers?

Yes. When I used the Thinkpad X60 under another provider, I had a slow Firefox even though it was a fresh profile on a fresh installation.

Can you quantify "a long time to fully render a page"? And "my entire browser seems to freeze / lag for a moment"?

And Dillo too?? Loads web pages slowly and stutters when scrolling?

Good idea, let me explain the problem in more depth. Here are a few of the symptoms.

• The problem is especially present when following a link in a new tab. With a fresh Firefox profile, it may take 4-6 seconds before the browser becomes fully responsive.

• It's faster with Chromium (2-4 seconds wait after following a link in a new tab), faster still with Midori (1-2 seconds wait), and it's actually pretty fast with Dillo (mostly no wait at all, but there's still the occasional wait of a couple of seconds).

• The processor does matter in regards to how big the problem is. On a netbook with an N270 processor, it can easily take more than 10 seconds to follow a link in a new tab in a fresh Firefox profile. The problem is reduced on the Thinkpad X220 (with an i5), but it's still slower than you would expect.

• As I use Firefox more, install more extensions (usually less than 20), etc., it becomes slower over time, and I'm periodically forced to switch to a new profile (I do this about once a year).

• Scrolling with the mouse is in fact always jerky, even when the page is fully loaded.. When I drag the scrollbar around, or scroll up and down, the page is almost always 0.5-1 second(s) behind compared to where it should be scrolled to. Scrolling with the keyboard, on the other hand, is generally smooth, but there's still the occasional lag.

• The problem is the most notable on Google and Youtube, and it seems that Javascript makes it slower as well. When I perform a Google search, it takes about 5 seconds before the box appears that asks if I accept their cookies, and it appears in such a fashion that I first click a result, then the box appears, effectively pushing the rest of the page downwards, and the click is handled only after the content has been pushed downwards. As a result, it sometimes takes me to the first hit even though I clicked the second one. I have to wait with clicking until that box has appeared if I want to avoid this problem. Disabling Javascript helped a bit, but it still took about 2-4 seconds to load a new page.

• When opening a new (blank) tab and typing in the location bar, it's behind in displaying what I typed. I oftentimes press enter before it has even showed the first character of the URL. This happens in Firefox, Chromium, and Midori, but not in Dillo.

• There is a lag of a couple of seconds after closing a tab as well. This happens in Firefox, Chromium, and Midori.

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: Web browsers run sluggishly

If the website is multimedia heavy with a ton of ads, it can take a while, but e.g. this forum should work almost instantaneous.