Constant rotation circle in Chrome window tab.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 12 Oct 2015 11:58 am

A lot of times, when I go to a page with lots of ads, the 'busy' circle in the tab never stops rotating. Is this because it is downloading a bunch of javascript used in the ads?

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 13 Oct 2015 2:02 am

I don't know, but the last time it was happening chronically to me,
I reloaded Chrome and it quit. Seems that browsers can get corrupted and slow.

Dave Potter · Post by **Dave Potter** » 13 Oct 2015 6:17 am

I always just assume that whenever I try to load a page, and there's an "hourglass" or something like you're seeing, the page is trying to load some content that isn't succeeding, for some unknown reason. Could be that the server at the other end isn't responding, or maybe one of my settings is blocking it. I'm not sure how to check to see what the problem is - that would be handy. But it always makes me uncomfortable. I don't see that very much, due to my Firefox Ad-Block Plus add-on, which does a good job.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 13 Oct 2015 7:16 am

That could be the case. Some of the web pages are loading many ads, and some are animated. That's why I suspected Javascript being used to place and animate the ads. I am about to try disabling javascript, but couldn't find it in chrome.

If I reinstall Chrome, will I lose the 100 or so bookmarks I have?

If Firefox wasn't so slow for me, I would switch because of the ad blocker. Too bad someone hasn't made an add-on for Chrome. Maybe they have but I don't know about it. Another thing I hate is, when going to a web page from a link, like Facebook, I start reading or interacting with what was linked to, and then the content moves down to make room for ads and things like the name of the newspaper If that's what I'm reading) It's really aggravating on my iPad. I start to tap on something, it scrolls of the screen and I hit something else and end up having to exit that to go back to the page I was reading.

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 13 Oct 2015 7:53 am

Richard Sinkler wrote: If I reinstall Chrome, will I lose the 100 or so bookmarks I have?

They will probably come back automatically, but you can back them up, and you probably should back up anyway:
https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/96816?hl=en

Richard Sinkler wrote: If Firefox wasn't so slow for me, I would switch because of the ad blocker. .

Why not use both?

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 13 Oct 2015 7:58 am

Yes, the hourglass means that the page is waiting for some content that is have trouble downloading. If nothing loads at all, and you don't use any script or ad blockers, the problem could be with the server hosting the website.

If content loads, but an hourglass appears and hangs around, it indicates an external script is being delayed. It could be a JavaScript driven ad, or it could be JQuery being imported to run special functions, and the source is overloaded. That used to happen a lot more until Google agreed to become a mirror hosting JQuery.

If the content only partially loads and the hourglass appears, one or more imported scripts are incorrectly coded, or are delayed, and are blocking the rendering engine of your browser. These are referred to as render blocking scripts and can be revealed via the Page Speed tool in Google Webmaster Tools, or, if you are a publisher, your AdSense control panel.

There are various "scripts" that are used in web pages. These include, but aren't limited to, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), JavaScript (local and imported), JQuery, Google AdSense, Google Analytics, CloudFlare's RocketScript, security checkers, HTML-CSS-JS compressors, image galleries, slideshow scripts, lazy-load image delivery scripts, show-hide scripts, browser detection scripts, hit counters, Flash presentations, etc.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 13 Oct 2015 8:04 am

Every browser I have used has an X next to the location bar. Use it to stop further loading of a stalled web page. Then, if the page isn't fully loaded, refresh the page using your browser's F5 key.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 13 Oct 2015 8:46 am

I neglected to list audio and video file imports, which are frequently used and can be render blocking. Anything that streams, or is downloaded from an external website may be delayed along the way. Further, some scripts may use ID and Class values that could be used by other scripts on or embedded in a web page. This actually happened to me a few years ago and I had to change some definitions and names I was using to make my scripts get along with the imported script.

The only web page that will always load in the blink of an eye has nothing but HTML and text content and is hosted on a dedicated server that is fully managed to maintain 100% uptime, or is mirrored on a content delivery network (CDN) that serves cached pages when the primary server goes offline.

Why a server would go offline

A server is a computer. It contains hard disk or solid state drives, RAM, a motherboard, capacitors, power supply, network cards, etc. Every now and then, it needs downtime. This could be to replace out-of-spec, failing, or failed components, or to install updates to the operating system. Windows, Mac and Linux users are certainly aware that many updates require a full reboot. The same goes for web servers, whether they run Apache or Windows Server software.

Another reason a server might be taken offline is if there is a widespread malware infection that affects multiple user accounts. Most websites are on shared hosting services, where hundreds of clients share the same resources to have their web pages made public. If a Worm gets loose on a shared hosting server, the entire computer must be shut down to flush it out.

Dave Potter · Post by **Dave Potter** » 13 Oct 2015 9:02 am

Richard Sinkler wrote:If I reinstall Chrome, will I lose the 100 or so bookmarks I have?

Possible, but not very likely. They're probably in Google's "cloud", unless you've opted not to do that.

One reason I avoid using Google products is because they're so aggressive about sucking everything they can up into their "cloud". They promote their proclivities as "service" to their users, but my attitude is that they're collecting data they and their "affiliates" use as "targeted advertising", which is very lucrative for them. I just don't need anybody tracking me and developing a "user profile" on my online activities. Heck, I'm an Android guy, which is a Google OS, but I don't even use GMail with it, or with my PC. I just don't like my emails going through the Google labyrinth getting to their destinations.

If Firefox wasn't so slow for me, I would switch because of the ad blocker.

I don't understand why it's slow for you. I don't have any compaints about Firefox, really.

Another thing I hate is, when going to a web page from a link, like Facebook, I start reading or interacting with what was linked to, and then the content moves down to make room for ads and things like the name of the newspaper If that's what I'm reading)

Yeah, I don't like pages that become moving targets either. That's why I use YesScript, which allows me to selectively block pages from running script.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 13 Oct 2015 3:22 pm

Wiz Feinberg wrote:Every browser I have used has an X next to the location bar. Use it to stop further loading of a stalled web page. Then, if the page isn't fully loaded, refresh the page using your browser's F5 key.

That is what I sometimes do, depending on how long I plan to stay on the page.

The page I hate the worst is from a local newspaper. I "liked" their Facebook page, and I get posts about top news stories. I really like it, but it always puts up a full width, half page ad right at the start. I hit the 'x' to close that window, Then all the small ads that you see in the right and left sidebar start showing up. The viewable screen area starts scrolling down to make room for the ads.
You go to click something and end up clicking something else because it has moved. It's really bad for me on the iPad. With the tremor problem I have, I'm lucky to hit the right thing at all.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 13 Oct 2015 3:29 pm

The problem I have with Firefox is how long it takes to start up. On my laptop, it's 57 seconds. On my desktop, it 1 minute and 7 seconds. And it takes a few seconds to render a page that Google would render immediately. I may be switching to Firefox though. They have themes that are really cool. I can always look at those while waiting.

The slowness problem may not be Firefoxe issue, but it doesn't happen to IE, Opera,or Safari.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 13 Oct 2015 5:35 pm

Richard Sinkler wrote:The problem I have with Firefox is how long it takes to start up. On my laptop, it's 57 seconds. On my desktop, it 1 minute and 7 seconds. And it takes a few seconds to render a page that Google would render immediately. I may be switching to Firefox though. They have themes that are really cool. I can always look at those while waiting. :whoa:

The slowness problem may not be Firefox issue, but it doesn't happen to IE, Opera,or Safari.

You may be able to speed up Firefox's initial display by unchecking automatic updating of the browser and the add-ons. The first is a huge security risk. The add-ons are often updated when a new major version is released, or to bring new features, or for bugfixes. NoScript is one of the most often updated add-ons for Firefox.

Updating the plug-ins is another security matter that needs to be tended to manually.

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 17 Oct 2015 3:12 am

Richard, I clicked the hamburger on the right end of Chrome's address bar and went to 'Settings,' clicking 'Show advanced settings' at the bottom.
There, under Privacy, the "Content settings..." button will open a box showing options for JavaScript.

The Wiz told me how to do this. I am so smart.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 17 Oct 2015 8:59 am

Charlie McDonald wrote:Richard, I clicked the hamburger on the right end of Chrome's address bar and went to 'Settings,' clicking 'Show advanced settings' at the bottom.
There, under Privacy, the "Content settings..." button will open a box showing options for JavaScript.

The Wiz told me how to do this. I am so smart. :)

If you disable JavaScript in your browser's options, it is turned off for every website. There is no fine tuning it for those you trust. All or nothing.

OTOH, if you use an add-on, like NoScript for Firefox, or ScriptNo for Chrome, you can allow and disallow on a per site and per source basis. I usually browse new or linked to websites with NoScript disallowing everything. If links and visual displays do not work and the website is not hosting malicious content, I enable JavaScript for it. Sometimes one has to also allow external scripts to run on a website, so it can import jQuery and other third party hosted content and even articles and videos. All scripted content is listed in NoScript's right click options.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 17 Oct 2015 10:56 am

I will not globally turn off Javascript. But the options tat Wiz mentioned sound interesting.

Dave Potter · Post by **Dave Potter** » 17 Oct 2015 3:34 pm

Richard Sinkler wrote:I will not globally turn off Javascript. But the options tat Wiz mentioned sound interesting.

I won't either. It breaks too many essential web sites.