Browsers are pretty good at loading pages • Hacker News Board

Re: Browsers are pretty good at loading pages

#21

Post by cj » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 7:17 PM UTC

csande17 wrote: post #19

cj wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read the article. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding, but did they do this test on a 128 kilobit cellular Internet connection?

I made the video in the article using Chrome's "low-end mobile" throttling preset, which simulates a ~300 kbit connection IIRC. But I saw very similar behavior on my actual phone with an actual 128 kilobit connection in Canada.

Thanks for the clarification. Do the conclusions hold up when testing with a broadband network connection?

Re: Browsers are pretty good at loading pages

#22

Post by csande17 » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 7:21 PM UTC

cj wrote: post #21

csande17 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made the video in the article using Chrome's "low-end mobile" throttling preset, which simulates a ~300 kbit connection IIRC. But I saw very similar behavior on my actual phone with an actual 128 kilobit connection in Canada.

Thanks for the clarification. Do the conclusions hold up when testing with a broadband network connection?

As I mention in the article, I'm not really able to tell the difference between old MDN and new MDN on the fast network connection I usually use. They both load pretty much instantly for me.

Re: Browsers are pretty good at loading pages

#23

Post by saagarjha » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 7:22 PM UTC

Strongly agree with the premise, but

> it just isn’t possible for a highly dynamic language like JavaScript to run as fast as the C++ code in browsers

With modern tracing JITs, this isn’t always true ;)

Re: Browsers are pretty good at loading pages

#24

Post by saagarjha » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 7:24 PM UTC

csande17 wrote: post #22

cj wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the clarification. Do the conclusions hold up when testing with a broadband network connection?

As I mention in the article, I'm not really able to tell the difference between old MDN and new MDN on the fast network connection I usually use. They both load pretty much instantly for me.

I sometimes wonder if website authors actually test their pages on slow connections before declaring that they’ve improved the experience for them…

Re: Browsers are pretty good at loading pages

#25

Post by kevingadd » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 7:24 PM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #23

Strongly agree with the premise, but > it just isn’t possible for a highly dynamic language like JavaScript to run as fast as the C++ code in browsers With modern tracing JITs, this isn’t always true ;)

As far as I know, no production browser uses tracing anymore. The only modern tracing implementation I'm aware of is LuaJIT.

Re: Browsers are pretty good at loading pages

#26

Post by hrktb » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 7:29 PM UTC

cj wrote: post #21

csande17 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made the video in the article using Chrome's "low-end mobile" throttling preset, which simulates a ~300 kbit connection IIRC. But I saw very similar behavior on my actual phone with an actual 128 kilobit connection in Canada.

Thanks for the clarification. Do the conclusions hold up when testing with a broadband network connection?

I’m a bit lost. How would using a broadband connection affect the relative speed between the two versions ?

Re: Browsers are pretty good at loading pages

#27

Post by nokya » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 7:31 PM UTC

Let's just rethink the discussion without the iOS/macOS crowd and we wouldn't even have to talk about it...

Re: Browsers are pretty good at loading pages

#28

Post by hoorayimhelping » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 7:33 PM UTC

jakobegger wrote: post #3

I don't get client side navigation. It's a worse experience in every way. It's slow, often doesn't support things like command-click, it usually breaks the back button, and even if it doesn't it breaks the restoration of the scroll position. The only thing worse is a custom scroll UI. Why do people try to reinvent the most basic features of a webbrowser? And if they do, why do they always only do a half-assed job at…

I have no idea. I do a lot of front end work in React, and the assumption that an SPA is a better experience for people because you don't have to do a page reload to see a new page is really baffling to me. It's widespread too - across industries and disciplines and age ranges, as if the people suggesting these things have never used SPAs.

Re: Browsers are pretty good at loading pages

#29

Post by hrktb » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 7:38 PM UTC

Very concise and well written article.

I remember when smartphones became popular, it was an occasion to reset the trends and do basic pages without much JS, no endless hovering menus, no 5 column and 3 popup layouts, no flash intro, etc.

Then it started to creep back as power increased.

I wish the next big thing resets the field again, one can dream.

Re: Browsers are pretty good at loading pages

#30

Post by cj » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 7:40 PM UTC

hrktb wrote: post #26

cj wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the clarification. Do the conclusions hold up when testing with a broadband network connection?

I’m a bit lost. How would using a broadband connection affect the relative speed between the two versions ?

For one, latency has a proportionally higher impact on "time to render" at lower connection speeds.