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YouTube slows down video load times when using Firefox

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Re: YouTube slows down video load times when using Firefox

#351

Post by sgift »

taylodl wrote: post #310
foob wrote: post #219

I use Firefox, and Google's sites are literally the only ones where I consistently have issues. There was a period of about a month this summer where Google Maps was just completely broken for me, the map wouldn't update at all when attempting to search or pan. There was recently a several day span where chat in Gmail had a 10+ second input lag due to some font-related JavaScript code spinning the CPU nonstop. It's l…

It's clear Google is only testing for chrome engine and safari: which comprise 97% of the browsers being used. Would you increase your testing by 50% to thoroughly test for 3% of the market?

Since they throw me "Google recommends Chrome!" adverts in my face for various of their services, even when using a chrome-based browser it's not a case of only testing for Chrome/Safari. It's active work against others.

Re: YouTube slows down video load times when using Firefox

#352

Post by Jensson »

b112 wrote: post #292
Jensson wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The prevailing developer discussions going from "Load speed doesn't matter, stop complaining about useless stuff" to "load times matters, but here we choose to make it slow for other reasons" is a massive improvement though. Today speed is valued, it wasn't back then. There are many such tests being written about in blogs today. So now a developer can get time to optimize load times based on those blog posts while be…

Untrue. I optimized pages pre-2000, and it had always mattered. It's always, always mattered. If anything, people care less today, with the entire ridiculous 100 loads per page.

Of course it always mattered. But at the time lots of people argued it didn't matter, which is why the headline is "Speed matters". You thinking it did matter at the time doesn't mean the general community thought so.

Re: YouTube slows down video load times when using Firefox

#353

Post by giancarlostoro »

vmfunction wrote: post #266
foob wrote: post #219

I use Firefox, and Google's sites are literally the only ones where I consistently have issues. There was a period of about a month this summer where Google Maps was just completely broken for me, the map wouldn't update at all when attempting to search or pan. There was recently a several day span where chat in Gmail had a 10+ second input lag due to some font-related JavaScript code spinning the CPU nonstop. It's l…

These sounds like classic MS behaviour. It is kind of thing that ought to addressed in anti-trust case.

I've posted this here on HN numerous times over the years, and it's been a while since I last posted it:

Google is the new "Microsoft", they embrace, they extend, then extinguish. Look at their email offering, messaging offerings, they built on top of XMPP, then they pulled the plug eventually. Android is Linux based, but insanely proprietary, the app store is not open by any means, you're fully at their whims to get your apps on there. Chrome is basically the IE of old, implementing proprietary things or APIs that are not yet standard for Google products, and pushing out competing browsers.

Re: YouTube slows down video load times when using Firefox

#354

Post by ascagnel_ »

vsnf wrote: post #312
alias_neo wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In programming in general, sleeps are generally considered....(I'm lacking the word)...distasteful? If your code needs to wait for something, it's better done with some sort of event system or interrupt or similar; the reason being that a 5s wait is a 5s wait, but if, say the thing you're waiting for returned in 10ms, if you're using an alternative solution you can carry on immediately, not wait the remaining 4.99 se…

Sure, but assuming we take it as face value that this is a straightforward attempt to force a UX-destroying delay, I don't see what makes this so terrible. It's meant to force a 5 second wait, and it does it. Problem solved.

The 5-second wait is the issue, not the means it was obtained -- a fixed wait time either wastes the user's time (by making it take longer than necessary) or is prone to bugs (if the awaited task takes >5 seconds, then the end of the timer will likely break). The better question is _why_ a 5-second wait was necessary, and there's almost certainly a better way to handle that need without the fixed wait time.

Re: YouTube slows down video load times when using Firefox

#355

Post by ric2b »

sapiogram wrote: post #70
vanderZwan wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think they let inexperienced developers touch the YT code base without proper code review? Even if that were the case, which is an extremely charitable assumption, that itself would be malice in my opinion.

> You think they let inexperienced developers touch the YT code base without proper code review? Yes

YouTube is way too stable for that to be the case.

Re: YouTube slows down video load times when using Firefox

#356

Post by err4nt »

Just being real here for a moment - Firefox probably wouldn't exist if Google didn't give them millions, so the continuing existence of Firefox is thanks at least in part to Google taking them on as a project.

Now secondly, Firefox does have some very real performance bottlenecks that other browsers do not have. This means (and has been my experience already) that you can build experiences in all other browsers that are buttery smooth and nice, but that will cause crashes in Firefox. In my own work, to get around this I ended up making my product inferior in all browsers so it would not crash Firefox. But if I was big enough and had a team of more than 1, could I have implemented a solution that worked in Firefox and another that worked in other browsers, and delivered the best experience I could to all users of all browsers?

There's no need to jump to malice on Google's part if what they're doing is legitimately in an attempt to ensure that Firefox users have the best experience overall.

Re: YouTube slows down video load times when using Firefox

#359

Post by skrebbel »

jiggawatts wrote: post #90
CapsAdmin wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something related to this which I find extremely frustrating is that I'm capable of watching a 4k video in my browser just fine. So if I decide to buy or rent a movie on youtube, they can only be played back at 420p. Apparently this is due to DRM restrictions, but the frustrating part is that you can pay extra money for the HD version and there's nothing telling you about this not being supported in your browser unti…

Netflix does the same thing. Actually, speaking of infuriating corporate bullshit, allow me to go on a rant about Netflix and subtitles. They give you the option to choose between like four, maybe five languages. That's it! If you want subtitles in any of the other hundred or so languages that they have available, well... no. Just no. Learn one of the four they've picked for you. If you call their support, they'll ga…

I love this rant with a passion.

Re: YouTube slows down video load times when using Firefox

#360

Post by yifanl »

err4nt wrote: post #356

Just being real here for a moment - Firefox probably wouldn't exist if Google didn't give them millions, so the continuing existence of Firefox is thanks at least in part to Google taking them on as a project. Now secondly, Firefox does have some very real performance bottlenecks that other browsers do not have. This means (and has been my experience already) that you can build experiences in all other browsers that…

I don't like to jump to conclusions, but I'm going to jump to malice if their purported solution for user experience is time.sleep(5) based on a user agent lookup, and conditional on when their antiadblock fails to work.
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