Please Please Please. Use Some Other Way

[Khun Jean]

This chat counter, which only shows a small number is using huge amounts of resources.

Java is needed and it uses a lot of memory and time to load. I did not really notice it on my desktop with a 2mb download speed connection.

Now i use a laptop which has less memory and power also a 1mb download speed and it takes a lot of time to show the first page of the forum.

When i put thaivisa.com in my restricted area, that means also no java it is 20xfaster and surfing is not a big disaster.

It is all about what kind of computer you use of course put all this memory and speedloss for just showing a counter. What a pity.

Look at this picture that shows the memory used with a freshly started IE on the forum index page.

The one with the blue background is normal the second line is with java and other things disabled.

[Totster]

I agree..disable the counter !

There is nothing worse than seeing how many people are chatting and then having your IP rejected when trying to log in !

totster

[george]

I have temporary disabled the java counter. We are looking into another counter solution.

[Khun Jean]

I have temporary disabled the java counter. We are looking into another counter solution.

George,

I think this counter doesn't have to be 100% live. Many people will go to a forum after browsing through the index. Another point is i think it is not very much inviting to see there is only 1 or maybe 2 users in the chat.

It is good practice to generate this sort of information on the server, maybe like every minute or another interval you like.

Then store this number in a variable or in a small file.

When users request the index page, retreive this value and include it in the html.

User experience will be smoother.

[Totster]

I have temporary disabled the java counter. We are looking into another counter solution.

Actually.. I have no problem with it... the page loads just fine for me.. on GPRS

totster

[george]

We will integrate the thaivisa chat into the Invision forum software within a few days. We are currenty sharing a chat server with bangkokchat, and that's not a good solution. I will fix asap.

Thanks for heads up!

[Khun Jean]

Thanks, George!

[Michael W]

Actually, it's more than just the chat counter. On seemingly all pages thaivisa.com loads slowly (I'm in BKK with a 1meg Csloxinfo ADSL connection). This is bad enough, but what is really irritating is how slow it is when hitting the back button with all these active (apparently ad-related) links being re-retrieved. It's gotten to the point that navigating the various forum levels requires using the right-click 'Open Link in new Window' and then closing the window afterwards rather just using the back button to get any reasonable performance. This is the only forum site I've ever had to do this on. Sorry for the whining, but it'd make TV so much better if this could be improved. Thanks for all your hard work!