Firefox stalls on rendering when chrome doesn't

Question

I have a webpage that loads quickly 100% of the time in chrome, but only 10% or so of the time in Firefox. Looking at the fiddler capture, Firefox only loads 2 of the 100ish files being pulled before it hangs. The error does not seem to be on the server or network side, however, because Chrome never encounters a problem.

How do I find the root of this stall?

While I suspect Firefox's javascript execution is what is causing the hang, are there any particular methods to narrow down the search for the bad code?

Answer 1

I wouldn't say bad code, but bad design. Are you serious when you say that have more than 100 files to only one page?

Using image sprites, only one css file, using a nice javascript library and compressing other scripts... You need to think how to deliver the minimum to client, hence each extra request takes extra time.

But okay, your problem seems to be with js loading stuff on Firefox. Install the Firebug addon and keep an eye on network tab to check what is going on and catch the error on the fly.

Answer 2

Find out for sure whether it is the JavaScript by installing a script blocking plugin on Firefox. If the page is zippy to load when the script is blocked, then you know for sure.

If so, the hard reality is that all browsers handle good JavaScript pretty well. That means it's time to re-do or optimize the JavaScript on the site.