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MacRumors PPC Browser Compatability

arn

arn

macrumors god
Original poster
Staff member
Apr 9, 2001
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Hi,

We are refreshing our www HTML/CSS. It will look very similar but will be faster and responsive. I know the last time we changed HTML/CSS it caused some issues on older browsers.

What browser(s) are the most important to test for the PPC audience? And is it possible to test it without having a PPC machine?

arn
 
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Well, I personally would hope for TenFourFox support and Leopard Webkit support, and I have to imagine that, especially with TenFourFox, if those work, most of the forked linux browsers should work too. As for testing without a ppc machine, that would require an x86 machine that can run 10.6 or earlier, for the use of Rosetta, which would probably be easiest done in a virtual machine.
 
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arn said:
Hi,

We are refreshing our www HTML/CSS. It will look very similar but will be faster and responsive. I know the last time we changed HTML/CSS it caused some issues on older browsers.

What browser(s) are the most important to test for the PPC audience? And is it possible to test it without having a PPC machine?

arn
Click to expand...
Arn, generally we use either TenFourfox or Leopard Webkit (LWK).

However you test, you'll need to replicate PowerPC. Either in a VM as mentioned above, or a real PowerPC Mac. There's no substitute.

PS. The main problem with JS and our Macs is the rich text editor. That code is always running in the background, unless you turn it off. Turn it off and you have to use tags.
 
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eyoungren said:
Arn, generally we use either TenFourfox or Leopard Webkit (LWK).
Click to expand...

Only on OS X (where graphics rendering is all on the CPU, at least for TFF). ;)

PowerPC Linux browsers will more or less include Arctic Fox, SpiderWeb, Pale Moon, and Firefox. You could test the latter two on an Intel machine (including Pale Moon versions 27.9 and 28.8), and the results should in all likelihood be about the same in a PowerPC environment.

What kind of a performance difference is guaged to take place, and when can we expect this new point release of the forum software? And I'm curious; what are you guys adjusting in the site HTML / CSS backends to improve response?

Thanks, Arn. :)
 
We are going through browser testing now. It’s basically done. But making sure it works or at least degrades reasonably well for browser variants. I can't promise anything one PowerPC side... but this is the time to ask. I don't have a PPC Mac laying around here.

The existing site had been added onto over the years, so it just had been a big mess of code. And we had JQuery libraries included which can be kinda heavy.

The new one pared down the JS, removed unnecessary libraries. Making it responsive helps our caching situation. And having it in a new modern code-base will allow us to make changes easier.

So lots of backend benefits. And some user ones.

arn
 
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@arn thank you for your efforts and for considering the edge use cases!

I’m sure many regulars here in the forum could test and report for you in different PowerPC browsers. Feel free to post some URLs for testing.
 
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AphoticD said:
@arn thank you for your efforts and for considering the edge use cases!

I’m sure many regulars here in the forum could test and report for you in different PowerPC browsers. Feel free to post some URLs for testing.
Click to expand...

Yep we’ll probably start w that.
 
RhianB said:
want one? I’ll send a functioning mini g4 your way for testing if you cover postage. Doubt it would be more than a tenner.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer. I may take you up on it, depending on how bad a shape we are.
 
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I use Otter browser and Netsurf. The forums work fine (but very slow) in Otter because it supports Javascript, but man I'd give my left leg for a site that would function and render properly in Netsurf.
 
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@arn The forum's appearance seems to have slightly changed, and there appears to now be a small uptick in performance. Could this be the new HTML / CSS?

EDIT: Seems so.

forums.macrumors.com

New Site Design (2020)

Hi, We made some tweaks to the site design today. There are some cosmetic changes and some functional changes. Responsive The new site is now fully responsive. That means no more mobile and non-mobile versions. The forums have been fully responsive for a while but now the front page is as...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
Last edited:
z970mp said:
@arn The forum's appearance seems to have slightly changed, and there appears to now be a small uptick in performance. Could this be the new HTML / CSS?

EDIT: Seems so.

forums.macrumors.com

New Site Design (2020)

Hi, We made some tweaks to the site design today. There are some cosmetic changes and some functional changes. Responsive The new site is now fully responsive. That means no more mobile and non-mobile versions. The forums have been fully responsive for a while but now the front page is as...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
Click to expand...
I'm starting to think I may have vastly overestimated how much the site was going to change.
 
z970mp said:
@arn The forum's appearance seems to have slightly changed, and there appears to now be a small uptick in performance. Could this be the new HTML / CSS?

EDIT: Seems so.

forums.macrumors.com

New Site Design (2020)

Hi, We made some tweaks to the site design today. There are some cosmetic changes and some functional changes. Responsive The new site is now fully responsive. That means no more mobile and non-mobile versions. The forums have been fully responsive for a while but now the front page is as...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
Click to expand...

The forums didn't change much (header cosmetics). The front page is completely rewritten, and should be faster.

arn
 
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MR has always been sluggish & choppy on my old single cpu machines (like my single 867 12” powerbook) comparatively to my dual cpu G4 & G5s which were much better & fluid experiences overall. There’s only so much that can be done to a modern website for old single cpu machines, so any dev effort or consideration I think is great.
 
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RhianB said:
MR has always been sluggish & choppy on my old single cpu machines (like my single 867 12” powerbook) comparatively to my dual cpu G4 & G5s which were much better & fluid experiences overall. There’s only so much that can be done to a modern website for old single cpu machines, so any dev effort or consideration I think is great.
Click to expand...
Agreed! :D

Although, it would be cool if there would be a different version of the site that could be loaded if it detects certain things about the user agent string. It would be the same site, just fewer fancy visual elements I'm thinking. I'm no web developer and I don't know if that would even be something that would be in the realm of feasible possibilities, but I thought I'd bring up that idea. :)
 
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RogerWilco6502 said:
Although, it would be cool if there would be a different version of the site that could be loaded if it detects certain things about the user agent string. It would be the same site, just fewer fancy visual elements I'm thinking.
Click to expand...

I don't know if the mobile version of MR is any lighter on resources than the full-fledged one - it may be worth giving a shot though.
 
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At this point the mobile and non mobile are the exact same site. Previously the mobile version was substantially lighter.

That said the site isn’t particularly processor intensive, except it’s not small. So maybe the size of the home page is part of the issue. Ads are also perhaps the most intensive thing.

arn
 
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