Google Chrome behaviour: slow loading of child theme

  • WP 3.0.1
    Theme: Thematic as parent theme
    Plug-in: WP Supercache

    In the above set up Google Chrome shows a marked delay when loading pages with the child theme active. The delay is made worse by the fact that the screen goes blank while pages load (there is minimal content in either of my installs – more below).

    I have tried this with custom code in the child theme’s functions.php and also with a blank child theme (effectively running Thematic defaults via the child theme) either way the loading is slow even with WP Supercache activated.

    Everything goes back to normal if I revert to using Thematic as the main theme – quick page loading with no blank screen between page loads.

    Hopefully someone might want to try to reproduce this at home; I have set up two basic installs of WordPress with identical configuration on two different web hosts:

    https://109.123.70.46

    and

    https://copeseticsoundsystem.com

    In the former install the delay is constant and very noticeable.

    In the latter install the caching seems to kick in after a couple of page views but the blank screen should be noticeable initially before things settle down (the performance is still not as good as it should be in Chrome).

    The odd thing is that I have tried viewing these sites in Firefox (versions 2 and 3+) Safari, IE 6, 7 and 8 (all on Win XP). In all these browsers both installations load as quickly when the child theme is active as they do when Thematic is the main theme.

    I’ll try to leave both installations alone for a couple of days in the hope that someone gets to look at them.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Thread Starter perryb

    (@perryb)

    One last bump before bed time.

    To recap: Google Chrome appears to suck when child themes are installed on WordPress.

    I’d still be interested in hearing if anyone has experienced the same problem.

    Did you ever figure this out?

    Did you learn anything regarding this? It seems to be a Chrome issue not specific to WP.

    Thread Starter perryb

    (@perryb)

    No I didn’t get any response on the Thematic forum either (though that’s not to say it is a Thematic specific problem).

    Here is a site that I’m working on currently – I’ve got it running on Nginx with WP Super Cache.

    The thing is the site loads fast enough in Chrome but the screen still goes blank between page loads. I think it must be a Chrome issue.

    Has anyone noticed the same behaviour in Google Chrome with child themes (I suppose I should try this out myself when I get time)?

    Thread Starter perryb

    (@perryb)

    Actually – and I feel a little bit daft now – it seems that this a quirk of Google Chrome. I went off and tried a few CMS based sites including the BBC and many do the same thing, the window briefly goes blank whilst teh next page loads.

    TBH this is a bit clunky on Chrome’s part, none of the other browsers do this, though in the case of the WordPress site that I’m testing it seems that Chrome loads much faster than the competiton so its swings and roundabouts really.

    Thread Starter perryb

    (@perryb)

    OK fess up time – Firebug Lite is the culprit. I really should have checked the plug ins. I had a blinding flash of inspiration – its only taken me three months to work it out :S

    So, to recap: Firebug Lite is the cause of blank screens between page loads in Google Chrome.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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