Poorly optimized and coded

  • This plugin loads almost all of its scripts and styles on every page, even ones without any images or galleries*. Good luck trying to clean that up – the code is an impenetrable web of scripts calling scripts calling other scripts. And why is it still using fancybox 1.3.4 from 10 years ago??

    * This has been an issue for years, but the developers refuse to address it.

    Of course it also has no jQuery 2 version, i.e. w/ out old IE support – who cares if people want to move on, we’re gonna drag them back down.

    Basically it’s impossible to setup a well optimized, lean website with this plugin used – so it’s up to you whether you want to use it. If you don’t care that your website loads a minimum of 4 extra, unused scripts on every page then sure, I guess it’ll do the job. However, if you want a site that is snappy and light on bandwidth, especially if you’re aiming for mobile-first design then stay away from this plugin like the plague.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Plugin Contributor photocrati

    (@photocrati)

    @i2late2die – Thanks for the feedback, we are well aware of the scripts issue and have corrected it for our next major release.

    As far as your concerns with Fancybox, we only bundle some basic Lightbox libraries as a convenience to NextGEN Gallery users. You are more than welcome to choose not to use any of them easily enough under Gallery > Other Options > Lightbox Effects.

    We have purposely chosen to offer as much backward compatibility with older browsers as possible, moving to jQuery 2 will force users away from NextGEN Gallery, especially those that are forced to use IE6 as their browser (we really do feel their pain).

    Please feel free to have another look once our 2.0.68 release is available, I believe you will be pleasantly surprised if you take the time to look at what you can do with it.

    Thanks, again!

    – Cais.

    Thread Starter i2late2die

    (@i2late2die)

    I understand the compatibility issues, but I wasn’t suggesting removing the use of jQuery 1.x entirely, just giving us the option to use jQuery 2.x. Essentially a “backwards compatible” vs “modern” checkbox would be nice.

    As for the other issues, fair enough, I’ll take a look at the upcoming release. I do appreciate the functionality that the plugin offers, but in some cases I just can’t compromise on performance and so have to do without it.

    Yup, just wanted to confirm that the next major release does (finally) remove all NGG scripts from pages without galleries.

    I think the “backwards compatible vs modern checkbox” is a nice and idea, and one we’ll raise for team discussion. To be honest, I will say this is the first time I can specifically recall hearing someone express concern about the jquery version.

    @cais – Do you already know when your 2.0.68 release will be available? I really like your plugin but it doubles the loading time for every single page of my website.

    Thanks a lot

    Christian

    Plugin Contributor photocrati

    (@photocrati)

    @christian Frick – We’re still testing the 2.0.68 version of NextGEN Gallery but if you would like to a beta version please send us a Bug Report (https://www.nextgen-gallery.com/report-bug/ … please reference this topic) so we can get in contact with you when it is ready.

    Thanks!

    – Cais.

    @i2late2die @christian Frick – Just following up on some old reviews and wanted to confirm that we’ve pushed a release (2.0.71 and later) that removes NextGEN-related scripts from any pages except those with NextGEN Galleries.

    @i2late2die – given this was the major reason for your one-star review, we’re also wondering if you might consider revising your rating upward.

    Thanks. (Erick)

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