[Jmol-developers] JmolAppletControl buttons

[Miguel <mi...@jm...>]

> Also, is it only me, or does it take a LONG time for a page containing
> several control buttons to load?

I assume that you are referring to the JmolAppletControl buttons on the
http://www.jmol.org/demo pages

> I'm sensing huge memory grabs--50
> seconds of 100% cpu activity as the page loads. I don't think this is
> reasonable.

These buttons are done as JmolAppletControls to make them more portable to
run on other systems, esp Mac OSX. But this was done in the days before
LiveConnect was working ...

The JmolAppletControls themselves are quite simple. But the browser has to
allocate an AppletContext for each one, and that is probably a set of
complicated data structures.

> I would advocate for simple links and the use of hidden
> frames and "immediate" buttons for documentation purposes.

I do not think that we should use hidden frames and immediate buttons for
help system pages that are designed to show functionality. Hidden frames +
immediate buttons add a lot of complexity to a simple page.

Since LiveConnect now works on OSX, I think we should use straight HTML
buttons. I think that is the simplest mechanism and the recommended
mechanism for having script buttons.


Miguel