#4183 Excessive Javascript on page load (FF) ruins user experience

[blakeyrat]

When browsing Slashdot using the old discussion system (i.e., not D2) on Firefox 2.0.0.16, each page executes enough Javascript at the load event to noticably affect user experience.

I've timed this (using the extremely precise one-potato-two method) to about 4.5-5 seconds of delay after the page renders, but before it can be interacted with. This is a significant delay, especially considering how fast Javascipt is in general.

(To guage this amount of time, click a link to a new Slashdot article in Firefox, then hover your mouse over a link. As long as the mouse cursor is an arrow, you can not interact with the page and the Javascript is still executing. When it turns into a hand, the script has finished.)

This is very consistent behavior, leading me to believe it's not the result of a single poorly-coded ad creative. Also, IE either executes the same script fast enough that no delay is perceptable, or doesn't execute this particular script.

Reproduction:
1) Log on to Slashdot, view the following URL:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=642233&cid=24556283
2) Click the link to the first response, or any link on the page that goes to a new Slashdot comment
3) Notice that it takes several seconds before the fully-rendered page can be interacted with.

I attempted to take a video, but my copy of SnagIt isn't aggreeing with me at the moment and I'm too lazy to install something else. I can make a video on request.