3 ms·

I'd be very interested to see some proper analysis of the difference in speed between HTML/CSS vs just JS, it seems obvious to me that the former would be much

I'd be very interested to see some proper analysis of the difference in speed between HTML/CSS vs just JS, it seems obvious to me that the former would be much faster but then again I know how often "obvious" things are wrong.

thinkxl 9y ago
the list of sites on https://hnpwa.com/ https://hnpwa.com/ vs this https://news.ycombinator.com/ https://news.ycombinator.com/
- SquareWheel 9y ago
  Would you prefer that Hacker News reloaded the page every time you voted on a comment?
  - thinkxl 9y ago
    I wouldn't mind. But it doesn't work that way, look: https://vimeo.com/58808364 https://vimeo.com/58808364
    - SquareWheel 9y ago
      Interesting video, but it still seems to be a JS-driven technique?
  - kccqzy 9y ago
    Even without JS, there are tricks to make the upvote button work without refreshing the page. HN used to do this, not sure if it still does.
    - SquareWheel 9y ago
      Do you have a reference to any of those tricks? Sounds interesting.
      - framp 9y ago
        You could use a link with a background-image <style>.vote-42:active{ background-image: url(/api/vote/42) } </style> <a class="vote-42">Vote</a>
        SquareWheel 9y ago
        I ran a quick test. That actually seems to work, at least in Chrome. Very cool! https://codepen.io/anon/pen/weMwRz https://codepen.io/anon/pen/weMwRz Realistically, I'd probably never use it because it's so dependent on browser behavior, but still a cool alternative.
SquareWheel 9y ago
As a very general answer, JS webapps will typically be slower on the first load because they require an extra step to show the content. Subsequently loaded-pages or resources can be significantly faster in webapps however, as they can request (or generate) exactly what they need. The problem of slow initial loads is being addressed by tools like React by offering server-generated pages on the first load, and then transitioning to JS-based loading for subsequent loads. This offers the best of both worlds.

thinkxl 9y ago

the list of sites on https://hnpwa.com/ https://hnpwa.com/ vs this https://news.ycombinator.com/ https://news.ycombinator.com/

SquareWheel 9y ago
Would you prefer that Hacker News reloaded the page every time you voted on a comment?
- thinkxl 9y ago
  I wouldn't mind. But it doesn't work that way, look: https://vimeo.com/58808364 https://vimeo.com/58808364
  - SquareWheel 9y ago
    Interesting video, but it still seems to be a JS-driven technique?
- kccqzy 9y ago
  Even without JS, there are tricks to make the upvote button work without refreshing the page. HN used to do this, not sure if it still does.
  - SquareWheel 9y ago
    Do you have a reference to any of those tricks? Sounds interesting.
    - framp 9y ago
      You could use a link with a background-image <style>.vote-42:active{ background-image: url(/api/vote/42) } </style> <a class="vote-42">Vote</a>
      - SquareWheel 9y ago
        I ran a quick test. That actually seems to work, at least in Chrome. Very cool! https://codepen.io/anon/pen/weMwRz https://codepen.io/anon/pen/weMwRz Realistically, I'd probably never use it because it's so dependent on browser behavior, but still a cool alternative.

SquareWheel 9y ago

As a very general answer, JS webapps will typically be slower on the first load because they require an extra step to show the content. Subsequently loaded-pages or resources can be significantly faster in webapps however, as they can request (or generate) exactly what they need. The problem of slow initial loads is being addressed by tools like React by offering server-generated pages on the first load, and then transitioning to JS-based loading for subsequent loads. This offers the best of both worlds.