Processing math ....12....37......62.........%

[riemann]

I'm experiencing very slow processing times (~15 seconds) of the font sizes, math, etc when looking at each of the recent problem thread pages (especially those of the 308 problem). During this time I have zero response on any navigation input.
Is there a simple solution for this, like a specific math and font package (or an accelerator) that I can load at default (and not each time again when switching to another page)?
Help would be appreciated.

[hk]

I'm experiencing the same problem in Internet Explorer.
Although I hate to say so, in Firefox processing times are much better.

[elendiastarman]

That's weird...there's not even a hint of extra loading time beyond loading plain text. Perhaps it has to do with location? (I'm on the east coast of the USA, by the way.)

[hk]

I did some research. It seems a problem of IE8, that IE7 doesn't have.
http://www.mathjax.org/resources/faqs/#ie8-slow

You can see it happen when you visit the main site when you open projecteuler:

compatability1.gif

Left of the refresh button there comes a button that tells you this site isn't IE8 compatible:

compatability2.gif

Just press this button (the button darkens now) and project euler will be added to a list of sites IE8 will show in IE7 emulation mode.
The next time you open a forum page that has Tex in it the parsing will be significantly faster.

Of course it would be better if the suggestion made in http://www.mathjax.org/resources/faqs/#ie8-slow
were implemented in Project Euler.
@Colin: can you do that?

[euler]

Thanks for finding that useful information, Hans. I've modified the script to add the suggested meta tag if the server detects someone is using a deficient browser, sorry, Internet Explorer.

It would be useful if someone could report if this helps at all.

[hk]

Thanks Colin.
In any case IE now reaches automatically the compatibility state and doesn't report anymore that the site is incompatible.
And it helps somewhat indeed.

[hk]

By the way: I tried the same for your other website and setting the compatibility to use IE7 emulation for
http://mathschallenge.net helps enormously for the processing time of http://mathschallenge.net/view/irrationality_of_e.

[euler]

I forgot about that, Hans; thank you for reminding me. I've made a similar change to the script at mathschallenge.net, and you're right, it significantly improves load time in IE8. Interestingly, I had not patched my computer for a long, long time, so I was using one of the original builds of IE8. The original version did not have compatability mode and so it NEVER loaded that page. It seems that the patched version (with compatability view) times out and eventually loads the page, which is why there is a massive delay. However, with the suggested meta tag (or forcing it via the compatability button) it loads almost as quick as Firefox or Chrome - neither of which require any patches or hacks. Seriously, why do people use IE?

[harryh]

Seriously, why do people use IE?

Because site admins are quite happy (or at least willing) to patch and hack their scripts, in order to make them compatible with it

[Lord_Farin]

Seriously, why do people use IE?

Because site admins are quite happy (or at least willing) to patch and hack their scripts, in order to make them compatible with it

I taste some circular reasoning... Oh, how I long for the day when all browsers will have the same compatibility standards.