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Firefox will not scroll while pictures still being downloaded
When accessing any website that contains text and graphics, the text usually downloads first and most people want to read that without waiting for the grphics nor the adverts. But FF32.03 does not allow scrolling until the whole of the page has downloaded, which can take quite a while on slower connections (our is at best 2.5 Mbps, faster is not available). And example would be a page from the BBC News website, most of which contain loads of text and some pictures but I want to read the text while the pictures download - and I'm not interested in the adverts as I never read them. It would be most usely if the page would scroll while the graphics are still downloading. Please can this be implimented?
Chosen solution
Hi MikeP_UK, Horay for the update! I will mark your post as solved until next time :-)
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Hi MikeP_UK, There is a feature being worked in in Nightly called e10s. This new window mode is meant to block or filter ads. So far it has lowered page time loads from my testing on BBC: https://nightly.mozilla.org/
I hope this helps in the meantime.
You could disable the images if your connection is too slow to download the image fast enough.
- ImgLikeOpera: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/imglikeopera/
- Image Block: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/image-block/
I'm trying Nightly to see if it helps. It does seem to but still testing
Not a suitable option as the imagery is an essential part of the news story and some are MP4 files so are needed anyway.
It's just that I want to read the text while the imagery is downloading and that needs page scrolling to wiork during the ongoing image file downloads.
I was researching some of the about:config entries that control the scrolling. Currently the oe feature to turn off smooth scrolling in Firefox is in this menu: Firefox Menu > Options> Advanced > General "use smooth scrolling" or "use auto scrolling"
Oddly enough however, that site bbc uk does not let me scroll until the page is loaded. However I turned off the two features above and after clicking a couple of different articles it improved a little.
I also tried to disable javascript temporarily, but this would break parts of the page. Ad block plus might help specify scripts on the page, however this will create a poor performance in Firefox.
Historically: scrolling about:config entires
As had been suggested earlier, I have been trying the lastest version(s) of Nightly. The scrolling problem still persists, so I will try this latest suggestion and report back after a decent trial period.
Having tried the suggested alternative of Nightly, I now find that the graphics do not work correctly at all after the lastest 2 updates! Even uninstalling nightly now renders Firefox unusable! When viewing a page that requires scrolling, instead of the text appearing normally as the screen runs down, it shows merely the imagery from the last line that showed correctly all the way down the screen! So none of the following text is shown at all. That now happens with Nightly and Firefox, but not any other program! So I am relegated to using a different browser which is not my choice. I may have to export all my personal settings, etc, uninstall Firefox 32.0.3, reboot, then install again and put back all my personalisations - not an easy task! Also, is there an English UK version of Nightly? (I am in the UK and never use US versions if at all avoidable.)
There is an easy way to use the same profile in two installations of Firefox. If you unmark "do not show on start up" when you launch Firefox with the Profile manager it is possible to select the profile to use in which version of Firefox. Profile Manager - Create, remove or switch Firefox profiles
I am sorry that this user experience was not easy. However to answer your question about the UK version of nightly, I don't think so. The url https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-trunk/ where they are kept have one version. But there are language packs here: http://download.cdn.mozilla.net/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/latest/win32/xpi/
I am wondering though if this also needs to be addressed at webcompat.com for this specific website. Because all browsers I test it on, the header image takes a bit to load and I cannot scroll until it has loaded completely.
I have had to give up on Nightly, experience of it shows it's just not ready for real time usage by the general public. The latest version of Firefox, 33.0, is now working as expected with no untoward visual artifacts. I completely uninstalled 32.x, deleted all traces I could find, rebooted, downloaded the complete installable and saved it to disk, then ran it. I then put all my customisations back, my passwords, cookies, Bookmarks, etc. It's now doing what I want. I suspect that there is something 'non standard' in the way the BBC News website is working as my brother had exactly the same problem under Windows 8.1 with FF32.x and his has been fine since updating to 33.0 today. Worth testing the website I suspect. Mine is now resolved - until the next time!
Modified
Chosen Solution
Hi MikeP_UK, Horay for the update! I will mark your post as solved until next time :-)
MikeP_UK, the unstable Nightly development channel was never meant for regular Firefox users but for Testers and Developers more. There are four main channels as in Release, Beta, Aurora and Nightly.