Re^3: AJAX-based Perlmonks.com?

[Corion]

The chatterbox will never be Ajax-based for two reasons. First, Pair.com does not allow "chat servers" in its terms of use. The CB already is on the very border of that in my opionion. Second, the server load would multiply if every page that a browser has open on Perlmonks would reload all the time. I usually have two or three pages open, but when starting the day, I open at least all new root nodes in separate tabs - the load inflicted on Perlmonks by a constantly refreshing CB would be huge and the gain miniscule.

[gregor42]

The chatterbox will never be Ajax-based for two reasons. First, Pair.com does not allow "chat servers" in its terms of use. The CB already is on the very border of that in my opionion

This is especially true of the Java based CB client.

Second, the server load would multiply if every page that a browser has open on Perlmonks would reload all the time.

Since JavaScript can span a user session & not only a window - there's no reason to open more than one connection per user session. However it would still be the rough equivalent of everyone running the Java client. And that certainly would increase the load. It could be throttled however to a slow refresh rate. I suppose it's all a matter of a breakeven point of performance vs. load. Clearly this isn't a big win scenario either way.

Voting however, could certainly be implemented using AJAX. That could significantly reduce load especially on long threads, since the only data you'd be requesting back would be related to voting, rather than resending all of the content.

[thor]

Second, the server load would multiply if every page that a browser has open on Perlmonks would reload all the time.

You're assuming that a refresh-every-n-seconds is the only way. What I was suggesting was more along the lines of only the chatterbox nodelet updating when the talk button was pressed. The chatterbox is used for more than just chat. Private messages and "you have a reply to ..." style messages are displayed here as well. It would be nice to be able to check the check boxes, hit the talk button, and not have the whole page refresh. In this style, I would venture to guess that the server load would be reduced, both from a CPU standpoint and a bandwidth standpoint. I could be wrong, though.