[RFC|Merged] Use Google's jQuery

[MattF]

jQuery use the google CDN, and then themselves as a fallback. They don't like people using them as a CDN.

(iirc)

True that jQuery's site uses the google CDN.

But I was referring to the CDN jQuery.com has set up, which is provided through MediaTemple.com, using this link (http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.6.4.min.js).

(All 3 CDNs are listed here: http://docs.jquery.com/Downloading_jQuery)

So even that kind of proves the point that although jQuery has set up a CDN of their own, even they still prefer to use Google's CDN! And if anybody is going to need jQuery to reliably work more than anybody else, it is jQuery.com!!

[MattF]

So I'm looking for some sort of consensus here:

Are we going to go super simple with On/Off - Hosted using Google CDN?

Or keep the current version which offers local or the 3 CDN options?

(Personally I'm now actually leaning towards just the simple on/off for serving from Google's CDN option)

[callumacrae]

So I'm looking for some sort of consensus here:

Are we going to go super simple with On/Off - Hosted using Google CDN?

Or keep the current version which offers local or the 3 CDN options?

(Personally I'm now actually leaning towards just the simple on/off for serving from Google's CDN option)

imo, on / off with googles CDN.

[MattF]

Here are the two options:

Simple Google On/Off

Screen Shot 2011-09-26 at 3.27.08 PM.png (55 KiB) Viewed 1656 times

multiple CDN choices

Screen Shot 2011-09-26 at 12.32.37 PM.png (77.67 KiB) Viewed 1656 times

[ToonArmy]

As I said, you need to have certain conditions. Try loading a script from a site which blackholes all traffic sent to it, or that accepts a request and sleeps for 1 hour. On freebsd, https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=684758 causes firefox 3.x-6.x to burn 100% cpu indefinitely when it tries to connect to a port where nothing is listening.

The argument against the fallback based on these conditions is flawed, it doesn't matter if the fallback is employed or not you're still in trouble.

However I would adjust the language of the ACP to make it clear that in the event of a failure "phpBB will attempt to fallback".

But, another ACP option makes me cry. If this is off by default (as it should be imo) do we really need an admin interface for it? Do we just hide it away as an advanced feature?

[Oleg]

The argument against the fallback based on these conditions is flawed, it doesn't matter if the fallback is employed or not you're still in trouble.

I was making an observation, not arguing against the fallback.

However I would adjust the language of the ACP to make it clear that in the event of a failure "phpBB will attempt to fallback".

Good idea.

But, another ACP option makes me cry. If this is off by default (as it should be imo) do we really need an admin interface for it? Do we just hide it away as an advanced feature?

I suppose this depends on whether the target audience of this feature is more or less technically inclined.

On the same note, I'm thinking people want buzzword compliance out of this feature (and shipping data to google) more than selecting a cdn. Unless there is actual demand for using a cdn other than google, cutting the options down to "included" and "google" seems like the way to go.

If we do decide to go with just two options, the url should be overridable either via a configuration entry or constant. Somewhat inconveniently, right now editing a constant is probably easier, but when (if?) we implement an about:config-style editor editing configuration there would be easier.

Edit: considering that different cdns apparently munge version numbers in different ways, I'm wondering if the other cdns can be provided via extensions.

[naderman]

I guess I'll say it again. Any constant for configuration is worse than not having the option at all. If something is not worth enough to receive its own option in the ACP, it's not worth having in the software at all. This particular feature is definitely worth having and should become a new option in the ACP under load settings. We have plenty of less import options we should review and potentially remove. This is not one of them.

Hiding options is worse than having too many options. When adding hidden options, you still increase the number of options. However you now have options that are no longer easily configurable, it's a lose/lose situation.

You should also consider that pretty much nobody is going to make use of a hidden option. You would have to be in some really bad circumstances to start looking for a hidden option for something you didn't even know was possible. This setting is useful to a large majority of all phpBB boards, and improves user experience, it deserves to be used.

[MattF]

I will bring this down to a single Yes/No option using the Google CDN then.

Of course, using the included version of jQuery is the default setting.

The Google CDN url will be stored in the database as a config variable, where as Naderman suggested earlier, an adept user really wanting to switch to another CDN than Google can do so through the db, or they could ask the MOD community to build a more advanced jQuery service MOD.

PS: What is the best location for this?:

General->Board Configuration->Board Features->Load Settings
-or-
General->Server Configuration->Load Settings->General Options

[sajaki]

You all seem to forget that having a hosted cdn means you're forced to use the latest version of jquery, whereas quite alot of frequently used jquery plugins are not up to date to the latest. Just an example, jquery Tools. it's just awesome, but it's only compatible until jquery 1.6.2, and that's only for jqt 1.2.6-dev. So letting modders decide if they wish to include a jquery 1.6.2 instead of let's say 1.6.4 is essential to me.

[sooskriszta]

You all seem to forget that having a hosted cdn means you're forced to use the latest version of jquery

Not true at all. Google offers several versions.