Change JFBConnect loading to the end

The way we load all of the social network Javascript libraries is meant to be optimized as best it can for any site, including those that block those libraries. For instance, many ad-blockers or privacy extensions also block those files. It shouldn't be a major cause of your site to run slowly.

If you're loading out of China, I'd recommend using the 'Network' tab in Chrome (or your browser of choice) and see how the Facebook library is blocked. Usually, it's an instant block with an error code.. not a timeout error. That means the page should still be just as responsive as it would be with JFBConnect disabled.

Another way to test is simply disabling the JFBCSystem plugin. That's what enables all of our Javascript inclusions and other features. If it still loads slow, JFBConnect is not the cause.

Unfortunately, China makes many sites and pages run slowly. If you continue to think it's JFBConnect though, please let us know how long it takes for those files to timeout and how long the page is loading in general?

Thanks,
Alex

When you disable JFBConnect, you're removing the scripts entirely, so you won't see that error. Even if you defer the scripts, they will still try to load, China will block them and you'd get that error. Deferring won't fix the error and allow them to load. The problem is that they are being blocked and there aren't ways around that.

Again, if you can let us know how long it takes for those errors to appear (you can use the Network tab in the Developer Tools area), why you think those scripts being blocked is causing the page to run slow and what effect that's having, that's more helpful to understand what's going on and what we can do to help fix things.

Thanks,
Alex

Thanks for sending that.

Unfortunately, we don't know how to improve that. We use Facebook's recommendations for loading their Javascript:
developers.facebook.com/docs/javascript/quickstart

What is your recommendation on how to improve that? Even if the Javascript is deferred, the browser is still going to try and load it, which would be an 18s delay. If we do that, there's also other issues that can come along with that because the Javascript expects to be loaded per their recommendations, so other issues can crop up if the timing is moved for users where it does work.

If you have suggestions or aware of recommendations from Facebook on how to minimize this issue, we're all ears. There's simply not a silver bullet that we're aware of. The only 'hammer' recommendation I can give is to remove the Facebook Javascript altogether. If you're not using the FB widgets (like button, comment box, etc) and want to switch to using the authentication redirection ("Show Login Credentials In Popup" - No), then the Facebook Javascript can be removed. There's a line or 2 of code you can use to remove that and we can gladly help provide it.

Thanks,
Alex

It's a possible suggestion, but IP detection requires additional services to look up each IP and determine the location. Many times, those services have an additional monthly fee. Alternatively, we'd have to bundle in a IP database and region lookup into JFBConnect, but that can get out of date over time.

Unfortunately, neither of the above options are things we're currently planning to do. IP detection and action is better handled by firewall extensions that do that all the time and adding a large database of IP lookups (and the time requirement added to each page load to perform the lookup and take action) is not something we want to include in JFBConnect.

My best suggestion would be:
1) Set the "Show Login Credentials in Popup" setting in the Facebook configuration area to 'No' - This uses a different authentication flow that does not require the Facebook Javascript library to be loaded.
2) Manually remove the Facebook Javascript library from JFBConnect so it's not loaded on any pages - We can give you a few lines of code to comment out to do this, but it prevents all Facebook widgets from loading.

The above leaves Facebook login intact for those that can use it, but disables all other Facebook Social Widgets. Things like Authentication, Channels, Open Graph and other server based features would still work.

I hope that helps,
Alex

As mentioned in my suggestion:

The above leaves Facebook login intact for those that can use it, but disables all other Facebook Social Widgets. Things like Authentication, Channels, Open Graph and other server based features would still work.

When you turn off the authentication in popup, JFBConnect still allows Facebook authentication by redirecting the user to Facebook where they authenticate and are returned back to your site. That flow does not require the Facebook Javascript library at all.

If authentication is currently working how you want, please try editing the following file to remove the Facebook javascript inclusion:
/components/com_jfbconnect/libraries/provider/facebook.php
Around line 404, you should see:Comment that line out (put 2 forward slashes in front of it, like '//'). Then, the Facebook Javascript library should no longer load but authentication should still work.

Please test and let me know how that goes!

Thanks,
Alex