Windows Central website is slow and full of ads

[anon(8150199)]

Well, I have to agree with this. Especially even more unbearable if I use IE and switch to power saving mode.

 

[James Falconer]

@realwarder - thanks for posting those screens. Passing them along to tech to take a look at.

@All - we do appreciate the patience, our team is continuing to work on this, we are NOT ignoring it!

​Thanks!

 

[MaulerX]

110% agreed. It's painfully slow and unbearable. I use IE but it seems like this site completely sucks in it. It's to the point I basically get the news from news readers and the such.

 

[kenjancef]

The part I'm getting sick of is the floating ad at the bottom of Safari on my iPad when going to this site, and to iMore as well. It is so annoying that I don't even visit the sites on my iPad anymore. And I'm using AdBlock Plus on Firefox when I come here on my PC's.

 

[James Falconer]

The part I'm getting sick of is the floating ad at the bottom of Safari on my iPad when going to this site, and to iMore as well. It is so annoying that I don't even visit the sites on my iPad anymore. And I'm using AdBlock Plus on Firefox when I come here on my PC's.

​Screenshot?

 

[kenjancef]

​Screenshot?

Sorry for the delay... Here ya go... Annoying...

 

[James Falconer]

Thanks for posting that. Trying to reproduce the same here on iPad, and no success yet.

Does that ad load for you all the time or is it intermittent?

 

[tgp]

James, I don't know if you know that answer to this, but I'm wondering what's different between the WindowsCentral site and the other Mobile Nations sites. I've never seen complaints about ads and being slow on AndroidCentral or iMore, yet the complaints are all over here on WindowsCentral.

Is it because the users of the other sites are more likely to use Chrome or Firefox, which have robust ad blockers? Is browser data available?

 

[Laura Knotek]

James, I don't know if you know that answer to this, but I'm wondering what's different between the WindowsCentral site and the other Mobile Nations sites. I've never seen complaints about ads and being slow on AndroidCentral or iMore, yet the complaints are all over here on WindowsCentral.

Is it because the users of the other sites are more likely to use Chrome or Firefox, which have robust ad blockers? Is browser data available?

That's a good question.

I use Firefox in desktop Windows and Linux, as well as in Android. I only use IE in Windows Phone.

I don't have any iOS devices. Do Safari or Firefox for iOS have adblock?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[tgp]

That's a good question.

I use Firefox in desktop Windows and Linux, as well as in Android. I only use IE in Windows Phone.

I don't have any iOS devices. Do Safari or Firefox for iOS have adblock?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

The thought crossed my mind because because I use Chrome with an ad blocker, and I have 0 issues with this site. The only time I see the problem is when I use the site from a different computer. I occurred to me that with most users here being Microsoft fans, IE is probably the most used browser. Its lack of addons would make ads more of an issue. I know that IE 11 does have a built in ad blocker, but I don't know how well it works, or how many users actually enable it.

I can't help you with the iOS question. I do use an iPad (Mini 2), but I use the Tapatalk app. I never go to this site with a browser.

 

[Laura Knotek]

The thought crossed my mind because because I use Chrome with an ad blocker, and I have 0 issues with this site. The only time I see the problem is when I use the site from a different computer. I occurred to me that with most users here being Microsoft fans, IE is probably the most used browser. Its lack of addons would make ads more of an issue. I know that IE 11 does have a built in ad blocker, but I don't know how well it works, or how many users actually enable it.

I can't help you with the iOS question. I do use an iPad (Mini 2), but I use the Tapatalk app. I never go to this site with a browser.

Adblock and TPL (Easy Privacy List) do block ads in desktop IE. There are no such extensions for Windows Phone IE.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[kenjancef]

Thanks for posting that. Trying to reproduce the same here on iPad, and no success yet.

Does that ad load for you all the time or is it intermittent?

Funny, used to be all the time, but just went there now and the ad wasn't there. Used to happen on iMore all the time as well, but stopped there.

 

[James Falconer]

James, I don't know if you know that answer to this, but I'm wondering what's different between the WindowsCentral site and the other Mobile Nations sites. I've never seen complaints about ads and being slow on AndroidCentral or iMore, yet the complaints are all over here on WindowsCentral.

Is it because the users of the other sites are more likely to use Chrome or Firefox, which have robust ad blockers? Is browser data available?

The difference (it seems) is the preferred browser of choice at each community. We do get complaints on our other communities, including Android Central and iMore... but honestly the majority of complaints do seem to happen here at WC.

The reason? Internet Explorer seems to give us a lot of grief for whatever reason. The sites seem to play a lot nicer with Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and other browsers.

So... bug fixes, addressing load issues, etc. is always done with IE in mind. It's been a difficult road for sure but I can assure you we appreciate all the feedback and support so much. Keep it coming.

 

[Chris_Kez]

The real question is how will it perform on Spartan?

 

[Yazen]

Adblock and TPL (Easy Privacy List) do block ads in desktop IE. There are no such extensions for Windows Phone IE.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Adding Adblock to desktop IE11 solely to view this site would be a bear. Known to increase memory usage and loading times significantly.

 

[Yazen]

The real question is how will it perform on Spartan?

The real question is if Spartan will block ads like IE11 Mobile before WP8.1
Seems like if Windows Central cannot fix ads, and is recommending users to install adblock, why not simply remove them altogether?

 

[Plantje]

To me it seems it has improved the last few days.

I understand an ad blocker can solve some issues. However, as stated above, for IE on Windows Phone no ad blocker is available. And to be quite honest: if I go to an ordinary site like Windows Central I should not need an ad blocker! I understand that some buggy sites may be that full of ads that it is really needed, but Windows Central should be a decent site.

 

[kenjancef]

To me it seems it has improved the last few days.

I understand an ad blocker can solve some issues. However, as stated above, for IE on Windows Phone no ad blocker is available. And to be quite honest: if I go to an ordinary site like Windows Central I should not need an ad blocker! I understand that some buggy sites may be that full of ads that it is really needed, but Windows Central should be a decent site.

Agree on both... and there's no ad blocker on iOS, at least I don't think...

 

[JOHN Smith88]

I agree that there are so many ads on this WP site that its harder to look for content. Understand the idea of ads for getting revenue but they shouldn't be too overwhelming to the user browsing the site..

 

[Plantje]

That's exactly why I don't block ads. Call me stupid, but I feel that by not blocking them I am supporting my favorite websites without any effort on my part.