The main reason that I removed the Blogcatalog & MyBlogLog widgets from this blog was because they would frequently prevent the blog from loading. Although it was more the fault of my theme, which loads the sidebars first (and is not easily fixed), it was a fact that if the widget didn’t load, nor did my blog.
That’s why the IFrameWidgets plugin from Stephen at the More than Scratch The Surface blog was a godsend, and now that I’ve installed it, it really seems to have done the trick. You can get the full explanation at Stephens blog, but essentially the widget code loads within it’s own iFrame, parallel to the blog loading. Therefore, if the widget is slow, or fails to load altogether, your blog will still load normally.
Additionally, the plugin is designed so that if the widget doesn’t load at all, then the sidebar will load normally, with no strange gaps in it.
The plugin works with Blogrush (from whom incidentally, I’m getting an increasing number of hits), MyBlogLog, Blogcatalog, Bumpzee and theoretically, any javascript widget – I’m going to try it out with the Flickr widget which has also given me problems in the past.
Just download the plugin, FTP it to your blog, activate and you will then have up to nine iFrames to drag & drop into your sidebars. It’s still very much ‘beta’ at the moment, so if you notice any issues with it on my blog, please let me know & I’ll pass it on to Stephen.
This plugin should now mean that you no longer have to hide your widgets away in you footer or elsewhere, nor miss out on the benefits of a Stumble (as I have in the past) because a widget is stopping your blog from appearing – great stuff!
3 users commented in " Stop Widgets From Slowing Down Your Blog "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackHi Chris,
Thanks for trying out the plugin. Let me know if there’s any problems!
I just want to mention that there is one known problem which is listed on the plugin’s home page – that is the site who make the widget won’t know which page the widget was called from. This is the main reason that it’s still a beta version.
For example, the Bumpzee widget works and shows who has been visiting your site, but the stats show This Page and Blog Total as being the same (basically because This Page is pointing to the IFrame, not the page it’s on). If your stats are important for you, please think twice.
The BlogCatalog widget may have a similar problem, but the MyBlogLog one has a separate tracking code available from the widgets area of their site which can be added to the IFrame widget and should prevent any problems. BUMPzee are looking at adding this, but it may take some time. It’s probably not a good idea to put the Alexa widget in an IFrame, in case it is recording traffic.
Anyway, all the details are on the home page if people are interested.
That sounds like a great plugin! Thanks so much for the tip.
Hmm… It’s a great plugin. I will try it on my blog. Iframe might become the best solution to speed up download time and avoid error widgets.
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