pprune

[PPRuNe Towers]

There's a parallel thread to this running over on the private flying forum which gives more detail and all the background to the problems we're all undeniably facing.

Here at the Towers tonight we're very pleased indeed that we've found a flexible and totally scaleable solution for the long term. This will be a blessed relief from our annual crisis as yet another server shows the strain.

We are absolutely indebted to PPRuNers in the IT industry who responded to my description of the problems we face - an amateur operation with corporate levels of traffic. Their advice and offers of help have given us an entirely new roadmap. This isn't glib praise. Every time we approached the big providers with what we needed they flattened us with quotes which, while competitive in their context, were lottery numbers for us.

Changing tack and going for the huge number of IT specialists who are aviation orientated has totally transformed the situation. If things work out it may well be that IT folks, such as those always available to offer help on this forum, will have utterly transformed this site's performance in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile we cannot strongly enough encourage you to stop browsing with Internet Explorer. If you aren't using a tabbed browser you are wasting most of your time on the site - it's as simple as that.

Please, please heed the excellent advice being offered by others on this thread.

Regards
Rob Lloyd

[Niaga Dessip]

OK, Towers, I've stopped!

and thanks, BahrainLad, for the tip about Safari. I have just downloaded it and it is superb - just the business.

Cheers to you all,
ND

[TheStormyPetrel]

After reading recent threads on IE and others, I've tried Firebird Mozilla. I like it, but the window for composing posts to pprune is smaller, and its size can't be changed. So I guess I'll try some of the others. Tabs are handy, I admit.

By the way Binos, I like your new personalised "Just Binos"

[Binoculars]

OK, while we're on the topic, some advice on running two browsers please? Mrs Binos has taken ten years to get used to IE, no point introducing something new. If I keep IE as the default browser, do I just select the alternative from the Programs list when I want to use Pprune?

Are there any conflicts or any other problems? Does M$ get in a huff if it detects another browser? All info appreciated.

Thanks Stormy . Like yours, concise and unpretentious. I hope.

[TheStormyPetrel]

Wow Binos, you've thought of complications I didn't even consider. In my ignorance, I merely downloaded it, installed it and put a shortcut on my desktop and even toolbar, so now I can just choose whichever one I want. If I'm posting, I use IE, just to get more room in the composing box, as mentioned above. If there are complications with having both on then I guess I need to know about them before they catch me out.

[BRL]

Hi Bins. I am using Opera and IE6. I have Opera set to be my default browswer at the moment. IE6 could be it too but I prefer Opera. If you do it, simply place a shortcut on your desktop and click on that when you go online, it is so easy and doesn't cause conflict with the two systems at all. MS doesnt get stroppy at all and there are, so far, no conflicting problems at all. Give it a try, Tabs are brillaint on a site like pprune.

[phnuff]

My guess is the thing about IE is that it is a single window rather than a lot of other browsers Opera or Mozilla to name but two, which are free, and which for a single incidence of running, can show more than one page at a time on separate tabbed windows (The approach used to be called a Multiple Document Interface or MDI). What does this mean to the user - well it doesnt make proon any quicker as they are both receiving data from the same place, but it does mean that while waiting for proon to wake up and send you the page, you can look at other sites which are less busy, have bigger engines with more horsepower behind them , or have found better routes to you. This will as the quote says 'mask' the performance by giving you something else to do while waiting.

They are also often more secure than the MS offering

Personally settled on Mozilla
)

[BEagle]

OK - I no speako Geek-speak, so could you please translate "If you aren't using a tabbed browser you are wasting most of your time on the site - it's as simple as that" into everyday idiot's English. WTF is a 'tabbed browser'?

And anyway, what is allegedly wrong with IE6?

[RomeoTangoFoxtrotMike]

BEage.

Responding to your questions in reverse:-

And anyway, what is allegedly wrong with IE6?

The general problem with IE (and MS software genrally) is its appalling security track record... ...and bloat. Their software is often very greedy for system resources and profligate in their use...

WTF is a 'tabbed browser'?

IE opens a whole window for every page. You want to look at two pages, perhaps to refer between them, or, as has been suggested here, to load up a number of slow pages simultaneously, and you get a whole new Window for each. This is a waste of system resources. A "tabbed" browser, like Opera or Mozilla opens one window and allows you to open multiple pages, each one selectable with a "tab" (a bit like workbooks in Excel). This is less resource intensive on your PC and make swapping between pages easier.)

HTH,

/RTFM

[BEagle]

Thanks for the explanation.

However, if I want to look at a couple of different sites and swap between them, I just press the Internet button again and then IE6 the other site, before swapping between them in the taskbar. Haven't ever found that much of a problem - Dell X200 laptop with WinXP Pro and wireless broadband. Good enough for me as a simpleton home user - but not cutting edge PC useage, I guess?