RoboHelp 8: Loading time of TOC in FireFox

[Seemeen_Ejaz]

I am using RoboHelp 8. After I generated my help and deployed it on a web server, I noticed that my TOC loads instantly in IE, just like it should. However, when I access my web help in FireFox, it takes around 2 minutes to load the TOC in FF. I am using IE 8 and FireFox 3.6.9. Any solution to this?

[Peter Grainge]

In the SSL wizard there is an Optimise option. Try changing it to local, notwithstanding that the help is on a server.

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@petergrainge

[Seemeen_Ejaz]

SSL Wizard ? Can you please elaborate on this a little further ? Is this something in RoboHelp, because I have not come across this, am trying to look it up.

[Peter Grainge]

The single source layout where you generate the help.

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@petergrainge

[Seemeen_Ejaz]

Got it! But no luck, as the Optimize Speed for is already set to Local PC or Intranet (Internal Network).

[Peter Grainge]

I'll assume you have tried the other setting.

Is it the same on all machines with Firefox? Add-ons can affect things so if it is just your machine, that is the next thing to look at. Beyond that, I don't know what else to suggest. Firefox is usually very good.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Seemeen_Ejaz]

Peter, its happening on all machines. The problem is that I need the TOC to load instantly just like it does in IE. The TOC Iframe takes around 1-2 min and the Iframe containnig the help content displays instantly.

[hemtya]

I had a similar problem...

My webhelp worked file in IE and Firefox, but Chrome would not load the TOC, and that too sporadically. After numnerous finger-pointing, we discovered the issue - thanks to Fiddler. Apparently, one wh___.htm was not saved to one of our servers and if loadbalancing renders from that server the TOC did not load. When refreshed, it displayed the TOC - only when it swiched over to the good server. We re-deployed the files, this time manually, to resolve the issue.

Why only Chrome? Because the browser cache is disabled by default in Chrome. IE and Firefox served it from the cache and hence there was no issue there.

Not sure if this helps your case, but it is sure an interesting scenario to know.

[hemtya]

BTW, use Fiddler to see what is going on. It is a free tool, you can download it from the web. It helps.

[Seemeen_Ejaz]

I think I will check if all these wicked w_.htm files are in order. It is very frustrating.

[Peter Grainge]

I hope it is those files as this is not a common problem. FF is usually good at loading quickly so it does seem like an environment problem.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Seemeen_Ejaz]

I took the lead from the forums here and compared files between the correct and incorrect deployment. All files were present, however we started on a hunch that perhaps it was a problem with the configuration files. I took the files of the good server and pasted them on the problematic server and viola the TOC was behaving like it should!!!! I narrowed it down to two files which are creating a problem i.e whphost.js and whutils.js.

[Peter Grainge]

Correct and incorrect deployment? Where did that come from? I don't see anything previously in the thread about the output being on two servers and working on one.

However, glad to hear it's working now and thanks for posting the information that may help others.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Seemeen_Ejaz]

Another thing that I forgot to mention is that I am using a Windows 7, 64-bit machine with RoboHelp 8, FF 3.6.9. Previously, when this problem was not there, I was on a Windows XP (32-bit machine, with Robohelp 7 and FF 3.6.9.