Specify 7.11.3 (though problem has been happening since 7.9.5 at least)
Specifically when using Specify 7 in Firefox (multiple versions, currently on v. 145.0.2 (aarch64)).
This post describes a recurrent problem I’ve experienced on multiple computers, but haven’t written it up til now because it’s a minor annoyance. I’d say it happens to me probably at least once per day, somewhat randomly, though certain actions/conditions tend to trigger it.
When I have a few tabs (usually 6-10, but I’ve had it happen with as few as 2 tabs) open of Specify 7, sometimes the page I’m on will freeze (buttons won’t react, browser commands like back/refresh don’t work). This happens especially frequently when one of the tabs has a tree open, and happens especially frequently when there are two tabs open to a tree. When this happens, all other Specify 7 pages freeze too. All other browser tabs, if any non-Specify pages are open, are functional and have no issues. Usually, my computer fans start running shortly after the freeze starts. The only way to fix this issue is to close all Specify 7 tabs. There is never an error message, the pages simply become completely unresponsive.
- I have noticed that if I look at CPU activity in macOS when the freeze is happening, Specify Firefox tab processes collectively take up all available resources on whatever machine I’m using.
- I’ve also noticed that when opening a new Specify 7 tab after closing all frozen ones, the page loads with the spinning wheel icon which usually means that the server has restarted, which suggests that part of this could actually be a server-side rather than client-side problem
- I haven’t seen this issue in Chrome or other browsers, but I don’t use them frequently enough to be sure it only happens in Firefox.
- It’s very difficult to reproduce this on command. The only time I’ve ever forced it to happen was by opening a large number of tree tabs and attempting to upload an attachment record to a CO via the dialog window on the CO form.
I’m curious to know if anyone else experiences this.
Specify Team: Is there anything I can do / record in-browser the next time this occurs to help get to the bottom of what’s happening?