googleapis.com cause long loading times in Firefox

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by SweX, May 13, 2016.

  1. SweX

    SweX Registered Member

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    I am not sure why but some googleapis.com e.g fonts.googleapis.com is causing long loading times in Firefox lately. Up to 30+ seconds.

    I use the latest Firefox version now, but it also happened with the previous version. Firefox get stuck at "waiting for fonts.googleapis.com" then again at "loading fonts.googleapis.com" and so forth.

    It does not have to be FONTS.googleapis.com, it can be other ones too like ajax.googleapis.com

    I have not changed/tweaked anything in Firefox for a long time so I can't see why this started and what could cause it. And it doesn't happen when I try to access any specific sites or forums, and not every time either. It happens more or less randomly.

    I can take the Malwaretips forum as an example. I went there just now and it loaded instantly. But yesterday Firefox was stuck at xxx.googleapis.com for at least 20+ seconds. (I don't remember if it was fonts.googleapis.com or some other one)

    I got tired of it so I created a block rule in uBlock Origin for fonts.googleapis.com, and Firefox has not got stuck at fonts.googleapis.com since then, but it is not a permanent solution as IIRC blocking these googleapis.com can also break/prevent some sites from working properly. But it will do as a quick fix for now.
     
  2. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

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    NoScript blocks googleapis.com on my machines. I haven't noticed any problems thus far.
     
  3. SweX

    SweX Registered Member

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    Thanks. Sounds good. I believe I tried that block rule in uBlock Origin to get around a "you are using an adblocker please disable it" when someone on here suggested that to be able to read the news article which the thread in question was about. And that member also mentioned that it can break some sites. So I only created the block rule - read the article - and then deleted it again.

    Perhaps it is more rare than common to come across sites that breaks if you have a block rule for googleapis.com, I don't know. :)
     
    Last edited: May 13, 2016
  4. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

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    @SweX , scratch that. I just realised I had to allow googleapis.com to watch some live streams on youtube.
     
  5. SweX

    SweX Registered Member

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    Oh right. Maybe it's not such good idea to block these after all then hmmm :doubt: I keep my block for fonts.googleapis.com a while longer anyway, as that is the one that have caused the most "stuck" moments in Firefox.
     
  6. bo elam

    bo elam Registered Member

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    I think you can do that and you ll be fine, nothing is gonna break. I don't white list that domain in NoScript and don't need to allow it to run temporarily for any site that I use on a regular basis or recall having to allow it for any site in the past. :)

    Bo
     
  7. guest

    guest Guest

    Maybe try to block remote fonts with ublock, so that fonts are not being downloaded from that url.
     
  8. WildByDesign

    WildByDesign Registered Member

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    I apologize if this is off-topic, but I wanted to mention that protecting Firefox with EMET 5.5 (specifically Win 10 only) has the ability to block non-system fonts from loading.
     
  9. marzametal

    marzametal Registered Member

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    After a while of putting up with the dodgy icons, I loosened my stranglehold somewhat on the googleapis stuff. I decided to let maps/fonts/ajax through untouched.

    In my RequestPolicy Continued addon for FF, I made a global rule for *.ajax.googleapis.com, *.fonts.googleapis.com, and *.maps.googleapis.com as a destination.
    In Acrylic DNS Proxy, I made this rule - "127.0.0.1 *googleapis* -ajax.googleapis.com -fonts.googleapis.com -maps.googleapis.com", so only the "three" are allowed to pass.
     
  10. Brummelchen

    Brummelchen Registered Member

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    ajax.googleapis.com ist needed on some sites or they wont work.
    create a rule if needed.
    Code:
    foo.com ajax.googleapis.com * noop
    fonts.googleapis.com same, more and more sites are going to load webfonts from google - type of cdn

    locked here also: google-analytics.com

    but curious why firefox lock up when ublock is blocking i never had this here. i think there is more than this issue present.

    HTH
     
  11. SweX

    SweX Registered Member

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    Yes, so far I have not encountered any issues, so I leave it in place for now :)
    Yes, I once tried to tick the "block external fonts" in the uBlock GUI, but I thought that many sites (including Wilders) looked a bit weird with that on so I disabled it again.
    Yeah, you are probably right about that the usage of these are increasing. But no, Firefox does Not stall when I have a block rule for fonts.googleapis.com, it did so before I created that block rule. And so far I have not had any issues due to that block rule, Firefox does no longer "wait" for fonts.googleapis.com when I browse to sites and forums like FF randomly did before.
     
  12. JRViejo

    JRViejo Super Moderator

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    Google Hosted Libraries, especially JQuery & JQuery Mobile, are liberally used by Webmasters these days because they are easy to access via Google servers, and the libraries are always maintained with the latest versions of each.

    The above linked page has reference sites for each library, should anyone want to learn more about them. Just FYI.
     
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