Fast and slow web browsers

We have noticed that different web browsers work better than others.  We tested a handful of them, running on similar hardware, by assigning bugs to people.  We timed how long it took for the browser to return after a bug was assigned. 

Slow browsers, which took as long as 26 seconds to assign, include Internet Explorer 6 and Opera (running on BeOS).  Fast browsers, which ranged from almost instantaneous to 5 seconds, include Internet Explorer 5.x and Mozilla (Red Hat).

Can someone explain why there is such a vast difference between browsers?

Conrad E. Krieg
Tuesday, August 27, 2002

The most likely explanation is simply that the different executables take differing amounts of time to package up a POST request, receive the response, and display it on screen.  We can safely assume that the server side processing (the ASP side) is constant, and also that the network traffic speed is somewhat constant.  So it all just rests on the fact that bigger may be better, but not always faster!  Hence IE 6 may be new and improved but not necessarily any faster than 5.

Michael H. Pryor
Tuesday, August 27, 2002

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