[MBCook]

I have the displeasure of using Figma at my job. I have a very low opinion of anything that locks up my browser for multiple seconds (Chrome or Safari) whenever I open it in a tab.

Then it takes a few seconds to load the file, which I don’t care much about.

But locking my entire browser is inexcusable.

It’s nice they’re working on performance once you get going, but launch performance is abysmal for me (x86-64 Mac).

[failuser]

I’ve seen this happen, but I don’t understand why that is possible. Chrome tabs are separate process, how can one tab freeze the whole browser even when running the worst code in existence?

[capableweb]

> I’ve seen this happen, but I don’t understand why that is possible. Chrome tabs are separate process, how can one tab freeze the whole browser even when running the worst code in existence?

Because if anything takes up 100% of CPU, other things starts being unresponsive as there is not enough CPU to go around. Happens easily when dealing with concurrency and parallism, which I'm guessing Figma happily uses.

[paulgb]

Chrome starts a process per tab. On a modern operating system, one process should not be able to starve another equally-privileged process of CPU, so it sounds like there is more going on here.

[fulafel]

This is not the case. Maybe people have already forgotten what using computers was like when everyone had only 1 core, but having a few desktop apps pegging their share of cpu doesn't hurt interactivity much even on single-core computers.

[MBCook]

All the other apps are fine. It’s whatever browser is trying to load Figma that freezes.

[failuser]

I’ve had a mouse cursor move slowly when doing some tasks in Chrome. And all other apps barely reacting. Still a mystery to me. I hope that was not a sign of some backdoor being installed through a Chrome vulnerability.

[failuser]

This should not be the case even on a single CPU machines that run interactive jobs. This is a shoddy process scheduling work.

[seanthemon]

Figma is beyond chrome, it's a quantum app: it's both in a state that will lock up my pc while everyone on zoom waits for the screen to load and a journey in following designer's instructions: "no a bit more left, no actually right, ok go down, no up, ok back go the left a bit, ok here it is!", same vibe as rally racing lol

[wryanzimmerman]

For #1: don’t use it in chrome, download the app (it seems like it takes advantage of the wrapper pretty well); for #2, just click on the designer’s name in the top corner to zoom your screen to theirs and let them drive for a second!

[yazzku]

Sounds like either processes are waiting on each other, or the OS sucks.

[fswd]

Requiring figma at a job should be a human rights violation :). I'm off the grid and whenever I use figma it drains my batteries with a high CPU load. I have to be careful to open it during the dead winter, if I leave it open I could drain my entire 5kw setup. If I throttle my CPU, it's totally unusable. Hopefully I can get a more efficent setup (currently an old 2400GE minipc). Usually I take a screen snapshot because this has happened.

[CyberDildonics]

When I read stuff like this I can never tell if it is someone making a joke or just extreme complaining.

The computer you mentioned comes with a 65 watt AC/DC converter which should last 77 hours minimum on a 5kw battery.

Then there is the nonsense about blaming a web page for not having enough power after choosing to do a tech job while living off a battery.

[fswd]

didn't want to hijack the thread about my personal setup, but that's almost about right amount of power usage I aim at entirely, about 120-200 watts per hour: but there are other things plugged in besides my desktop like ... my entire house. Lights, freezer, monitor, radio, DC adapters, starlink. Another 30-50w is just insane to run Figma. My freezer chest uses less and at least I can grab a steak.

[yazzku]

You're doing it wrong. What you need is a good exhaust on that mini pc; then you can use Figma as an inefficient heater during that dead winter.

[wryanzimmerman]

You should get a mac laptop, you can run figma all day without even needing to plug in the laptop to charge.

[lopkeny12ko]

I hope this is satire. The glaring problem with software performance nowadays is corporations having convinced consumers to work around their slow and terrible software by throwing more hardware at it and buying multi-thousand dollar computers.

[yazzku]

Software companies must be a non-trivial driver of e-waste.

[raincole]

I always use it as a separate app (I guess it's Electron?) and it's generally fast. At least not feeling slower than Photoshop and Illustrator, while it's not a very high bar.