Generating hit counts on webpages

[behin...@yahoo.de]

Hi,

I have question that I couldn't answer via Google research so far:
if I access a webpage, e.g. with images, banners, thumbnails etc, does Firebug hit every single element of that webpage to analyze it even if I don't use it explicitly on that page but only have the plugin installed to firefox, resulting in enormous numbers of hit counts as if you'd be using a download plugin or script?
In my case I had downloaded a little above 2000 files which ended up in over 17,000 hit counts registered by the server. And now I'm trying to find the source for that because I didn't use any download script or similar (I have DownThemAll installed but didn't use it here, though).
Any help/advice would be appreciated.

Best regards.

[Sebastian Zartner]

There is a single case, in which Firebug creates additional network requests. This is to load the sources for a JavaScript file in case the browser cache and the Net panel are disabled while the Script panel is enabled. See issue 7585.

Otherwise Firebug does not create network requests. And if it's disabled for a page it even doesn't use any ressources.

If I understand you well, you have a single page that consists of 2,000 files? If so, you should definitely try to reduce the number of requests.

Anyway, as a shot in the dark I'd say your requests may be caused by redirects. I suggest you try out your steps using a new Firefox profile. If you still get this huge amount of requests, it's related to the page or the server*. If you get the expected number of requests, go back to your normal profile, disable all extensions and check again whether you see the correct amount of requests. If so, enable the extensions one by one and try it again after enabling each extension.

* I remember a case, in which a bug in a specific version of a ColdFusion server executed a script twice for a single request. (Though that's definitely an exceptional case.)

Sebastian

[behin...@yahoo.de]

Thanks a lot for the answer, Sebastian.

Unfortunately, the server is not my own, so testing like that is impossible for me (on that server, anyway). The files (images) were allocated on several pages within on domain on that server. I had both the net panel and script panel enabled. I didn't disable it in the firefox add-ons page but I didn't actively used it on those pages, either. That in combination with your answer sounds like Firebug wasn't responsible for the hit counts, right?
I have the DownThemAll plugin and its Anticontainer exntension installed, do you by any chance know if they could be responsible for the 17,000 hit counts in this case?

[Sebastian Zartner]

I had both the net panel and script panel enabled. I didn't disable it in the firefox add-ons page but I didn't actively used it on those pages, either. That in combination with your answer sounds like Firebug wasn't responsible for the hit counts, right?

Most probably yes.
Though I guess it's unclear what is meant by 'disabled'. With having Firebug disabled for a page I mean the Firebug icon (aka Firebug Start Button) is gray, not that the whole extension is disabled.

I have the DownThemAll plugin and its Anticontainer exntension installed, do you by any chance know if they could be responsible for the 17,000 hit counts in this case?

I don't know their code, sorry. But just follow my other suggestions, i.e. create a new Firefox profile/disable all extensions. Doing you can easily see whether it's related to any extension.

Sebastian

[Chris]

Oh, I see. Well, the Firebug Start Button was gray, too. If I should get the chance to test it without extensions, I'll do it. But since those 17,000 hit counts led to the termination of my account on that server, I'm not sure if I'll be able to do that. In any event, thank you very much for your time and answers.