[thelist] strange problem, server timeout randomly for a particular user upon submitting

[Sarah Adams]

> Hello. In the web application I am working on, the customer (the buyer)
> always complain about this situation:
>      1. she sits in the office, open the web application with Firefox;
>      2. she opens a form, fill in a lot of data, press 'submit';
>      3. she waits there, and wait;
>      4. she get an error message that she describe as 'connection time
>         out, server takes too long to respond';
>      5. [1-4] happens almost half of the times she tries to submit
>         something.
<snip>

I've had similar issues in the past. Is the form doing anything that
might have an effect, e.g. file upload or lots of server-side processing?

It could be one thing or a combination of things causing the problem.
Try to eliminate the easy stuff first:
- have her try another browser to see if it's a Firefox-specific issue
- have her try another computer in case something on her computer
(possibly a virus, or just another program running in the background) is
causing the problem

Other possibilities you'll want to look into:
- could be a problem with her internet connection (even if it's fast,
maybe it's not consistent)
- could be a problem with the connection somewhere along the line
between her computer and the host server

And some further questions you might not have asked yet:
- is anyone else having this problem?
- if she's having the problem half of the time, are there other factors
in play each time the problem happens, e.g. another program or website open?

-- 
sarah adams
web developer & programmer
portfolio: http://sarah.designshift.com
blog: http://hardedge.ca