Inducing browser delay through configuration/programming?

October 22, 2011 2:16 PM

How do I delay/slow down web page loading, to make browsing specific sites possible yet annoying/unrewarding for the PC's user?

Want to modify subject's behavior to discontinue site use, without obviously blocking their access.

Ideally, web pages on the sites would take an additional 20+ seconds to load.

Is this something I can configure in Windows(XP), the router, or the browser itself (Firefox and Chrome)? Could it be scripted?

posted by mhuckaba to Computers & Internet (12 answers total)

You could theoretically use Javascript to make the various parts of the page visible at staggered times, making it look like the page was taking a while to load.
posted by greatgefilte at 2:20 PM on October 22, 2011

Along the same lines, jQuery's delay is easy to set up.
posted by steinsaltz at 2:28 PM on October 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

If I read the question correctly, the OP is asking about a client-side solution that can slow the loading of any number of remote sites on a single machine. Not a site-level slowdown that affects all users of that site. I'm not aware of a way to do this, personally, and depending on your intentions this could come with a host of ethical concerns as well. I think it makes a significant difference whether the OP wants to try behavioral modification on him/herself, or on an unsuspecting victim.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 2:29 PM on October 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Ah, that's a good point, TWPL. Intentions aside, this thread appears to address the question from a client-side point of view.
posted by greatgefilte at 2:33 PM on October 22, 2011

You could write a simple Web server using Node.js that behaves sluggishly on purpose?
posted by steinsaltz at 2:38 PM on October 22, 2011

You could use AdBlock Plus or its ilk to prevent useful parts of the site(s) from loading at all.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 2:43 PM on October 22, 2011

It's doable at the router level if; easy if you're good at command-line fu, hard if not:
1. modify dhcpd to grant them distinct addresses (say, 192.168.2.x instead of everyone else's 192.168.1.x)
2. use iptables to rewrite all http requests (port 80) to a machine running squid
3. write tiny script to wget the resource they requested, but delay before sending it out via squid

Step 3 can be used for all sorts of exciting fun, like occasionally replacing images they request with big pink squares, etc.
posted by introp at 2:45 PM on October 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

As introp mentioned, you could take the Upside-Down-Ternet redirection script and replace mogrify with sleep.
posted by djb at 2:53 PM on October 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

A local proxy could do this. It's a program that runs on the same computer. Browsers are told to use the proxy, 127.0.0.1:8080 (commonly, or anything else) and all wet accesses go through the proxy.

But as TWPL points out, this is highly unethical. Depending on circumstances, it may also be illegal. And any way of doing it can be circumvented by a knowledgeable user.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:01 PM on October 22, 2011

Qos. Put em in the best effort bucket.
posted by roboton666 at 6:37 PM on October 22, 2011

Switch to a dial-up net connection.
posted by crunchland at 9:36 PM on October 22, 2011

I've got no programming skillz, so I'd go with a webproxy (proxomitron comes to mind, as one I've used) and have it substitute the some requisite code on every page with the same code plus a bunch of large images (that is, large in disk-size) rendered small (display as a 1x1 image), and said images would be all white, or all transparent, or something largely invisible or unremarkable. Disable browser caching would be required.

And yeah, modifying other people without their knowledge is either unethical or parenting, depending.
posted by Sunburnt at 12:09 AM on October 23, 2011