Discussions performance and where is the iphone version?

Question

Why do long threads in Apple Discussions (like some recent ones in the iPhone 4 discussions) totally peg my processor when loading? Why is the performance of Apple Discussions so much worse than other discussion forums?
And secondly, why is there no iPhone formatted version of Apple Discussions (or even an iOS App?)

Answer 1

Rendering is not done at the server side. Rendering is what is done client side in the browser, which is why it is called a "rendering engine", for example the WebKit ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit )rendering engine is what Safari uses. (Or more accurately, rendering can be done by all sorts of client side applications, browsers are only one of the most common applications that render web pages).
See steps 13 - 16 here:
http://friendlybit.com/css/rendering-a-web-page-step-by-step/
The web/application server generates the HTML and sends it and the CSS to the client. The client parses the HTML, CSS, and any other included images, scripts or XML, and renders the page that we see.
Now, having said that - using the term "rendering" for what the web browser does is a fairly recent practice. "Rendering" definitely historically had more meanings.
Here is a little clarification:
{quote}The names layout engines and rendering engines are in popular use to refer to web browser engines. However their traditional meaning is different. This usage came from the fact that web browser engines themselves include a layout module and a rendering module. But they do a lot more.
A layout engine (or module) is a software component that computes the position of objects in space subject to various constraints. Web browser engines include a page layout module to determine the position of the textual and graphical elements of a page.
A rendering engine (or module) is a software component that transform graphical objects into a raster. Web browser engines include a rendering module to transform the bitmap graphics, vector graphics and text that make up a web document into a raster that can be displayed on screen{quote}
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webbrowserengine
Now, to the performance aspect. "Use tree view" does not answer the question - so I am not sure you are getting what I am asking.
I am wondering what in the CSS/HTML and other page content makes the pages take so long to be "built" after the reach the client browser? The full content has been downloaded, and then the page takes forever to format and display. This does not happen with other forum sites using a variety of forum software. (This happens with both Safari, and Firefox - on both windows and Mac machines, desktop and laptop).
The Apple server software is generating the pages plenty fast. It is the web browser engines which are choking on presenting them. I wonder if it is a massive DOM tree...