The Share Icons Disappear for Several Seconds

James,

The amount of time the button will take to load depends on two factors.

1. Speed of your internet
2. Speed of FB/Google+ servers at the specific time.

There are times when the FB button is really slow (not just on this script), but on all sites because they are going through some sort of maintenance and such. This doesn’t happen very often, but when it does it is noticeable on the entire internet.

If #2 is the issue, then it doesn’t matter when you load the script. It will be that slow regardless.

If #1 is the issue, then you can’t really do much about it either way. You either have the user wait on hover or when the initial page loads. Because it will take the same amount of time to load either way.

So in short, yes there is a delay in load, but usually 1 second at least for me.

Thank you for the very prompt reply.

Thank you for explaining where the delay is coming from.

For what it’s worth, my opinion is that your plug-in changes the behavior that visitors are used to which could easily put off potential ‘Likers’.

They are used to a delay as the buttons load. This delay happens as the page loads. It is normal to see the buttons take a moment to arrive. However that happens while the visitor is busy reading the article or waiting for other elements to load.

What your plug-in does is move that delay to the precise moment where the visitor is wanting to press the button. At the exact moment that the visitor is motivated to Like a page your plug-in removes the buttons from the page – albeit for only a second or five.

This isn’t normal and would put off some people.

My suggestion is that the plug-in loads the ‘fake’ buttons exactly as it currently does. That means the page loads faster – brilliant: I love that! Then, a second or three after the page has fully loaded, the graphic is replaced by the real buttons (rather than waiting for the user to move their mouse there).

This gives all the speed advantages you gain in your design; it would flash the Like buttons and could draw additional attention to them*; and the buttons would be fully loaded by the time the visitor had read the article and was ready to press the Like button.

It’s only my opinion.

Thank you for your time.

James

* perhaps you could even turn this in to a feature by allowing us to choose the delay before the change occurs and using an animation effect to flash the floating bar a subtle color just before the real buttons are loaded.

@james, did you find another sharer to go with that you feel works better?

My google+ disappears but never shows up again..

This happens when i drag my mouse over, and it does not show up seconds later.. or at this point Minutes later either

This only happens when I use the template string for Products for woocommerce.

But on regular Posts, it does NOT disappear

Mike,

Can you post your URL?

Well I removed google for the time being, and now I add it again so I can give you the link… I test it, and now it does not disappear for more than 1 sec….. so I guess it works now?

Either way maybe there’s something you can see anyways,
https://bit.ly/165tWfl

and the regular blog post that never had an issue,
https://bit.ly/17BuGdq

I’m having two similar problems:

1. When my post loads, the Pinterest icon does not appear at all, however, the number 1 appears in its place.
2. The FB icon is appears, but the moment I hover my cursor anywhere near it, it disappears and never returns, unless I reload the page; then the same behavior.

My site: universityicons.com