Scott Hanselman

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HttpCompression = on

January 09, 2004 Comment on this post [6] Posted in ASP.NET | HttpModule | Bugs
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I noticed that just the HTML on my home page was over 100K, so I turned HttpCompression on with the Blowery HttpCompression Module:

 <configSections> 
  <sectionGroup name="blowery.web">
   <section name="httpCompressionModule" type="blowery.Web.HttpModules.HttpCompressionModuleSectionHandler, HttpCompressionModule"/>
  </sectionGroup>
 </configSections>
 <blowery.web>
  <httpCompressionModule preferredAlgorithm="gzip" compressionLevel="high"/>
 </blowery.web>
<system.web>

However, there's a series of majorly icky bugs in most versions of IE and a few of them are JUST RIDICULOUS. It's bitten me before, so as much as I support companies like XCompress (XCache) and HttpZip and the whole concept of HttpCompression, I'm a little wary.  Let me know if you have a problem.  Of course, if you can't read this, you have a problem. :)

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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Comment on this post [6]
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January 09, 2004 19:45
Hey Scott,
Thanks for trying out the compression module. If you have any problems with it, give me a shout.
Ben Lowery
January 09, 2004 20:15
What server are you on? Windows 2000 or 2003? IIS6 on 2003 fixes a lot of the built-in compression issues that plagued IIS5 in 2000. Or are you just wanting to compress your home page?
Darrell
January 09, 2004 21:10
If you use output caching, you should checkout this issue/fix
http://www.pocketsoap.com/weblog/2003/07/1330.html
Simon Fell
September 03, 2004 22:44
IIS6 has fixed the server side bugs. As you mention, there are still bugs in many browsers that cause problems. That is why even when you use IIS6 internal compression you need a tool that will do the browser sensing and serve the correct content for you, avoiding the problem cases. Check out ZipEnable. It adds the preconfigured browser sensing compenent to native IIS6 compression. You can get a free trial at http://www.zipenable.com.
Tad
September 04, 2004 23:04
Our major problem is that our sites are ENTIRELY under SSL, and most of the browser bugs affect GZIP under SSL. Does ZipEnable grok that?
Scott Hanselman
September 04, 2004 23:08
Tad, with all due respect, I checked your site, and saw this in the FAQ:

"Modern browsers built after 1996 to the HTTP 1.1 specification can handle compressed content flawlessly (Internet Explorer and Netscape 5 and higher, Mozilla, Opera, etc.)."

That's just not true. Thoughts?
Scott Hanselman

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.