D3 force layout graph causes slowness in firefox browser

Question

I have a dynamic force graph which runs every 3 mins (using setInterval I am calling update, start in the below order)

• viz.update(); //attach new data from server like viz.path.data(data.links),
• viz.nodes.data(..)
• viz.enter(); // viz.path.enter().append("path")
• viz.exit(); // path.exit().remove()
• force.start();

when I leave the browser open for sometime, browser slows down and the nodes move slowly when I drag them. Am I missing some thing here..

Help appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

SVG performance in Firefox is slower than in Webkit/Chrome and IE10.

Still performance in Firefox is not bad. There are a few things you can try.

• Be sure you are not leaving unused/empty elements around (like <g>s), and have everything properly cleaned up. Too many elements will kill your performance quickly.
• Reduce the amount of nodes that use opacity, try to use it as little as possible.
• Reduce the amount of elements.

One thing I also did, but not sure if it is any help, was to call force.stop() before calling force.start() again.