I’m working on a Qibla direction website, and I’m hosting it on InfinityFree. I’ve integrated a “qibla en ligne” compass feature, which is supposed to help users find the direction of the Qibla from their current location. However, I’m encountering some technical issues that I need help with:
Geolocation Permissions: Some users report that they are not being prompted to allow location access, resulting in the compass not working for them. I have included the necessary JavaScript for geolocation, but it doesn’t seem to trigger on all browsers. Could this be an issue with how InfinityFree handles HTTPS?
Accuracy of Direction: For users who grant location access, the direction shown by the “qibla en ligne” compass sometimes deviates significantly from the actual Qibla direction. I’ve tested this using different devices and locations. What could be causing these inaccuracies, and how can I ensure the compass shows the correct direction?
Loading Speed: The compass feature relies on external APIs to fetch the user’s location and calculate the direction. I’ve noticed that on InfinityFree, this process is slower compared to other hosting providers. Are there any optimization techniques I can implement to improve the loading speed on InfinityFree?
Mobile Compatibility: While the “qibla en ligne” compass works relatively well on desktop browsers, it’s quite glitchy on mobile devices. The compass either doesn’t show up correctly or becomes unresponsive. I’ve used responsive design principles and tested on various devices, but the problem persists. Is there a specific setting or code adjustment needed for better mobile compatibility on InfinityFree?
Here is the relevant code snippet I’m using for the geolocation and compass feature:
if (navigator.geolocation) {
navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(showPosition, showError);
} else {
alert("Geolocation is not supported by this browser.");
}
function showPosition(position) {
// Code to calculate and display Qibla direction based on position.coords.latitude and position.coords.longitude
}
function showError(error) {
switch(error.code) {
case error.PERMISSION_DENIED:
alert("User denied the request for Geolocation.");
break;
case error.POSITION_UNAVAILABLE:
alert("Location information is unavailable.");
break;
case error.TIMEOUT:
alert("The request to get user location timed out.");
break;
case error.UNKNOWN_ERROR:
alert("An unknown error occurred.");
break;
}
}
Any insights or suggestions to resolve these issues would be greatly appreciated!
As for the permission issue, if you wanted others to debug your website, please share your website URL, not the API URL. And if you want to share code, please share the full code, not just “Code to blah blah”. I’m willing to suspect browser side issues though, because hosting provider is not involved in JavaScript codes.
As for location accuracy, that’s something related to many factors but definitely not the hosting provider.
As for responsive designs, that’s something you have to actually implement instead of just wait for it to happen. It also involves many stuffs but again, not the hosting provider.
As for speed issues, this is free hosting, and it can indeed be slow in some network environments.
As far as I know, you’re required to have HTTPS to use “advanced” browser features such as geolocation. But you either have valid HTTPS or you don’t, and if you can access the page over HTTPS, then you have valid HTTPS. What certificate you use or how the connection security is configured exactly does not matter.
The location and compass direction of the visitor are provided by the device of the visitor. If the geolocation of the visitor is wrong or the compass is inaccurate, then your website will be inaccurate. But there is nothing you can do about that I think.
How does this process work exactly? Are the external APIs called directly from the browser with Javascript or is it handled by PHP code on the server?
Because if it’s with Javascript, then it’s completely unrelated to the hosting, as the request is directly between the browser and the service.
Like @Frank419 said, how your website looks on certain devices is a coding thing, not a hosting thing. Our servers just send the data you have coded the servers to send, and browsers render the page with that data. If browsers render the page incorrectly, you need to update your code so browsers render the page correctly. Barring any server side code injection (which we don’t do), hosting has no effect on page layout.
The process of fetching the user’s location and calculating the Qibla direction is indeed handled primarily through JavaScript in the browser. Here’s a detailed explanation:
Geolocation: When a user visits the site, the browser uses the navigator.geolocation API to request the user’s location. This process is entirely managed by the browser and the device’s operating system, so it is independent of the hosting provider.
External API Call: Once the user’s location is obtained, the JavaScript code sends a request to an external API (such as a Qibla direction calculation service) to determine the exact direction of the Qibla based on the user’s coordinates. This request is made directly from the user’s browser to the external service.
Given this, you’re correct that the speed of these operations should not be directly affected by the hosting provider since the requests are handled in the user’s browser. However, there are a few aspects where the hosting environment might have an indirect impact, and there are optimization techniques you can consider:
Script Loading Time: Ensure that your scripts and other resources are minified and compressed to reduce loading times. Utilizing a CDN (Content Delivery Network) for serving static assets can also improve performance.
API Response Time: If your site makes server-side API calls (for example, using PHP to interact with the external API), the performance of these calls can be influenced by the hosting provider. In this case, optimizing server-side code and ensuring efficient server configurations would be important.
Caching: Implement caching strategies for the API responses where applicable to reduce redundant requests and improve loading times.
Asynchronous Operations: Make sure that the geolocation and API calls are performed asynchronously to avoid blocking other critical operations on the page.
Here’s a revised approach focusing on the JavaScript side:
if (navigator.geolocation) {
navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(showPosition, showError, { enableHighAccuracy: true, timeout: 10000, maximumAge: 0 });
} else {
alert(“Geolocation is not supported by this browser.”);
}
function showPosition(position) {
const lat = position.coords.latitude;
const lon = position.coords.longitude;
// Call the external API to get the Qibla direction
fetch(`https://api.example.com/qibla?lat=${lat}&lon=${lon}`)
.then(response => response.json())
.then(data => {
// Code to display Qibla direction
console.log(data.direction);
})
.catch(error => console.error('Error fetching Qibla direction:', error));
}
function showError(error) {
switch(error.code) {
case error.PERMISSION_DENIED:
alert(“User denied the request for Geolocation.”);
break;
case error.POSITION_UNAVAILABLE:
alert(“Location information is unavailable.”);
break;
case error.TIMEOUT:
alert(“The request to get user location timed out.”);
break;
case error.UNKNOWN_ERROR:
alert(“An unknown error occurred.”);
break;
}
}
I am asking a question to you. I want to know your answer. That means you need to write a concise answer yourself. I don’t need generic AI generated fluff.
And if you don’t think it’s worth your time to actually provide the relevant information here, then why would it be worth our time to help you?
I am calling external APIs using javascript. I am using this javascript code to get the user’s geographic location.
“navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition”
These API calls are made directly from the user’s browser using JavaScript.
Getting the location of a visitor through their device is probably the most accurate way. Alternative options include geo-location based on IP addresses, but that’s much less accurate. Of course, device location is still not guaranteed to be accurate. On phones it works pretty well, but on laptops and desktops, where you don’t have GPS hardware, it’s much less accurate, but as good as you can get it I think.
So, just to make sure I understand this correctly: you are getting the Qibla direction by getting the device location from the browser, and sending it to an external API to obtain the compass direction, yes?
If so, our hosting isn’t in the path of that location calculation, so where the site is hosted has no impact on the performance. The data is exchanged directly between the external API and the browser of the visitor, so where the HTML code that provides this code came from has no impact on the performance. If it’s slower now than it was before, it probably means that either your internet is slower or the external API is slower.