8.5 has some Dojo custom layer builds to minimize the number of JS files downloaded when you turn on a Dojo component such as the Date Picker. This is a welcome change from the 8.5 Beta where the default Dojo library architecture was used, resulting in 60+ server hits when the Date Picker was placed on a page. This was detailed here: and here:
It looks like CSS files, however, are not incorporated into a custom build. The XPage is loading CSS files using Dojo’s default dependencies, resulting in massive numbers of hits to Domino HTTP.
This will also cause horrible load times for users on moderate latency connections (anything > 100ms), even if the libraries are cached. It’s also needlessly harsh on the server.
A Firebug screenshot is attached below of a very simple xPage from Tim Tripcony’s blog, which I believe is running 8.5.1. The CSS appears to be loading as sequenced dependent libraries, though the JS does seem to be fairly well conslidated.
Using ANT to perform a Custom Build is considered standard production practice in the Dojo world. But if there currently aren’t plans to do so then there are going to be some horrific page load times (and needless server performance issues too).
This particular page (fairly simple) resulted in 74 hits, after I had already visited the page once and therefore caching was heavily used. Many are unneeded (e.g. “ProgressBar.css”) or a complete waste (e.g. you can see in the screenshot several “normal” and “_rtl” versions of the same CSS files being loaded).