Hello GNOME Community,
I am currently experiencing one specific problem with my website when it is used through a GNOME desktop environment, and I am hoping someone can help me understand what might be causing it. The issue is that the web application initially works normally, but after the website has been left open and actively used for an extended period, the application can become completely unresponsive. At the beginning of the session, pages load correctly, buttons respond immediately, forms work as expected, and the application’s interactive elements behave normally. However, after continued use, the browser tab displaying the website eventually stops responding to clicks and other interactions. The rest of the GNOME desktop remains usable, and other applications continue working normally, so the problem appears to be isolated to the browser window running my website rather than a complete desktop freeze.
The website is a JavaScript-heavy application with dynamically updated content and several interactive components that remain active while the page is open. Users can navigate between sections, update information, open and close interface elements, and interact with content without performing anything unusual. The problem does not happen immediately after loading the website and does not appear to be tied to one particular button or page. Instead, the longer the application remains open and the more interactions take place, the more likely the browser tab is to become sluggish before eventually becoming unresponsive. When the problem occurs, scrolling can stop responding and clicking interface elements may have no effect. In some cases, waiting for a while allows the page to respond again, while in other cases refreshing the page is required to restore normal operation.
I have been comparing the behaviour on the same machine during a fresh browser session and after the application has been running for a long time. One noticeable difference is that browser resource usage gradually increases during the affected session. I have not yet been able to determine whether this is caused by the website retaining objects in memory or by the browser’s rendering environment, but the correlation is consistent enough that I am investigating it further. I have checked the browser’s developer tools and have not found an obvious JavaScript exception immediately before the page becomes unresponsive. The website continues functioning normally from the server side, and requests can still be processed, but interaction with the already-open page becomes increasingly unreliable. This makes me suspect that the issue may be related to how the graphical environment or browser handles a long-running web application rather than a server outage.
I have also tested the same website under different conditions to determine whether the behaviour is specific to the GNOME environment. The application does not consistently become unresponsive when used in other desktop environments, while the problem is easier to reproduce during long sessions under GNOME. I have also noticed that changing browser graphics-related settings can influence how long the application remains responsive, although I have not yet identified a configuration that completely eliminates the problem. Because of this, I am wondering whether there could be an interaction between the GNOME desktop, the display server, graphics acceleration, and the browser’s rendering process. I do not want to assume that GNOME is responsible simply because the issue is more noticeable there, but I would like to know which GNOME-specific diagnostic information could help establish whether the desktop environment or graphics stack is involved.
I have tried restarting the browser and reopening the website, which immediately returns the application to its normal responsive state. However, this is only a temporary workaround because the problem can eventually return after another extended session. I have also reduced some of the website’s animations and dynamic behaviour during testing, but the application can still become unresponsive after enough interaction. I am currently trying to collect useful information before refreshing the affected page, including browser console output, system resource usage, and any relevant GNOME logs. The difficulty is that there is no obvious crash message or desktop-wide failure when the issue occurs, so I am unsure which logs or diagnostic tools would provide useful information about what is happening to the browser application at that exact moment.
I would appreciate guidance from the GNOME community on how to investigate this specific long-running web application freeze from the GNOME side. In particular, I would like to know whether there are recommended GNOME or system diagnostic tools for determining whether a browser process is being affected by the graphics stack, Wayland, display rendering, memory pressure, or another desktop-level component when a web application becomes unresponsive. I would also appreciate advice on what information I should collect while the problem is occurring before restarting the browser. My goal is to determine whether the root cause is within the website’s application code or in the interaction between the browser and the GNOME environment, so that I can address the actual cause rather than requiring users to periodically refresh the website after long sessions.