Discord: A case study in performance optimization

Posted by tylerdane 22 hours ago

Discord: A case study in performance optimization(newsletter.fullstack.zip)

33 points | 14 comments

nmilo 52 minutes ago|

I find it funny that backend devs will do all this infrastructure work to support billions of real time messages and then frontend devs stomp all over it by making the app take 500MB of RAM and hundreds of ms to take basic actions.

ronsor 49 minutes ago||

One runs on machines we pay for (= costs us money). Another runs on end users' machines (= costs them money).

alecco 18 minutes ago||

But it affects user experience.

devmor 7 minutes ago||

As long as negative experience doesn’t meaningfully impact user monetization, there’s no business incentive for that type of company to care.

tylerdane 19 minutes ago||

It's a fair point. I think loss-aversion over React (Native) is to blame.

Their current client stack is: Web: React Desktop: React + Electron Mobile: React Native + Native

Their commitment to React on so many platforms makes it easy to accumulate bloat. Their need to support lower-level features means they can't avoid native code altogether.

I wonder why they stick with it.

My guess is they don't want to add more hires just for this problem

Their 2018 commitment to RN: https://discord.com/blog/why-discord-is-sticking-with-react-...

Their 2025 complications with it: https://discord.com/blog/supercharging-discord-mobile-our-jo...

jimmiles 2 hours ago||

Couldn't they focus some of their creativity on making the UI look less like the inside of a middle schooler's brain?

ipdashc 1 hour ago||

In what ways does it look that way, if you recall?

I hear this semi-often, but I don't really get it. The base UI of Discord is pretty normal / looks just like every other chat app out there. Is it the ads for nitro and stuff like that were the issue?

ronsor 1 hour ago|||

I think the base UI of Discord is fine, but having used it for almost a decade at this point, the UI has gotten worse. Besides the ads you've mentioned, they've added a lot more clutter (random icons, rarely used features, hidden menus, etc.). When I look at screenshots from 2019, I weep.

mtndew4brkfst 1 hour ago|||

Animated server logos, colorful /gradient and tonally-varied usernames & avatars, the super emoji or whatever they're called, etc all feel like they're pushing more towards Twitch chat than anything else. Which as another commenter remarked, is essentially aligned with their original and biggest target demographic.

stackskipton 4 minutes ago|||

It’s also their method of making money which is locking cosmetics behind subscription or purchases.

Other option would be to limit core features for non paying users.

logicprog 33 minutes ago|||

I like those things tbh. A lot of it helps make things more visually interesting, and other users more distinctive.

ronsor 2 hours ago||

Why would they make their UI less familiar to their target audience?

esafak 11 minutes ago||

The problem is that a lot of people who are not part of that target audience have to suffer that UI to get work done.

alterom 2 hours ago|

Sorry, nobody cares.

A more pertaining article:

Discord: a case study in shooting yourself in the foot by having ties to Peter Thiel's Palantir [1].

[1] https://www.pcgamer.com/software/platforms/oh-good-discords-...