Google Gears - Local File Caching
 

This is something that I use on Wordpress installations, but I would see it having a much larger usage on forums. Just so i don't repeat myself:

From here.

Would this not be a valuable modification?

I don't think most users would consider downloading software to use the forum.

"I just want to browse the forum, why do I need to download and install this..."

Not to mention how do you sort out posts made offline when their timestamps are before posts that are made online? Insert them after...but then they may no longer be relevant, insert them before? But how?

A lot of issues that need to be considered, what are the real benefits? Speed up the forums. How slow are forums...? Not all that slow in my opinion. This software is put to better use for a different sort of application.

The JS/CSS/Images/etc. are already cached by your web browser.

well, it will be cool to have acces to the last posts you made/visited/new ones, if you're offline, or the forum is offline, it can save ur ass, but I guess it's too difficult for jelsoft to implement it...

And yes, the casual visitors won't install it, but the regular people im sure will, and its not a must so nobody will complain about having to install anything, since its an option.

If you are offline - how do you get new posts?

When you connect to the internet they could be downloaded. And when you go offline you could go back and read them if you wanted. Something similar could be done for posting, when you go offline you can post but they are stored on your browser and when you come back online they are automatically posted.

Im not sure if this is a good idea to be honest. It would only be useful for a few people.