Web site loading speed

[themodeller]

Hi there,

Is there a Top 10/Top Tips for maximising the speed of your site? All I know is optimise photos, is there any other stuff you guys can brain dump.

The reason I ask is that recently as the site has become a bit more known I have had a lot of feedback saying 'won't load and timed out'. Whenever I try it on a friends or when out it seems ok, but have had about 20 people email saying, 'slow'. Had about a 1000 visitors this month, but 20 makes me think a lot more might not be bothering.

Also wondered if anyone might know what is a 'good load speed' for a front page and suggest a site that I could use to test my web loading speed.

Just read a post from Sledger and he commented, 'notnall servers are created equal' which seemed to make a lot of sense. Anynway of testing a server speed, as it might be that and not the site?

Anyhow thanks for any ideas!

www.defiancecombatselfdefense.com

G

[pauland]

And the URL is?

The critical parts are:

1) Download in K/MB - usually graphics, as you say.
2) Your web host latency (how fast it responds to requests)
3) The ISP line speed of your visitors.

[themodeller]

Thanks Pauland,

Any idea how to check your point number 2?

www.defiancecombatselfdefense.com

Your right, it would help!

G

[pauland]

Ah, I feel a very real taste of Deja Vue - we've been here before. I remember saying your site was throwing everything in - it's very busy everything competing for attention.

I ran your site through here: http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/


This is what it said:

(basically your total site size is about 750K ,three quarters of a megabyte - half of that is your banner GIF. With a lot of seperate images).

Analysis and Recommendations

TOTAL_HTML - Congratulations, the total number of HTML files on this page (including the main HTML file) is 1 which most browsers can multithread. Minimizing HTTP requests is key for web site optimization. Y
TOTAL_OBJECTS - Warning! The total number of objects on this page is 54 which by their number will dominate web page delay. Consider reducing this to a more reasonable number. Above 20 objects per page the overhead from dealing with the actual objects (description time and wait time) accounts for more than 80% of whole page latency. See Figure II-3: Relative distribution of latency components showing that object overhead dominates web page latency in Website Optimization Secrets for more details on how object overhead dominates web page latency. Combine, refine, and optimize your external objects. Replace graphic rollovers with CSS rollovers to speed display and minimize HTTP requests. Consider using CSS sprites to help consolidate decorative images. Using CSS techniques such as colored backgrounds, borders, or spacing instead of graphic techniques can reduce HTTP requests. Replace graphic text headers with CSS text headers to further reduce HTTP requests. Finally, consider optimizing parallel downloads by using different hostnames or a CDN to reduce object overhead.
TOTAL_IMAGES - Warning! The total number of images on this page is 46 , consider reducing this to a more reasonable number. Recommend combining, replacing, and optimizing your graphics. Replace graphic rollover menus with CSS rollover menus to speed display and minimize HTTP requests. Consider using CSS sprites to help consolidate decorative images. Use CSS techniques such as colored backgrounds, borders, or spacing instead of graphic techniques to reduce HTTP requests. Replace graphic text headers with CSS text headers to further reduce HTTP requests. Finally, consider optimizing parallel downloads by using different hostnames to reduce object overhead.
TOTAL_CSS - Caution. The total number of external CSS files on this page is 4 , consider reducing this to a more reasonable number. Because external CSS files must be in the HEAD of your HTML document, they must load first before any BODY content displays. Although they are cached upon subsequent requests, CSS files slow down the initial display of your page. Combine, refine, and optimize your external CSS files. Ideally you should have one (or even embed CSS for high-traffic pages) on your pages. You can optimize CSS files using shorthand properties, grouping, and then minify and GZIP compress them to reduce their footprint. Remember to place CSS files in the HEAD and JavaScript files at the end of the BODY to enable progressive display.
TOTAL_SIZE - Warning! The total size of this page is 755335 bytes, which will load in 161.34 seconds on a 56Kbps modem. Consider reducing total page size to less than 100K to achieve sub 20 second response times on 56K connections. Pages over 100K exceed most attention thresholds at 56Kbps, even with feedback. Consider optimizing your site with Website Optimization Secrets, Speed Up Your Site or contacting us about our optimization services.
TOTAL_SCRIPT - Caution. The total number of external script files on this page is 3 , consider reducing this to one or two. Combine, refactor, and minify to optimize your JavaScript files. Ideally you should have one (or even embed scripts for high-traffic pages) on your pages. Consider suturing JavaScript files together at the server to minimize HTTP requests. Placing external JavaScript files at the bottom of your BODY, and CSS files in the HEAD enables progressive display in XHTML web pages.
HTML_SIZE - Congratulations, the total size of this HTML file is 48500 bytes, which less than 50K. Assuming that you specify the HEIGHT and WIDTH of your images, this size allows your HTML to display content in under 10 seconds, the average time users are willing to wait for a page to display without feedback.
IMAGES_SIZE - Warning! The total size of your images is 580623 bytes, which is over 100K. Consider switch graphic formats to achive smaller file sizes (from JPEG to PNG for example). Finally, substitute CSS techniques for graphics techniques to create colored borders, backgrounds, and spacing.
SCRIPT_SIZE - Warning! The total size of external your scripts is 90555 bytes, which is over 20K. Consider optimizing your JavaScript for size, combining them, and using HTTP compression where appropriate for any scripts placed in the HEAD of your documents. You can substitute CSS menus for JavaScript-based menus to minimize or even eliminate the use of JavaScript.
CSS_SIZE - Warning! The total size of your external CSS is 35657 bytes, which is over 20K. Consider optimizing your CSS for size by eliminating whitespace, using shorthand notation, and combining multiple CSS files where appropriate. By using labeled container cells and descendant selectors you can target chunks of HTML content efficiently without the need to embed extra claases and styles.
MULTIM_SIZE - Congratulations, the total size of all your external multimedia files is 0 bytes, which is less than 10K.

[pauland]

Here's a site with a lot to say: http://www.beatbullying.org/

It has a 234K total page size and is far easier to read.

[themodeller]

Pauland,

I will read this thoroughly, in the mean time thankyou.
Having a mad moment now as the Menu on the site is working on all pages apart from the front page?
And I dinney know why!

G

[pauland]

In fairness, I should point out that you will not be able to take much from the report other than that you have a lot of seperate images and one big gif that contribute to the download time. The other advice about CSS optimisation and Javascript optimisation is not going to be achievable on a site generated using Xara software.

It doesn't take a huge time to download on my machine and on a second visit it should be almost instant once those images are in the browser cache (provided you don't keep messing with it).

[themodeller]

Hi,

Thanks, I think the main thing I have just realised from what you posted is the number of pics and size! So the Flash Header is loaded with pics, and thought that when I had optimised the site, that it would do the header as well, and I think that's not right so I optimised them in the header and have now grouped each page, so Ithink this will make a big difference.

And you are right, about not messing with it too much!

Could do with our help on why you think my menu is working on all pages except the front page, any ideas?!

G

[camelot217]

Pauland,

Having a mad moment now as the Menu on the site is working on all pages apart from the front page?

G

Check your background image. It appears it sits on top of your menu tabs.

Tom

[themodeller]

Hi,

Camelot217.
I think you are right, as if I move it , it goes behind other items, but when I click on it there are in the 'arrange' drop down there are only options to take it back, not forward?!!

Which is wierd.

G