Suggestion for faster page loading

MorbidKate · Post by **MorbidKate** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 11:45 am

Do we really need avatar size limits of up to 650k? Pixel limits are 200 x 200 so perhaps a 100k size limit would be more than enough?

Also, perhaps lowering the numbers of posts per page would help as well? Obviously a faster host would be best but anything that could be done to reduce the page sizes wouldn't hurt?

Meh, this is what happens when your flight is delayed and the crackberry is calling your name

Kate

Kest · Post by **Kest** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 11:50 am

perhaps we could disable sig pictures while we are at it and avatars altogether

Mulu · Post by **Mulu** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:47 pm

Beat me to it, though from me it would be hypocritical.

Roekemoes · Post by **Roekemoes** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:50 pm

Of course it could reduce the loading times slightly this way but the biggest issue in this is our slow database server. On our serverside we share the DB server with other people, hence it's slow. I don't think removing images is worth it.

psycho_leo · Post by **psycho_leo** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 10:05 pm

Hialmar already said he'd see about new hosting arrangements for the forums. So let's wait and see what happens.

indio · Post by **indio** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 10:27 pm

The only page that loads tolerably fast is the subsilver, so if you're not using it, give it a whirl. The new ALFA design I really love, but it's just not designed for regular fast browsing.

I'm personally all for strict size regulations for avatars and sigs, but avatars are essential for me. I associate a fair amount of familiarity, recognition and feeling towards other people's avatars, and it would be it would change the way I feel about coming to these boards if they were not available.

I just wish AL would get himself one.

AcadiusLost · Post by **AcadiusLost** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:02 am

My avatar broke and I've never had time to fix it.

Sintaqx · Post by **Sintaqx** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:20 am

Every time I load up these forums at work my WebDeveloper toolbar goes nuts with the javascript and css errors. Clearing some of them up may help a bit on the loading times (pages with errors take longer to load up usually)

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 6:57 am

Sintaqx wrote:Every time I load up these forums at work my WebDeveloper toolbar goes nuts with the javascript and css errors. Clearing some of them up may help a bit on the loading times (pages with errors take longer to load up usually)

Well if any javascript/css writers want to step forward and fix it up, i doubt Hialmar is gonna stop them

Additionally, slow avatar and sig loading is usually not the fault of whichever host Hialmar uses, since most people host them elsewhere.

I for one would not like to see them disappear. Like indio, i use avatars to quickly recognize posters, especially when im doing quick scans of a thread.

Sigs i have never really had a problem with, most are not very big.

Edit: Additionally, if number of posts per page could be made a profile setting for people, that would be better than an across the board change. Personally i prefer seeing 20 posts per page and cannot stand seeing less (i tolerate the current 15). 10 and less is just horrible when you are trying to read long threads.

Kest · Post by **Kest** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:30 am

Swift wrote:Sigs i have never really had a problem with, most are not very big.

Swift wrote:
Palehoof wrote:The only thing we hate more than a stagnant game is a change to it.
http://www.bhsdesign.com/plug.php?o=pla ... istid=4823

lol

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:36 am

2 images totally 170k, the rest is text which loads no slower than any other text on the page.

FWIW by big i meant image wise.

Kest · Post by **Kest** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:04 am

Just joshing ya.

Too bad this forum doesn't have the options in your profile that let you disable sigs or avatars entirely. I'd rather be reading posts without the spam, but some people seem to like them.

psycho_leo · Post by **psycho_leo** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:39 am

Kest wrote:

Too bad this forum doesn't have the options in your profile that let you disable sigs or avatars entirely.

Yes it does. The option is not just there for subALFA. If you change to subsilver you'll see the the options to turn both off under the preferences tab.

Kest · Post by **Kest** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:50 am

thank you so much

it is a much cleaner place now

Hialmar · Post by **Hialmar** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:55 pm

PL beat me. You can disable pics.

However like Roek said the slowness is only related to the database.

Currently it works fast for me but if any of the websites using our database server starts doing something heavy re. database it will slow down.

Our only solution to remove this problem completely is to use a dedicated server for the website which is expensive or for some member with a huge bandwidth and no limits to host it which is what we'll do soon hopefully.

I'll post when everything is arranged and hopefully after a few hours with no forums you should see the difference.

As for the javascript and css errors, they are client side so it won't help with the website slowness.
Roek said he will look at the css ones. I'll try to look at the javascript ones once I have finished working on vaultster for ALFA.