Why is the site so slow?

Mon, 12 Feb 2007, 10:13 am

Of all the theatre and related sites, this is the slowest. Of course it gets huge usage and there is a lot of material on the site, but it is one of the slowest sites around. This somewhat undermines the service. Perhaps your technical advisors could have a look. Jim

Thread (17 posts)

Threaded Flat

James McDonaldMon, 12 Feb 2007, 10:13 am

Walter PlingeMon, 12 Feb 2007, 10:39 am

It's been a pile of crap

It's been a pile of crap since they upgraded it; it was much more user-friendly the old way

NaMon, 12 Feb 2007, 06:18 pm

The issues related here

The issues related here have been discussed before; the high percentage of hits the site gets (number one theatre site for Aussies); the high percentage of spam attackers; etc... Sites like this run slow because of the amount of traffic etc, and often can not be helped by the web admins. The site is also reliant on the availability, speed and space of the web provider. The photos alone on the site would take up a rather large amount of space. The Prompt Copy Networking emerging theatre professionals www.thepromptcopy.com Sticky Apple Legs Emerging puppetry company www.freewebs.com/stickyapplelegs Puppets in Melbourne www.freewebs.com/puppetsinmelbourne

Neville TalbotMon, 12 Feb 2007, 07:59 pm

I love

that people who hate the site are still here long enough to write to a forum on this site explaining why they don't like the site! Like anything on the web with size, it comes down to the bandwidth and amount of users at any time. In Australia not much can be done about the infrastructure to increase speed, which is pretty pathetic in most places, excepting perhaps spots in Melb,Syd and Brissy. If you want a fast site, mine is real quick. Probably because it only gets a couple thousand hits a year, as opposed to the sheer size of this one. :-) Nev It's the simple things stupid...

NaMon, 12 Feb 2007, 08:47 pm

Haha, mine gets about the

Haha, mine gets about the same. Even Arts Hub would fall way short of the number of hits compared with this site. And that I would say is one of the top arts/theatre sites for Aussies. Also - user-friendliness does not necessarily correlate with speed. There are more functions on this site compared with the old one; making the template/usage of the site much more complex. This would impact on speed depending on what you are doing: uploading an image, viewing latest posts as a list (which would probably be needed to be refreshed every few minutes); viewing the large lists of members and companies.... But the ability to use the site easier has to do with the formatting and capabilities of the programming behind the site, not necessarily linked to speed. The Prompt Copy Networking emerging theatre professionals www.thepromptcopy.com Sticky Apple Legs Emerging puppetry company www.freewebs.com/stickyapplelegs Puppets in Melbourne www.freewebs.com/puppetsinmelbourne

Grant MalcolmMon, 12 Feb 2007, 09:42 pm

Slow sites...

Yes, I know the site is slower than many:

http://www.theatre.asn.au/book_page/this_site_is_very_slow

:-)

As others have pointed out, we're doing about the best we can given the infrastructure we're running on and the traffic we receive.

The complexity and size of the site only has a marginal impact since I spent time optimising things last year. That really only leaves a server upgrade for improving performance....

mmm... that would be nice. But expensive.

Maybe it's time to bite the bullet?

Cheers
Grant

PS And a year after the upgrade, our coprophiliac mate Brad just can't drag himself away!

;-)

--
Director, actor and administrator of this website

LabrugTue, 13 Feb 2007, 11:45 am

The best things...

The best things come to those who can wait.

“He that can have Patience, can have what he will”

“The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.”

“Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself.”

Absit invidia

Jeff Watkins
Perth based Actor/Performer
who can also sing and dance
Fight/Sword Choreographer
Virgin Director
UPstageWA Rep

Home Page

crgwllmsTue, 20 Feb 2007, 12:10 am

59th Street Bridge Site

I do find it a lot slower, not just in a wait-for-things-to-load sense but in a time-it-takes-for-me-to-quickly-get-a-sense-of-what's-going-on sense. It's not entirely correct to slag off detractors of the site by saying 'well, you still come here and use the site, so you shouldn't complain'. The site has a long established reputation as a terrific resource to come to, and it has great value regardless of whether you like it or not. I still check in here, but it's no longer the experience it was. I doubt it's escaped anyone's attention that I don't feel as inclined to visit and stay on top of current debate as I used to. (And there are many who probably rejoice in this). I don't think my external workload has altered terribly. I just find that it takes that much longer to follow any kind of discussion here, which has tipped it over the scales as far as me finding it an acceptable proportion of my time to participate like I used to. (Plus, it no longer seems prudent for me to contribute reviews here when I am currently earning money for contributing them to XPress magazine. Although that remains my favourite aspect of this site - immediate audience feedback.) From what I can gather, traffic has slowed here too? New topics don't seem to appear nearly as often as they used to. Maybe it all happens at sub-topic discussion level, but I don't get drawn to follow those nearly so much any more, and so they pass by unobserved. Still checking in, though..! Cheers, Craig ~<8>-/====\---------

James McDonaldTue, 20 Feb 2007, 07:28 am

Crikey, I only suggested

Crikey, I only suggested addressing the technical problem! Cheers, Jim

LabrugTue, 20 Feb 2007, 08:43 am

Technique

Well, the probelm with addressing the technical problem, as I sure Grant will correct me on if I am mistaken, is that one of the main impacts on performance is the amount of traffic the site has. This is quite extensive, even allowing for Craig's valid statement about the lack of turnover of topics. I have also noticed a drop here even since shortly before Christmas last year.

One the bigger issues is spammers and their bots. Even while there are measures up to counter these villians of the internet, they will take precious Server Resources away from the site itself. I think I am also safe in assuming that this site is not the only one being supported by the server either. There would be others also.

So even before addressing some of the technical issues of the site itself, which I am not say there are none of, some lag we will just have to accept as a side effect of a brilliant and popular site.

Maybe a little extra speed is possible from the site. This will take time however as Grant deals with all possible issues, including being a dad and family man... ;-)

Absit invidia

Jeff Watkins
Perth based Actor/Performer
who can also sing and dance
Fight/Sword Choreographer
Virgin Director

Home Page

NaWed, 21 Feb 2007, 03:29 pm

I've found that there is an

I've found that there is an annual drop in postings between Christmas and about March. People seem to post more in the winter months of July, etc. ...That's just my observation... The Prompt Copy Networking emerging theatre professionals www.thepromptcopy.com Sticky Apple Legs Emerging puppetry company www.freewebs.com/stickyapplelegs Puppets in Melbourne www.freewebs.com/puppetsinmelbourne

MelzFri, 16 Mar 2007, 01:24 am

Speedy Site Theatre Australia

I have found the solution - upgrade your computer!
Last week I upgraded my computer.
I am pretty good at operating computers, but the programming and technical aspects - not so... Like I said - I upgraded my computer - and I do know that I now have a 250gb hard drive... and this site aint slow no more !! :-)
Melz

LabrugFri, 16 Mar 2007, 08:20 am

RAM-rod

It's likely to be faster processor or more ram. Of course a larger hard-drive means more Virtual Ram at your disposal. That could be it to.

Absit invidia

Jeff Watkins
Perth based Actor/Performer
who can also sing and dance
Fight/Sword Choreographer
Virgin Director

Home Page

Walter PlingeFri, 16 Mar 2007, 10:40 am

Great! You'll all give us

Great! You'll all give us money to do that, won't you?

James McDonaldFri, 16 Mar 2007, 02:28 pm

It's not the PC

It's not the RAM - I have enough (1Gb). Comparing like with like, it's the comparison with the loading speed of other sites not the power of one's computer that is the issue. A more powerful PC with big RAM and SATA and big HDD capacity will make everything faster, but the comparative speed of the site will not change. I have a 5yr+ machine, but I don't have the loading problem with other sites to the extent I have here. Jim PS I'm surprised this discussion is still going!

LabrugFri, 16 Mar 2007, 02:45 pm

Hardware

There is no doubt that the slight is slower than others, and as Grant mentioned, it's more to do with the technology of the Web Server and the support tools the site uses. I was referring more to Mel's particular experience.

From work, I find the site is actually very reasonable in it's speed. Still fractionally slower than other sites, but then again, I do not know of many (note I said many, not any) other sites that offer the same level of content, interaction, registration, and so forth. Even outside of Theatrical sites.

Absit invidia

Jeff Watkins
Perth based Actor/Performer
who can also sing and dance
Fight/Sword Choreographer
Virgin Director

Home Page

NaFri, 16 Mar 2007, 05:23 pm

It's also a matter that the

It's also a matter that the content is and needs to be updated every second; other sites that offer this kind of level/amount of content are not updated as frequently. Take a look at the 'last viewed' module; I never see the post that I last viewed in that list, which means that the list is updated quicker than my views on the site. The Prompt Copy www.thepromptcopy.com Sticky Apple Legs www.freewebs.com/stickyapplelegs Puppets in Melbourne www.freewebs.com/puppetsinmelbourne Treading the Boards www.treadingtheboards.thepromptcopy.com

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