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Mattie
06-03-2011, 03:06 PM
Hi

We are currently revamping our website a little and wonder what everyone thinks.

We are also looking in to getting a mobile website so customers can buy from there mobile, we're just waiting on some designs and quotes coming back.

John G
06-03-2011, 03:22 PM
Don't now if its my connection, laptop or what - but its painfully slow!

Mattie
06-03-2011, 03:48 PM
Don't now if its my connection, laptop or what - but its painfully slow!

Sometimes it can be bit slow working with hosting company to sort this

mrs maggot
06-03-2011, 10:36 PM
it was slow for me too, what version of prestashop are you running now ?? im hoping to get the full new release soon

JSR
09-03-2011, 12:37 PM
Painfully slow to open here. The window is blank for quite a long time before everything pops up.

Looking at the Page Info, I would suggest that you look at optimising your graphics. For example, there are six "slides/banner.jpg" graphics which presumably pre-load for javascript rotation or something (I can't be sure because I have NoScript running which disables your javascript anyway). Each of those is at least 100K, totalling 700K that needs pre-loading before the page will display. That will kill the page loading times on its own. Try disabling that and see how much more quickly the page loads.

In addition to that, some of your graphics are PNGs when you'd be better off making them optimised JPGs or GIFs. For example, your logo is 40K and the phone numbers is another 40K. You could probably make them both under 10K with no change in quality.

And there are three other "custom" graphics (the ones down the right-hand side) which together weigh in at 100K. Add all of this together, and you're asking the browser to load almost 1MB of graphics. Ideally, the total page weight should be around 100K - certainly not more than 200K. 1MB is insanity.

You may want to look into optimising your graphics to speed things up.

Design-wise, the site is great with a nice vibrant colour scheme.

Mattie
01-04-2011, 06:16 PM
Painfully slow to open here. The window is blank for quite a long time before everything pops up.

Looking at the Page Info, I would suggest that you look at optimising your graphics. For example, there are six "slides/banner.jpg" graphics which presumably pre-load for javascript rotation or something (I can't be sure because I have NoScript running which disables your javascript anyway). Each of those is at least 100K, totalling 700K that needs pre-loading before the page will display. That will kill the page loading times on its own. Try disabling that and see how much more quickly the page loads.

In addition to that, some of your graphics are PNGs when you'd be better off making them optimised JPGs or GIFs. For example, your logo is 40K and the phone numbers is another 40K. You could probably make them both under 10K with no change in quality.

And there are three other "custom" graphics (the ones down the right-hand side) which together weigh in at 100K. Add all of this together, and you're asking the browser to load almost 1MB of graphics. Ideally, the total page weight should be around 100K - certainly not more than 200K. 1MB is insanity.

You may want to look into optimising your graphics to speed things up.

Design-wise, the site is great with a nice vibrant colour scheme.


Hi
I've redesigned website and took on board what you said about images while doing it, I'm nearly finished website but it still seems to be loading slow.

AdamB
01-04-2011, 06:20 PM
Yeah it's still a little slow Matthew, but love the re-design mate - well done.

Are you still using presta-shop?

Adam

Mattie
01-04-2011, 06:25 PM
Yeah it's still a little slow Matthew, but love the re-design mate - well done.

Are you still using presta-shop?

Adam

Hi Adam

I don't understand it haha it must be hosting company.

yeah i'm still using prestashop i tried 1.4 but it's a load of rubbish so gone back to 1.3.
glad you like it mate it's took me ages still got few things to sort, but hard to find time during orders and moving my shop

John G
01-04-2011, 06:28 PM
Like it, but very slow - if we think this, do you think people browsing the net would wait for the page to download?

Mattie
01-04-2011, 06:37 PM
Like it, but very slow - if we think this, do you think people browsing the net would wait for the page to download?

Hi
We've never had complaint from a customer yet about the speed i'm just trying to look in to why it's slow.

smitch6
01-04-2011, 06:45 PM
Loving the site Matthew and yes like everyone else it is slow
but then again so is Martin's

ask your host what the spec or your hosting is, they should be able to up the speed for you

JSR
01-04-2011, 07:08 PM
Hi
We've never had complaint from a customer yet about the speed i'm just trying to look in to why it's slow.

Do you know if this is because customers just go elsewhere? I just counted 25 while the page showed nothing. If it wasn't your site and if I wasn't intent on looking at it, I'd have clicked away after 5 seconds. Once you've clicked away, there's no way to tell you that it's too slow.

The images are certainly a lot better than they were, with just two "banner.gif" images that are a bit weighty. They wouldn't cause this kind of delay on their own. Normally a web-page will start to load, even if it hasn't fully downloaded - unless there's a script that's designed to delay the display of the page until it's all ready to "pop" onto the screen. Is that the case here?

Mattie
01-04-2011, 07:26 PM
Do you know if this is because customers just go elsewhere?
We have a few thousand registered customers and not one has complained, In march we has 126 register so it must not put that many people off.



Normally a web-page will start to load, even if it hasn't fully downloaded - unless there's a script that's designed to delay the display of the page until it's all ready to "pop" onto the screen. Is that the case here?
I'm not sure about the script.

Mattie
01-04-2011, 07:34 PM
we use a domain forwarding from the company we bought .co.uk from to the company we have .com with and hosting.

try typing www.alligiftor.com rather than the forwarding as i've just spoke to hosting company on live chat and she said it loaded on her computer is 2-3 secs

smitch6
01-04-2011, 08:16 PM
even the .com loaded slow for me mate :(
but not as bad as the .co.uk

Mattie
01-04-2011, 08:22 PM
even the .com loaded slow for me mate :(
but not as bad as the .co.uk

Cheers mate, think i'm gonna have to find new hosting company.

JSR
02-04-2011, 12:14 AM
we use a domain forwarding from the company we bought .co.uk from to the company we have .com with and hosting.

try typing www.alligiftor.com rather than the forwarding as i've just spoke to hosting company on live chat and she said it loaded on her computer is 2-3 secs

That took a count of 10-12. I then tried the .co.uk again and counted the same, so I don't think it's the forwarding that's the issue.

I've done a couple of other tests, including a couple of tracerts. Your .co.uk domain reaches the forwarder in no time at all (within reason, anyway), so there's nothing wrong with that. However, the .com domain keeps timing out - and this could well be what's leading to the delays now.

Did you know that your website is hosted in Denmark? I should have noticed that sooner as I have Flagfox installed, but I didn't. The tracert is timing out after it reaches IP address 83.221.128.4 - which is in Denmark - so that looks like your bottleneck. Of course it won't affect your host, because they're already in Denmark!

If your primary customers are in the UK, you would be best served to have your site hosted in the UK.

gstk
02-04-2011, 10:19 AM
Great bright site but I havent even got onto a second page as the wait is painful. We are only on 1.5mb broadband. People are impatient and wont stop. Hope you get it sorted as it looks the biz.

Mattie
02-04-2011, 10:31 PM
That took a count of 10-12. I then tried the .co.uk again and counted the same, so I don't think it's the forwarding that's the issue.

I've done a couple of other tests, including a couple of tracerts. Your .co.uk domain reaches the forwarder in no time at all (within reason, anyway), so there's nothing wrong with that. However, the .com domain keeps timing out - and this could well be what's leading to the delays now.

Did you know that your website is hosted in Denmark? I should have noticed that sooner as I have Flagfox installed, but I didn't. The tracert is timing out after it reaches IP address 83.221.128.4 - which is in Denmark - so that looks like your bottleneck. Of course it won't affect your host, because they're already in Denmark!

If your primary customers are in the UK, you would be best served to have your site hosted in the UK.

Thanks, I'm gonna look in to new hosting soon, just got a lot on at moment with move and everything lol

JSR
03-04-2011, 12:20 AM
Thanks, I'm gonna look in to new hosting soon, just got a lot on at moment with move and everything lol

Your easiest option might be to go to the company that you registered your .co.uk domain with and buy some of their hosting. I think they're in the UK, aren't they? Then you could copy your .com site straight into the new .co.uk hosting.

You can then deal with the forwarding/transfer for the .com domain at a later stage, when you have the time.

It wouldn't immediately solve the .com delay, but the .co.uk should work much quicker right away.

That's what I'd be tempted to do.

Mattie
05-04-2011, 07:58 PM
I've manged to change hosting comany, just waiting for it to be activated gone with www.1and1.co.uk

Hopefully i can transfer website over without having to build it again, i know how to do FTP, but when it comes to the MYSQL database i'm lost haha

smitch6
05-04-2011, 08:49 PM
most good hosting companies will do it all for you ;)

JSR
05-04-2011, 11:26 PM
Transferring MySQL data is simple enough so long as you have access to it (such as with phpMyAdmin).

Most cheap hosts won't do anything to help because they're just providing you with the space. It's up to you what you do with it.

Mattie
06-04-2011, 09:54 AM
Transferring MySQL data is simple enough so long as you have access to it (such as with phpMyAdmin).

Most cheap hosts won't do anything to help because they're just providing you with the space. It's up to you what you do with it.

Yeah i have access to phpMyadmin, just need to figure out how i change database properties in prestashop to point to new database.

mrs maggot
06-04-2011, 10:12 AM
stick a quesiton on the prestashop forum, its really a brilliant place they will have you up and running in no time (but then being french running is their thing lol)

Mattie
06-04-2011, 10:39 AM
stick a quesiton on the prestashop forum, its really a brilliant place they will have you up and running in no time (but then being french running is their thing lol)

I'll have to do that, just downloaded phpMyadmin and not got a clue what to do with it or how to install it, it looks confusing there's lots of files haha

JSR
06-04-2011, 11:03 AM
I'll have to do that, just downloaded phpMyadmin and not got a clue what to do with it or how to install it, it looks confusing there's lots of files haha

You shouldn't need to "download" phpMyAdmin. If your hosting package is set up right, you should be able to login to it through your control panel. Then the Export option is there, which you use to download a text file of your MySQL tables. You then go to your new host, login to the phpMyAdmin that's provided there, and upload the text file. Simple.

As for Prestashop? I don't use that one but, with ZenCart, it's just a matter of changing the config files, IIRC.

Mattie
07-04-2011, 05:38 PM
I've managed to swap everything over to new host, hopefully website is quicker now

Please let me know www.alligiftor.co.uk

smitch6
07-04-2011, 06:05 PM
super faster :)

Mattie
07-04-2011, 06:11 PM
super faster :)

Cheers haha, just got to get everything else done now (don't know why i decided to move shop, only going across the road)

smitch6
07-04-2011, 06:16 PM
lol don't forget i have a slow wi-fi and it loaded loads quicker so well done

gstk
07-04-2011, 06:29 PM
much better

JSR
07-04-2011, 06:40 PM
Much faster.

Kaz
07-04-2011, 07:01 PM
It just took a full 20 seconds to load for me :(

Kaz
07-04-2011, 07:02 PM
Just closed it down and tried again and it loaded instantly

Mattie
07-04-2011, 07:33 PM
Just closed it down and tried again and it loaded instantly

You had me panicing there haha, i've just been changing side images so that might of slowed it down while i was connected to server

Mattie
10-04-2011, 07:59 PM
Finished sorting images on homepage and down side of pages on the website (done them about 6 different ways) and hopefully they look better.

Let me know what you's think please just my mind has gone blank

rich b
19-04-2011, 03:58 PM
Spelling error on the "other page" - monile/mp3 cover should be mobile?

smitch6
20-04-2011, 12:21 AM
well spotted it's so easy to make a simple spelling mistake and it does make the site look bad

i always try and get a friend to look over any changes i make because i'm always making spelling mistakes lol

mrs maggot
21-04-2011, 11:29 AM
pet hate of mine the 0808 numbers and non geo numbers in general, if you dont have BT and many people now dont, or you use a mobile, the call costs soon mount up, a 5 min call on vodaphone would be £1 i would not call you unless i could find an alternative number or use http://www.0800buster.co.uk/

your home page could do with better text, as it looks a bit boring, the content is great, but it looks like a long read if you see what i mean, text change for address or at least in bold ?? maybe a link to google maps ?