Bonmot Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 Hi,I'm not sure if the client is nitpicking or if there are some real issues with performance of thissite (my first one in years). I would really appreciate any observations from a variety of usersregarding especially: 1. Does everything load ok? Quickly enough? 2. Any jumping or blinking beyond normal? 3. Any input that would indicate either way if this site functions properly and to "industry standards".Many thanks in advance.Visit My Website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boen_robot Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 I'd say it loads reasonably well. Especially for a Flash site.I do see a looong scroll at the bottom that is never used. I get to scroll for nothing. Remove that, ideally making it strech only up to what is needed to fill the screen.The space on the bottom that is left between the end of the content and the edge of the viewport is never really used, except with the Services page and home page. Make the blue on the other pages strech out as well.One of the greatest reasons I don't like Flash in general (sorry) is not about performance, though that too plays a role. I hate it that I can't highlight text. I want to be able to copy your adress and search for it on a map, copy your emal to my emal client, or directly click it and type away, copy the services you offer so that I can search for what is suppose to be your competition, and judge you based on them (potentially chosing you if you have no worthy competition), etc. etc. Flash forbids all that, making me want to leave the site as soon as possible.In addition, the above also hurts accessibility, though that may not be as imporant for your client. Do you have the letters as a Flash graphic, or is it text? If it's not text, make it one. It would load faster, and should enable highlighting. I'm not using Flash, so I can't say for sure though.Anyway, if your client is still not happy after you convert all graphics to highlightable text (or at least all that can be), warn him that all further optimizations will cost the site loosing its appeal. If he's willing to accept that price, simply don't use Flash, and use plain HTML and CSS, with images appearing only on the main part of each page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke4123 Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 Really good site. Loved it. Took quite a while to load though. Did you put the DTD in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boen_robot Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 Had a second look at your site, this time in Firefox, and I realized something - it's not a Flash site. It's a heavily image driven site. My internet speed seems OK which is why it loaded reasonably well for me, but truth be told, this is not a really efficient site.Use CSS for as most backgrounds and colors as you can. This includes the images for each menu item, as well as the text in each "page", which actually turned out to be an image. This also explains the lack of highlighting.In addition, you should add an Expires header to all true images (the ones that are left up after you do the image2text transition), GZip everything but images, and remove the ETags to save a few more bytes of bandwidth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonmot Posted March 16, 2008 Author Share Posted March 16, 2008 I do see a looong scroll at the bottom that is never used. It's a heavily image driven site. and use plain HTML and CSSThe problem I faced was the design and layout were non-negotiable. I had, withmy relatively low level of experience, a great deal of difficulty positioning theleft and right blue blocks extending to the sides to fill all monitors regardless of resolution. Then also the central content space with shadows extending downto infinity. I may have (maybe) since then figured out how to make the layout reliablewith CSS but was hoping my shortcut would suffice on this site.Did you put the DTD in? remove the ETags to save a few more bytes of bandwidth.Yes to DTD. No ETags here.convert all graphics to highlightable text (or at least all that can be)The designer was concerned with browsers changing fonts and sizes. And again dueto the configuration of the color boxes and shadows I was initially having enough trouble getting thevarious elements to stay put over a variety of browsers and resolutions. I do hopeto revisit this coding and put some new things I've learned recently into trying to get ridof the large background graphic.I sure appreciate all the feedback. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
40043mo Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 Hi,I'm not sure if the client is nitpicking or if there are some real issues with performance of thissite (my first one in years). I would really appreciate any observations from a variety of usersregarding especially: 1. Does everything load ok? Quickly enough? 2. Any jumping or blinking beyond normal? 3. Any input that would indicate either way if this site functions properly and to "industry standards".Many thanks in advance.Visit My Website Very nice looking site.Don't forget that if the cache hasn't been cleared a web page is sitting there in a temp file pretty much ready to go if it's been loaded since the last cache clear. Your index page takes over 30 seconds to fully load on my DSL at 1024 X 768 resolution with the cache cleared.Search engine robots don't "see" images. All they see is the text in the alt and title attributes. This site has very little for the 'bots to see so the search engine rankings may be pretty dismal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.