sites way faster now

i know ya love it when new features are added and the styles improved but the more i dio that the slower the site gets so theres a point where i have to spend a day speeding the site up again

so today i spent all day tweaking the site as much as possible. i reduced the number of items shown in activity fed from 20 to 4

reduced blogs and events from 10 to 4

reduced the members shown (on main page) from 5 rows to 1

ruduyced some file sizes removed some scripts

streamlined things alot

its especialy noticable when your logged out logged in its still a lil slow but alot better

logged out its pretty fast but could potentialy be faster although its a huge improvement

id still like to shave another couple seconds of load time but im running out of ideas

oh also changed the page background to match the head background for a more seamles look while loading

when logged in its about 50-60% faster logged out like 160%..or more

i still think i'll be able to tweak it a lil more still

the chat is most likely what slows it the most when logged in, when logged out the music players 1 of the slowest elements (main page on;y)

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1
updated by @soaring-eagle: 02/14/15 10:44:11AM

SE, I can tell a huge difference. It was getting really hard to use the site. Everything kept locking up, then going to a black screen. I had to reload my browers to get it working again. Since I came on tonight, it's seems to be working perfectly! It's even more awesome now. Good job tweaking the site <3

yea it was way overdue for a tune up and right now its about as fast as its ever been

im still looking for more ways to tweak it a lil more

i might replace the translater and see if its stil fast

thats kinda an important thing to keep

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

yea..altho srtill want it a bit better still but since the times things take to download varies so much its hard o guess what really needs optimizing most

its funny 1 thing that helped speed it up a good bit was changing that tiny heart icon on supoeters profile pics

and 1/2 the downloads its someones profile pic thats slowest..

probly losing the slideshow in the header would help a bit too but im undecu[-ided on that cause i think it really shows the beauty of all the dreadies here

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

been working on speeding it up even more today, disabled several scripts and features

its fast as i can get it at this point i think without disabling ads

if i disabled ads id have to either increase the donation requests, go fiull paid network or something along those lines..or find more dedicated sponsors so we can have static ads that load faster..or something

alot of the speed issues now come down to server waut times, not actual data transfer although the overall amount of data transferred is a lil high compared to many sites

im still working on it trying to squeeze out ecery fraction of a second of speed i can

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

how important is it to have the network activity feed on every page?

i think if its main page only the site will be very fast..still testing it however

i set it to main page only fopr now to see how fast the site gets

i need a good 10 min of testing to allow caxche to expire

if its real important on every page ill leave it and accept the extra second or so it takes

if i do leave it main page only i will adjust the settings to show 20 events instead of 4 again and accept the main page being slightly slow

but i want your opinions

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

First of all, I think that the dread pictures should stay. They are a greatadvertisementfor the beauty of natural dreads.

Personally, I like the network activity section. Maybe you could put it on each members profile page, or somewhere central like that. But I like to see what's happening; new posts, new members etc. Just once it's somewhere central, it would be fine.

Maybe static ad's would be better if it would speed the site up. I think you could find space. If the network activity section isn't there then, maybe, you could even fit more adverts.

Finally, I have definitely noticed a speed up in the site. But I never really minded waiting for it to load in the fist place.

the activity feed theres 2 options

on every page ..or main page only

each members page has an activity feed for that member

theres also an option to add the activity feed to your page or even to your desktop using the rss feed

or you can install the dreadlockssite toolbar and have the activity feed on your browser no matter what sites your on

site speed can affect search rank

and we are doing pretty good a slow site thats made it to number 4 just might make it to number 1 if its fast

if having the activity feed on the main page only tripples the sites teafic in a month then its definately worth the sacrifice

so alot is experimental at this point and im going to track results and see whats worthwhile and what isnt

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

Update: Didn't see your post before I posted. Have to check on the option to add the activity feed tomy page.

I agree with Adam regarding the network activity feed, I really like it.I don't need it on every page,but would love to see it on my own profile page. I also miss the 20events. Other than that, good work SE!

Adam Kelly said:

Personally, I like the network activity section. Maybe you could put it on each members profile page, or somewhere central like that. But I like to see what's happening; new posts, new members etc. Just once it's somewhere central, it would be fine.

Well, getting the speed should certainly be a priority then. You want to spread the word and keep people away from making mistakes with their dreads. It's possible that DHHQ and/or KB are right at the top, which is undesirable, to say the least.

The activity feed on the main page would be fine. Once we know where to access it there is no problem.

I'm not very technical.. Could you tell me where to find the toolbar?

Cheers