A Question for the Regular Visitors
N-I.net Network - 14 Comments » - Posted on January, 10 at 5:15 pm
It feels as though my blog is suddenly taking longer to load. I highly doubt it’s because of the widget(s) in my sidebar, as they’ve been there for quite some time now though. I have recently added code to my header and footer for tracking and statistic purpose and since then it feels like the site has slowed down significantly.
When my site is slow loading I look down to the status bar and see what is still loading. I almost always see the Gossmo url (voice comments function) show up for a lengthy period, leave, and then return again. On top of that I’m seeing the tracking stuff appearing as well. Since no one seems to be inclined to use the voice comments feature I’m of a mind to remove it.
Is my site loading slower than normal, if so is it significant? Or is my dial-up connection making me hallucinate and imagine things?
New visitors are welcome to give their thoughts, but I’d really like to hear from regular visitors as you’ll have had a better opportunity to notice if there is a delay in loading time that was not previously there. Thanks!
Ooh, and I should add, Happy Belated Birthday to my favorite Potions Master, Severus Snape! 
His birthday was the 9th.
Posted in N-I.net Network | 14 Comments »
Joana the Goddess has 1004 comments
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Mari the Apprentice has 150 comments
Fruityoaty the Initiate has 41 comments
It’s not doing anything for me. It’s the same exact loading time.
Karyn,
Okay, then I guess it’s just the dial-up connection playing hell with me.
That’s good to hear, thank you!
Firefox says that it takes about 6 seconds to load. I think if it is slowing down, it has to do with a lot of the stuff you have on the sidebars. As for the hidden plugins, I don’t know. But I know that for me, when I’m trying to type in this comment box, I have major lag. (When I finished typing that last sentence, the box was still trying to print out “comment”)
Holy Crap! I was at your graduation! You went to high school with me! Holy crap!
I just found you via the 365 feed, which I NEVER check. Wow. Craziness.
Recommendation: put all statistical javascript in the footer. That way all of your actual content loads first and the javascript doesn’t slow down your readers.
—Carlos.
Maria,
6 Seconds? That’s not bad right? Hm, truth be told, I think what slows down the blog the most is those rotation buttons. But they do generate some good traffic. I’m going to have to pay attention and see which ones exactly bring in the traffic and remove the others. Thanks for checking it all out hun!
Oh yeah, those rotation banners definitely add to the load time significantly. I would scrap them. You don’t need the rotation banners for publicity! You get quite a bit already and if these are bogging down your site, initial visitors will be less likely to return.
This is the first time I’ve been to your site but I notice that you’ve posed this question. What type of blog is this? Are you using WordPress? Normally, you don’t want to put any type of code directly into the header or footer as it will log every page that loads and give you 3X more hits than you actually have. If you put the tracker (Analytics?) into the page template or main index template then that will give you a more accurate reading.
I haven’t noticed it being slow. I read your site at home and at work and at both it’s pretty fast. Only now and again my comment might take a while to publish, but it’s not a regular occurrence. Right now it loaded just fine.
Another thing that will slow your site down are WordPress plugins you have installed, but not activated. I recently deleted about 10 that I knew I would never use again and the load time picked up. Also, if you’re using any type of WordPress stats plugin, (namely FireStats), it slows the database down quite a bit.
Carlos,
Holy cow, you’re right. You were at my graduation and you did go to school with me!
Yeah, I try to keep the javascript stuff in the footer, however, Izea’s Real Rank stuff explicitly says to place it in the head of the document. Hence why I was concerned. Later when I get home I might try seeing if it still works if it’s in the footer.
Hm, if you’re watching the Blog 365 feed would you by chance have joined in on the madness as well?
You should join the Dork Bloggers group with me (link on sidebar) XD
It’s a little slower. I notice it most when I hit the “post your comment” button.
It’s loading like a turtle for me today (I’m on cable broadband), but I’ve also got a virus scan going, so I’ll have to judge it later. But I’ve got some major lag typing this comment, which I never do. Again, probably due to my virus scan that’s running.
But I don’t usually have trouble with it. I’ll try again later after this virus scan gets off my computer and see if it’s better.
Charity,
Is it still loading slow now?
Beth,
Thanks for those tips. I’ll have to look at my stats plugins and see which ones I like the best and remove the others. I’ve got about 4 right now, two of which show me who is online currently and what they’re doing. I suspect those two are the major contributors to slowness.
Just deleted a few plugins I’ve had deactivated for the longest time that I have no intention of using again.