Slower Load Speeds

[loose-cannon]

I have noticed my smf isn't loading very fast compared to most, so I ran it through GTmetrix and found some issues I need some advice on.   

If anyone can run sks-files.com through gtmetrix and offer any advice on how to fix these issues, I would greatly appreciate it.

2.0.9
blackjack theme
Hostmetro
cloudflare
smfpacks seo
55 members

[Illori]

you want help fixing a problem you think you have, but you will not take the time to tell us what exactly the issues are? good luck getting help if you will not give us much to work off of.

[kat]

For what it's worth, your forum loads pretty fast, for me.

[loose-cannon]

you want help fixing a problem you think you have, but you will not take the time to tell us what exactly the issues are? good luck getting help if you will not give us much to work off of.

If you copy/paste my url to gtmetrix and run it, you will see all the same crap Im seeing. No reason to be utterly rude, as some of us lowlifes have to start somewhere without being bashed over um.... nothing.   http://gtmetrix.com/reports/sks-files.com/FIFwgJcU

Leverage browser caching
The following cacheable resources have a short freshness lifetime. Specify an expiration at least one week in the future for the following resources:

^^^^ and it lists a bunch of images associated with the theme.... and my logo. Other than the smf cache setting, Im not sure what would fix this.

Specify image dimensions
The following image(s) are missing width and/or height attributes.

^^^^ it lists pretty much all the same crap.

Combine images using CSS sprite
The following images served from sks-files.com should be combined into as few images as possible using CSS sprites.

^^^^ No idea what this is all about

Im not sure of the best method of fixing if these issues, or if its even worth it. The load times can vary greatly and I just thought someone may know what I needed to do in order to resolve the errors Im seeing in gtmetrix. 

[Illori]

i was not being rude. i have never heard of gtmetrix and no idea if it is a good resource or not. since i have not heard of it not always is google a good source to find it and where exactly you went and what issues you saw. telling us all the info at the start may have helped you to get a faster answer.

IMO those issues are useless and not related to slow downs. if your forum is being slow talk to your host.

[Suki]

A forum will generally score badly on those type of sites, mostly because a forum is full of user generated content that you have no absolute control over it.

Leverage browser caching
The following cacheable resources have a short freshness lifetime. Specify an expiration at least one week in the future for the following resources:

I wouldn't worry about this.

Specify image dimensions
The following image(s) are missing width and/or height attributes.

It depends on with images they are reporting. But generally, not specifying a width or height doesn't really makes your forum go slower unless your users like to post huge images.

Combine images using CSS sprite
The following images served from sks-files.com should be combined into as few images as possible using CSS sprites.

Again, it depends on which images they are reporting, sure using css sprites does help, thats why 2.1 has this but using sprites on 2.0 could be time consuming and it will be better to spend that time on something that can really make your forum faster.

Sites like gmetrix are really designed for static, regular webpages, a forum is anything but static so most of the hints and tips they provide do not really apply to a forum.

If you are interested on improving your site's speed, take a look at this topic: http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=293441.0  and even that guide doesn't really fit everyone's needs, you should only apply the tips that could really help you.

[Arantor]

No reason to be utterly rude, as some of us lowlifes have to start somewhere without being bashed over um.... nothing

So did we, once upon a time. Except it felt like you were asking us to do things that you couldn't be bothered to do, but now you have, so we can help.

I see also that some *very* wise people have commented and it's very accurate, though there's a couple of things I'd already written that might be useful to add.

Leverage browser caching

Usually requires specific server configuration to get this one right, and every different page speed metric tells you something different as to what it should be. Also if you then decide to change the images for *any* reason they tend to linger around (because old caching is used)

Specify image dimensions

SMF core does not specify image dimensions to allow themes to customise images easily. This is non-trivial to fix and does not yield significant performance increases.

Combine images using CSS sprite

Huge lot of effort rejigging any theme code on your site to do (I know, I spent a lot of time doing this in SMF 2.1), for not so much benefit depending on what's going on since there's a lot of them that can't be sprited without rewriting very very large chunks of SMF (since, for example, it would complain about the smileys)


Honestly, your perception of running slowly is likely not related to any results you've pulled off any random attempt at page optimisation but because of CloudFlare. It actually causes so many slowdowns from what I've seen, not speedups.

I tried it on my own site (bear in mind I have a VPS)... speed dropped by approximately 30% on everything.

[a10]

Tested this, got the exact same results as in http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=529777.msg3760922#msg3760922 , and a low D score on this GTmetrix ...but my forum loads in the blink of an eye and is fast+++ in all respects, so in practice here, these GTmetrix %'s and scores are totally irrelevant. The only result I'd trust in the results is "Total page size: 145KB" lol

[loose-cannon]

Interesting..... good to know those "issues" are basically irrelevant.      Thanks!

I have actually gone down the list of (Basic Improvements) and taken care of much of it as I can, but I do have a question regarding #1

1: Move your uploaded avatars directory. In the administration panel, go to Attachments and Avatars, and then go to Avatar Settings.


Would this be necessary if I am not allowing uploaded avatars?  I have disabled this feature......   

[Arantor]

If you're not allowing uploadable avatars (and not allowing avatars by URL that will be downloaded if too big), this is not required.

[loose-cannon]

If you're not allowing uploadable avatars (and not allowing avatars by URL that will be downloaded if too big), this is not required.

Excellent!   

Cloudflare...  interesting, I actually noticed improvement.  Likely have to blame my host for any speed inconsistencies I guess.   

[loose-cannon]

8: Run the mark read for inactive users script periodically. The log_topics, log_boards, and log_mark_read tables are not the best designs, and for some unlucky folks end up dominating their database. Pruning them can help.


Where do I put this script, and how do you run it?   thanks in advance. 

[Arantor]

You do not have anywhere near the level of users or posts that you could even measure the difference in running it. Leave it until you have 100,000 posts and 10,000 members.

[loose-cannon]

Was more curious then anything.. 

[Gwenwyfar]

Personally never used Cloudflare on a server or anything of the sort, but as a user I am constantly having problems with them. I know one big site and another small one that uses it and I always get 502 error on them frequently, as well as HUGE slowdowns out of nowhere, often at the same time on both (and they are in no way related whatsoever). Then again I know very little about what exactly they are or how it works. Not too curious in finding out

About sprites... It is relevant if you worry about some types of internet like wireless internet users/mobile. The number of requests is more troublesome for those and can cause noticeable slowdown, but it doesn't make a lot of difference elsewhere, unless your site has huge amounts of requests already. The reason being that because the response time is slow, it takes a significant amount of time to request and wait to start downloading each file, so having only one file to download instead of 20 helps with that.