How long does your site take to load?

Terminator

They say your home page should load in 3 or 4 seconds and inside pages 1 or 2 seconds.

How long do your pages take to load?

louie

I think it should be the other way arround, but it also depends on the connection speed, visitor computer, ...etc.

NeVeR

As well as connection speed, the Size of your site matters aswell.

If you have loads of graphics or flash on your page it will take longer. If you just have text if will load faster.

richardo

I have yet to see a page that loads in less than 5 seconds.

I have a 56K connection [for that, read 28K if I'm lucky - thanks Eircom!], so for a page to load in 2 seconds it would have to weigh in at around 3Kb including graphics.

For example iedr.ie just took 35 secs, rte.ie took 45 secs.

damnyanks

Yahoo always loads quickly. They have good connections & have very efficent html / images(Or at least that used to be true... don't use it anymore)

Whenever I goto my site it loads up straight away and I have a lot of crap on it. Check it out at http://127.0.0.1

NeVeR

Also ,, Most people's own home pages would load fast for them becuase you use it more then other sites and Images are stored in your temp files so they load faster.

My home page www.davidstokes.com take me about 2-3 seconds to load.

richardo

It is all down to the individual setup. Loading a page for the first time on a slow connection is time consuming, as nothing is cached.

Just tried www.davidstokes.com - 60secs [sorry NeVeR!!] which shows that you can't predict the Internet with any accuracy.

Seth Brundle

try this (see bottom left)

Test Results for www.kbannon.com
This web page took 9.244 seconds to completely download
(tested with a speed of 40 kilobits per second (kbps) which is the average speed with a 56kbps modem).
All elements of the pages downloaded without a problem.
The size of the page with all its elements was 45486 bytes.

Seth Brundle

actually using that on the aformentioned [url]www.davidstokes.com:-[/url]

We test your page at a speed of 40 kilobits per second (k) which is the average speed achieved using a 56k modem.
The total download time of the page with all its elements was 38.129 seconds.
The UK average is 15 seconds.
All elements of the pages downloaded without a problem.

NeVeR

thats because of the flash at the top.

mneylon

Test Results for www.search.ie

SiteConfidence url checking

* This web page took 9.944 seconds to completely download
(tested with a speed of 40 kilobits per second (kbps) which is the average speed with a 56kbps modem).
* All elements of the pages downloaded without a problem.

Unfortunately the same is not true for our main site
However, in common with a lot of people's sites, we re-use a lot of elements from page to page, so the first one is slower to load than the rest...

richardo

They say your home page should load in 3 or 4 seconds and inside pages 1 or 2 seconds.

So the rule "They" should say, is that your home page should load as quickly as possible.

If all pages were designed with speed being the only consideration, then the Web would be a bland place, as pages would have to contain minimal graphics, page structure and text.

The only rule is that there are no rules - only guidelines.

mneylon

Originally posted by richardo
So the rule "They" should say, is that your home page should load as quickly as possible.

If all pages were designed with speed being the only consideration, then the Web would be a bland place, as pages would have to contain minimal graphics, page structure and text.

That's not entirely true...
What any of these tests cannot and do not take into consideration is how the HTML is parsed. Well written HTML will load a lot faster than badly written code. However what should be considered is how it loads in the visitor's eyes. If the text and other elements loads first and the graphics start loading in the background then your visitor (potential client) is less likely to "click out", which is where all these time limits come from.

richardo

What I am trying to say is that a page should be designed with a pleasing layout, but that the underlying mechanics should reflect the 'need for speed' i.e. well written HTML, graphics compressed as much as possible and so on.

We are singing from the same hymn sheet, Michele

mneylon

Richard

I know

Michele

seamus

Originally posted by blacknight
That's not entirely true...
What any of these tests cannot and do not take into consideration is how the HTML is parsed. Well written HTML will load a lot faster than badly written code. However what should be considered is how it loads in the visitor's eyes. If the text and other elements loads first and the graphics start loading in the background then your visitor (potential client) is less likely to "click out", which is where all these time limits come from.

As well as properly parsed HTML, correctly encoded and optimised graphics make a huge difference. There is no reason why you can't have a good looking, feature-filled, yet reasonably sized website.

As you quite rightly point out, I'm far more likely to use a site where all the HTML loads, so the links and content exist, and are useable while the graphics are loading. If I'm left sitting looking a a quarter of the page slowly loading because of graphics, I'll usually just close it down and go elsewhere.

buddy

www.AlcoBuds.com

This web page took 18.331 seconds to completely download
(tested with a speed of 40 kilobits per second (kbps) which is the average speed with a 56kbps modem).
All elements of the pages downloaded without a problem.
The size of the page with all its elements was 87461 bytes.

Seth Brundle

Originally posted by buddy
www.AlcoBuds.com

This web page took 18.331 seconds to completely download

yaay - mine is coming out fastest

richardo

yaay - mine is coming out fastest

Nope. Took 30 secs on my trusty steam-driven PC with my ever reliable tin-can-and-string connection

seamus

Originally posted by kbannon
yaay - mine is coming out fastest

Test Results for www.leaving-cert.net

* This web page took 5.5 seconds to completely download
(tested with a speed of 40 kilobits per second (kbps) which is the average speed with a 56kbps modem).
* All elements of the pages downloaded without a problem.
* The size of the page with all its elements was 26067 bytes.
* For detailed analysis including error information and advice on improving the download speed of this page, use the URL Breakdown tool in our Customers only area.

That'll be the lack of graphics....

Seth Brundle

@ richardo - I was basing it on the siteconfidence link people are using but anyway Seamus ruined my moment of excitement

Terminator

I was referring to broadband speed for that 4 second download so I'd imagine a lot of the 9 / 10 second downloads on dial-up would easily qualify.

buddy

Originally posted by seamus
Test Results for www.leaving-cert.net

* This web page took 5.5 seconds to completely download
(tested with a speed of 40 kilobits per second (kbps) which is the average speed with a 56kbps modem).
* All elements of the pages downloaded without a problem.
* The size of the page with all its elements was 26067 bytes.
* For detailed analysis including error information and advice on improving the download speed of this page, use the URL Breakdown tool in our Customers only area.

Imagine it without the banners.

Seth Brundle

Originally posted by damnyanks
]Whenever I goto my site it loads up straight away and I have a lot of crap on it. Check it out at http://127.0.0.1

Plagerism
You have copied my site!

richardo

I had a feeling that there was a wee drop of broadband being used here somewhere.

Designers should also take into consideration poor sods like me who are using the following (approximate) configuration:

Processor: cute rabbit in the back garden - I tell him the equation - he ponders, then taps out the result with his hind leg.

Memory: fading rapidly (though I do remember the sixties).

Internet connection: length of string between PC and nearest phone pole.

All the above gives me the grand speed of 21 kbps (just tested on UTV Speedtest)

Draupnir

www.cabraceltic.com

Thats a site I did for a few mates and it loads in .094 according to that speed checkin website. That dont seem right

Seth Brundle

Test Results for www.cabraceltic.com

This web page took 36.576 seconds to completely download
(tested with a speed of 40 kilobits per second (kbps) which is the average speed with a 56kbps modem).
All elements of the pages downloaded without a problem.
The size of the page with all its elements was 180382 bytes.
For detailed analysis including error information and advice on improving the download speed of this page, use the URL Breakdown tool in our Customers only area.

I repeated the test and got 36.613 seconds
K.

maxheadroom

Not finished yet (no graphics yet apart for a small header image) but:

Test Results for www.eypireland.com

* This web page took 2.738 seconds to completely download
(tested with a speed of 40 kilobits per second (kbps) which is the average speed with a 56kbps modem).
* All elements of the pages downloaded without a problem.
* The size of the page with all its elements was 12915 bytes.

I'm moving it over to Xaraya , and the result for the Xaraya-ised front page is:

Test Results for www.eypireland.com/xaraya

* This web page took 4.48 seconds to completely download
(tested with a speed of 40 kilobits per second (kbps) which is the average speed with a 56kbps modem).
* All elements of the pages downloaded without a problem.
* The size of the page with all its elements was 17862 bytes.

I expect that to improve once I start using xarCacheManager...

miju

our site www.irishmusicnetwork.net has the text of the page loaded in 2.74 seconds with all graphics loaded without problems in 12.84 secs not that bad

graphics or the lack of optimization of them can also play a big part. when our site was designed the average graphic size before optimization was approx 20Kb after it was done it now averages around 4 or 5Kb

cgarvey

Yup, thats impressive, and the way it should be, well done!
.cg

Ph3n0m

This web page took 27.307 seconds to completely download
(tested with a speed of 40 kilobits per second (kbps) which is the average speed with a 56kbps modem).
All elements of the pages downloaded without a problem.
The size of the page with all its elements was 134326 bytes.
For detailed analysis including error information and advice on improving the download speed of this page, use the URL Breakdown tool in our Customers only area.


oops and that is one of the more popular websites I work on - ooops

richardo

But how reliable is SiteConfidence???

My heaviest site [to date] is lilyobriens.ie - They wanted lots of graphics and they got 'em!!

SiteConfidence:
This web page took 18.734 seconds to completely download
(tested with a speed of 40 kilobits per second (kbps) which is the average speed with a 56kbps modem).

On my own trusy PC [after clearing the cache]:
25secs.

[Of course I can use good old 127.0.0.1 and load it in <1 sec ]

Seth Brundle

It has been used by www.internet-magazine.com for a while now (if thats anything)
Anyway, it looks fairly accurate given that you are presumably using an €ircon line which is giving about 30Kbps (10kbps less than siteconfidence)

richardo

If it's good enough for Internet Magazine, then it's good enough for me.

I always reckoned that if a site loaded well on my rusty connection (30 kbps is a good day here), that others would load it like Sonia O'Sullivan on speed.

I have a feeling that a lot of sites out there are written by people on Broadband or T1 connections. They see a nice slick fast site and then wonder why people complain!

buddy

Originally posted by richardo
If it's good enough for Internet Magazine, then it's good enough for me.

I always reckoned that if a site loaded well on my rusty connection (30 kbps is a good day here), that others would load it like Sonia O'Sullivan on speed.

I have a feeling that a lot of sites out there are written by people on Broadband or T1 connections. They see a nice slick fast site and then wonder why people complain!

Thats why I use PSTN. Yeah.... of course..... that must be it

richardo

To go back to the original question

How long does your site take to load?

then perhaps the answer is to use Internet Magazine as a yardstick:

Test Results for www.internet-magazine.com

This web page took 10.348 seconds to completely download
(tested with a speed of 40 kilobits per second (kbps) which is the average speed with a 56kbps modem).
All elements of the pages downloaded without a problem.
The size of the page with all its elements was 44846 bytes.

So, if your site loads in less than 10 secs, it's doing well.

Two of my sites fail!! The above-mentioned Lily O'Briens (at 18.6 secs) and Jack & Jill (at 14 secs). :cool:

Seth Brundle

I find boards slow and can take a while to load a simple page even on BB. Using our siteconfidence.com benchmark on [url]www.boards.ie:-[/url]

Test Results for www.boards.ie
This web page took 37.741 seconds to completely download
(tested with a speed of 40 kilobits per second (kbps) which is the average speed with a 56kbps modem).
All elements of the pages downloaded without a problem.
The size of the page with all its elements was 186642 bytes.

The first page of this thread:-
Test Results for www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=154227
This web page took 26.485 seconds to completely download
(tested with a speed of 40 kilobits per second (kbps) which is the average speed with a 56kbps modem).
All elements of the pages downloaded without a problem.
The size of the page with all its elements was 125061 bytes.

richardo

And the fact that Boards.ie is slow to load doesn't make it any the less popular. Content is king.....

I've just corelated figures on my sites and have come up with a weird result.... There is an almost perfect inverse relationship between page impressions and download time - The slower the site is to load, the greater the traffic is to that site.

So maybe we should all be loading sites with massive graphics and heavy coding and throwing in the odd bit of tasteless multimedia??

Webmonkey

Test Results for http://v2.kerrypages.com/index.php


This web page took 16.14 seconds to completely download
(tested with a speed of 40 kilobits per second (kbps) which is the average speed with a 56kbps modem).
All elements of the pages downloaded without a problem.
The size of the page with all its elements was 79999 bytes.
For detailed analysis including error information and advice on improving the download speed of this page, use the URL Breakdown tool in our Customers only area.

I'm quite happy with that