I have been playing with this on and off for the past few days and I must say that I really feel that our entire site runs faster in development mode! Is this correct as I believed that development mode DOESNT use any caching techniques at all and this is the only difference between that and Live Mode. See what you think
http:// custom-cable.co.uk
It is fast!
Has anyone else played with turning this on and off and seeing what happens?
I have seen no difference in Live Mode or no Live Mode. I know I saw a post somewhere on here that may have explained the difference, but I can't find it back.
Anyone know what enabling Live Mode actually does?
I think it will be dependent on the backend caching method you use in your config.local.php file.
Using Sqlite, the performance may be close to the same.
Using the default 'files' method, Development Mode may be faster if a lot of features and filters are used.
The issue with the 'files' mode is that to find a particular cache entry (let's say language variables), the directory has to be scanned for the file every page load. Note that for every actual page load, there are really 3-6 page loads due to the way cs-cart uses AJAX. So you might have up to 6 different processes contending for the same files at the same time. Multiply this by the simultaneous users and you can see where this gets big fast. If there are any changes in cached data, these have to be written back causing further contention.
Sqlite on the other hand is a database. Hence it uses a single index to locate the 'row' of information requested (a row is equivalent to a file the way it's implemented). Databases inherently deal with contention and have their own internal caching mechanisms.
Hope this helps explain some of the performance variability. In general, if you can use Sqlite and have the memory resources available to you on your server, you will get better and more consistent performance as the number of users increases on your site.
Note: measuring performance with only 1 user accessing a site is like measuring gas mileage at a stop light. It just can't be done reliably. The only true measure is to add a significant load and then start changing the variables.
Once again, thank you for your input, tb.
I use sqlite. I suppose I'll continue to stay in Live Mode most of the time, and use Development when I know I have to change a lot. But it probably doesn't matter anyway, especially if the function of the cart on the customer end stays the same with either mode.
[quote name='AmitP' timestamp='1315258593' post='121026']
http:// custom-cable.co.uk
It is fast!
[/quote]
Nice looking site! Like your menu too - is that CS default menu? Also, do you mind if I ask which addon script you used to pull your blog posts into the side panel?
Open latestposts.php in your editor and change the URL to the URL of your blog. Upload latestposts.php to root of your CS-Cart directory. Add latestposts.tpl to
/skins/{CURRENT SKIN}/customer/blocks/static_templates/
Go into admin>design>blocks>manage blocks>create new block>template>
Select _latestposts for the template and away you go.
Let me know if this works. If it doesn't i'll have another look.