[quote name=‘snorocket’]smav your site is pretty slow…I don’t know what the deal is, steavecartshop is alot faster and he’s on a shared host from what I understand, it has to be the setup of the server but I agree CS is overloaded with way too many queries and this is a majot problem that’s being addressed in the next release of CS, for now the first steps you need to take are, disabled all languages and currencies you do not need, disable all addons you do not need, remove all languages you do not need from the database, the cart will run slightly faster…
CS already has a db optimizer built in, down at he bottom under maintenance:
[url]Instant Demo - CS-Cart Multi-Vendor Demo Try Free for 15 days
Thanks sno for advice
Language - Only English
Currency - Only USD
addons - ONLY Bestsellers, Customers also Bought, Ads, Listmania & SEO
The sale has gone south…
[quote name=‘Tool Outfitters’]Why not go with Scott and CyberLNC? From reading here it seems he is the best host for CS.?[/QUOTE]
So I see where a lot of folks seem to feel that Scott and CyberLNC is the “best” for CS. Personally we do not use their service, but they must have figured out something with CS.
The fact that so many host seem to have problems with CS actually seems a little strange. Could it really be that there is only one good host for CS-Cart. If CS has so many issues that multiple host have problems with the cart, it really sounds like the host is not the issue but the cart has problems.
From the sounds of what some on the forum are saying about 1.3.6, CS plans to take care of some of the speed issues. How does everyone know this? Is it out in beta format already?
[quote name=‘Golfcart’]After turning eveything off and trying each option with CS-Cart, I have determined that my problem is with the statistics.
When I have that turned on, my admin runs real slow. The store front pages also perform better with the statistics turned off. I don’t know why the admin is so slow with them on, but that seems to be my problem. Even when I deleted all the current statistics, it is still slow.[/QUOTE]
Interesting thought on the statistics. I just turned them off on our newtsgames.com and the site is VERY fast compared to when they are on. While I really like to have these, I don’t need them so bad that people grow impatient because the site loads too slow. It won’t be too much longer and I’m going to end up with my whole site turned off just to get the pages to load in a decent manor.
I also noticed that the default “livehelp” from CS is a HUGE drain on speed too. We have went with an outside company to be able to increase speed.
The sad part with all of the speed issues is it really doesn’t do much good to have all of the “bells and whistles” with CS if speed is going to be such a HUGE issue. If I have to keep turning everything off then what is the selling point? Now I learn that even using the default “statistics” kills the speed of the site.
I sure hope CS figures out something on the speed problems in their new version. It really doesn’t do much good to have all of this extra garbage if you cannot use it because it kills the speed of your site. Not to mention, if there is only one host in the world who can get the site to operate fast enough, it is very sad.
We are on a VPS with newtsgames.com. We’ve taken advise from multiple post on the forum. We’ve even had CS help with the site. It still struggles! Heaven forbid if more than 10-15 people get on the site at once. The site is sure to scare off those who don’t want to wait at that point.
Again, I am hoping that turning off the statistics helps. We are now in the midst of our busiest time of the year and our old shopping cart at newtscards.com still outsells newtsgames.com 3 to 1 almost on a daily basis (many times more). The sad part about that is we do NOT advertise at all for newtscards.com! We pay dearly in “clicks” for people to come to newtsgames.com. When we talk to our regular customers they tell us they do NOT like the site at newtsgames.com because it is “too slow.” The sad part again is newtscards.com is on a low-budget, shared package!
I know this is an older thread but I just ran into it…
@smavtron
I don’t know if you’ve done anything else to help the speed of your site, as it’s been a couple months since this post.
The other thing you really have to consider for load time of your site is the “ads” you are “pulling” from other sites. You’ve got a few on there that might also be slowing the load time down. I noticed when clicking around the site into viewing products the site is much faster without the “footer” with the Ads.
When I first accessed your website the whole page loaded quite quickly except the right sideboxes and the bottom “footer”…this is where you are pulling ads from:
GoDaddy - twice
Google
tmiwireless.com
BuySafe (I suspect this to be a drag on your site)
PayPal
Authorize.NET
UnitedBank Service
NextTag
You might check these one at a time and see if you can identify one or more that are pulling your site load time down…
You have plenty of “Box” even with the Celeron…you shouldn’t have any issues with speed at all.
Any VPS w/ at least 256M RAM should be enough to run CS-CART quite fast without issues.
WebGuy
We have learned that if you put “outside” script in to the listmania or as an add that the script will slow down the whole page. What we do now is add the code manually to the page on the .tpl we want so it doesn’t have to pull the script from the database. It is a pure guess on my part, but it appears that when the script is pulled from the database it slows the load of the whole page instead of just the script itelf taking an extra second to load.
I hope this made sense.
When I delete the statistics every month, my cart works fine. When the statistics makes the database grow over 100Meg, it seems to really slow down.
I too am becoming EXTREMELY FRUSTRATED with CS performance. I have even moved over to CyberLnc to speed things up but a basic search just takes WAY too long! My current cart I use can search my entire site (4000+ products) for a keyword and instantly come up with results. The same type of search using CS takes over 30 seconds. And we all know in internet surfing times that is useless as no one will wait that long for a page to load.
To top it off most of my number one page rankings come in from Google using a mod re-write that does a basic search in my store for a keyword. I was hoping to change the re-write settings so CS can do the same thing but a 30+ second wait when coming from Google (or other search engine) just won’t work as the customer won’t stick around.
I have disabled statistics as suggested and the site is still slow. I am to the point where I am afraid to even continuing to move all my products over to CS since it will take months to do. And I’m sure I will lose all kinds of business with the slow load time. What am I to do?
The site is currently just getting products (and a few pages) moved over but see for yourself. Do a search for something like “4x4” on CS at [url]http://fastdecals.com/cscart/index.php?target=search[/url] compared to my current site at [url]http://www.fastdecals.com/search.html[/url]
I’ve already spent hundreds of dollars modding the cart to get it to do what I need. Not to mention hundreds of hours playing with CS. But I am about to say F*** IT and s**** the whole plan of moving if these speed issues can’t be addressed.
Here’s an idea:
create a backup of your database
move ALL products into a single category
Search.
See if there is an improvement.
BTW, I’ve attached an error that I’ve seen on the category (catalog) page.
Not sure if it’s related however.
[ATTACH]1052[/ATTACH]
Are you suggesting I just have 1 category on the left? That doesn’t seem like a logical “fix” to me as it would remove all the different categories for the customer to see. Or maybe I am just not understanding the point of this test. I was also not able to make out the error image you attached so I’m not sure what that is all about.
I was looking at a similar site at [url]http://www.cmsmallengines.net/[/url] This site has about the same amount of products, categories and sub-categories as mine but is BLAZING FAST at searching the entire database. So I see that CS is cable of being fast but not sure why mine is so slow?
I surely do appreciate your input.
[quote name=‘IsItFast’]Are you suggesting I just have 1 category on the left? That doesn’t seem like a logical “fix” to me as it would remove all the different categories for the customer to see. Or maybe I am just not understanding the point of this test. I was also not able to make out the error image you attached so I’m not sure what that is all about.
I was looking at a similar site at [URL]Cmsmallengines.net This site has about the same amount of products, categories and sub-categories as mine but is BLAZING FAST at searching the entire database. So I see that CS is cable of being fast but not sure why mine is so slow?
I surely do appreciate your input.[/quote]
Well… Firstly I didnt’ suggest a fix at all.
When I first created SouthEastAuto I created almost 500 categories under roughly 30 manufactures. I had an issue with CS-Cart loading all these categories to begin with (which I think is in your case also) but also it was slow to search.
If I remember correctly I was using 1.3.4 sp2.
Now it is a few version since past but what I’m recommending is that you try to move all your products into the one category and test the search functionality. Since you don’t have a live store it’s the perfect time to start testing.
Every store that I have setup to date hasn’t been without hiccups, however I’ve always been able to resolve them by trial and error. The comment I mentioned would be my first idea as from what I recall CS-Cart cache’s search terms for faster results next search. I recall there being a feature noted as “Use temporary tables during product search/catalog browsing (increases performance)” available on the “Settings” page of your store. It is checked by default however I’m not sure what it is in your case. Have a look and get back to this thread.
As for CMS small engines, I recall an associate of mine (Roban [Rob correct me if I’m wrong]) performed some coding modifications to improve it’s overall functionality. Obviously this isn’t out of the box and specialist knowledge of cs-cart is required.
Now I could offer you my services however I personally don’t see the point as you’re still building your product catalog however I should stress that you sort out your categories.
As a suggestion:
Remove all “Decal” text from category names, instead provide a clear description of the category. Add “decal” to the SEO name to increase your search engine optimization.
ie: Automotive | Music | Comical | Patriotism | Offensive
Write generic descriptions for all your products for the time being, you will change these over time however try to make your “cart” appear as full as possible. There’s no point optimizing a cart of products with one line product decriptions. Obviously ensure that all links are correct and working. An example of one that doesn’t work:
http://fastdecals.com/cscart/index.php?target=products&product_id=30053-
Upgrade your cart. There is no point building your cart on an old framework.
Bugs that have been fixed will plague you until you do upgrade to something more supported by the forum here. I do use 1.3.5 Sp3 (as you do) however the bugs reported do not effect me, and so I don’t need to upgrade. As your reporting problems with your cart it may be worthwhile to upgrade already.
Lastly, standing stores will always be faster than a stock install.
This is simply because the owner has either done the hard-yards to ensure it’s working 100% for them or they’ve employed someone else to do it for them. So in the case of a majority of store owners here we’ve already done the work. It’s only fair that I suppose you could expect it no matter what (sorry to be so honest)
And… That’s it. Let me know how you go, I can’t provide much more info until you report back regarding your page load speed issue.
Kind Regards,
Jesse-Lee Stringer
Thank you for taking the time to write that lengthy reply Jesse-Lee. It was way more than I expected. I was just wondering if you were suggesting the single category as a fix or an idea to track down a problem…in which you have answered.
This is a total rookie question but how do I go about doing this easily with 4000+ products? After custom coding and modifying my existing cart for the last 6 years, CS is something totally different to me. So I am still trying to figure out how to save/backup/restore things to normal as I used to keep all my stuff on my local computer then upload changes. CS seems to be the exact opposite to me. I have done a backup in the backup/restore area. So I need to move 4000 products into 1 category and delete the other categories to do this test, correct? If this test speeds up my searches, does this narrow down what the problem is? How do I get all the products back into the proper categories if it doesn’t (or even does) fix the problem?
The store is obviously no where near being complete so I still have lots of pages to create along with checking links on every page. But right now this search speed issue is my main concern on if I want to proceed with this project. Because if it can’t be fixed (which apparently it can) then the cart doesn’t do me much good. So right now I am focusing on just getting the cart to perform as I would like before I spend hundreds of hours doing data entry. Right now I am on my 3rd server with CS trying to speed things up. But every time I move it takes about 3 weeks to get the store back to where I started before the move since CS doesn’t seem to be “move friendly”.
As for the SEO suggestions I have kept the word “decals” in the category names since this has worked so well in the past. If you do a search for something like “yamaha decals” (in the U.S.) on Google, the first two sites that appear are my sites. This was all achieved using the anchor text to that page having the entire phrase in the link. While this may not be necessary, I am trying to keep all my links very similar for when I start redirecting pages to CS. I surely don’t want using CS to LOSE my rankings or else I will go out of business very quickly. So with so many other changes taking place, I really want to keep some of the basics the same as my old system to be safe. Though I did decide against using the word “decal” in my sub-categories since I wasn’t able to have sub-categories before.
I did make sure the “use temporary tables…” option was checked in my settings. Which it has been this whole time so that wasn’t an issue.
Several of my decals do have item descriptions currently that were brought over from the old cart. But almost all of my designs are made custom so pretty much every design can be customized the same way. So instead of adding the same text for every item description, I simply put this information on the product page template in my old cart. This worked quite well as if I decided I needed to change/add something to all of the products I only needed to modify one page…not thousands. So I plan on doing something similar with CS once I get closer to going live. But several of my existing designs will be getting some type of description in time.
I guess I could do the update to sp4 but have been reluctant too since my mods were only made to work with sp3. While they should work with the new version, I am the type of person that likes to get everything working perfectly first, then do the upgrade so I know that isn’t what caused the issues. I was at a crossroads as after I bought the cart (but before my paid mods were complete) sp4 came out so I wasn’t sure which I should install first.
I felt quite a bit better just finding the Cms Small Engines site as I see that CS is cable of fast searches. I kept reading about how so many people having issues with the cart being slow that it was concerning me that it simply couldn’t be fixed. But that site proved otherwise. I’m just hoping to figure it out without bringing in a specialist since I’m selling decals over here (not diamonds) so my funds are limited. Plus I am the type of person that really likes to learn why something isn’t working so if I need to fix it in the future I know how.
Thanks again for being so thorough,
Jacy
Jacy,
This might be like trying to get blood out of a stone in terms of time management but I heavily suggest that you skip the cart all together and create a product CSV (Comma Separated Values) that contains all your products etc.
Once you’ve got the main products imported you can then save yourself some time to upload generic descriptions for all your products among other things.
I don’t think you going the right way regarding the upgrade. I’m not sure what your modifications are however they may work on Sp4 natively, regardless I suggest getting that product database created.
If I’m leaving you wondering regarding the CSV, its a lot easier to migrate to another shopping cart if CS-Cart isn’t your cup of tea, while I doubt you’ll find something better it’s always a good idea to be prepared.
- Backup your database.
- Export your product range to CSV (Comma) then open it in microsoft excel, changing all category’s to “Test Category” then save.
- Import the save CSV. This will move all the products into the “test category.”
- Delete all your other categories to ensure that cs-carts not searching the extra categories, available or no. Just delete them.
See how the search works then. If its still the same you now know it’s not the categories at fault.
SEO wise your site looks ok, but how many people in the general population search for “decals”? I’ld be more inclined to look for stickers, but then again I’m proberly not your target market.
Anyway, I hope this is enough to go on.
Jesse
[quote name=‘IsItFast’]I too am becoming EXTREMELY FRUSTRATED with CS performance. I have even moved over to CyberLnc to speed things up but a basic search just takes WAY too long! My current cart I use can search my entire site (4000+ products) for a keyword and instantly come up with results. The same type of search using CS takes over 30 seconds. And we all know in internet surfing times that is useless as no one will wait that long for a page to load.
To top it off most of my number one page rankings come in from Google using a mod re-write that does a basic search in my store for a keyword. I was hoping to change the re-write settings so CS can do the same thing but a 30+ second wait when coming from Google (or other search engine) just won’t work as the customer won’t stick around.
I have disabled statistics as suggested and the site is still slow. I am to the point where I am afraid to even continuing to move all my products over to CS since it will take months to do. And I’m sure I will lose all kinds of business with the slow load time. What am I to do?
The site is currently just getting products (and a few pages) moved over but see for yourself. Do a search for something like “4x4” on CS at [url]http://fastdecals.com/cscart/index.php?target=search[/url] compared to my current site at [url]http://www.fastdecals.com/search.html[/url]
I’ve already spent hundreds of dollars modding the cart to get it to do what I need. Not to mention hundreds of hours playing with CS. But I am about to say F*** IT and s**** the whole plan of moving if these speed issues can’t be addressed.[/QUOTE]
Analysis and Recommendations
* TOTAL_HTML - Congratulations, the total number of HTML files on this page (including the main HTML file) is 1 which most browsers can multithread. Minimizing HTTP requests is key for web site optimization. Y
* TOTAL_OBJECTS - Warning! The total number of objects on this page is 72 which by their number will dominate web page delay. Consider reducing this to a more reasonable number. Above 20 objects per page the overhead from dealing with the actual objects (description time and wait time) accounts for more than 80% of whole page latency. See Figure II-3: Relative distribution of latency components showing that object overhead dominates web page latency in Website Optimization Secrets for more details on how object overhead dominates web page latency. Combine, refine, and optimize your external objects. Replace graphic rollovers with CSS rollovers to speed display and minimize HTTP requests. Consider using CSS sprites to help consolidate decorative images. Using CSS techniques such as colored backgrounds, borders, or spacing instead of graphic techniques can reduce HTTP requests. Replace graphic text headers with CSS text headers to further reduce HTTP requests. Finally, consider optimizing parallel downloads by using different hostnames or a CDN to reduce object overhead.
* TOTAL_IMAGES - Warning! The total number of images on this page is 65 , consider reducing this to a more reasonable number. Recommend combining, replacing, and optimizing your graphics. Replace graphic rollover menus with CSS rollover menus to speed display and minimize HTTP requests. Consider using CSS sprites to help consolidate decorative images. Use CSS techniques such as colored backgrounds, borders, or spacing instead of graphic techniques to reduce HTTP requests. Replace graphic text headers with CSS text headers to further reduce HTTP requests. Finally, consider optimizing parallel downloads by using different hostnames to reduce object overhead.
* TOTAL_CSS - Caution. The total number of external CSS files on this page is 3 , consider reducing this to a more reasonable number. Because external CSS files must be in the HEAD of your HTML document, they must load first before any BODY content displays. Although they are cached upon subsequent requests, CSS files slow down the initial display of your page. Combine, refine, and optimize your external CSS files. Ideally you should have one (or even embed CSS for high-traffic pages) on your pages. You can optimize CSS files using shorthand properties, grouping, and then minify and GZIP compress them to reduce their footprint. Remember to place CSS files in the HEAD and JavaScript files at the end of the BODY to enable progressive display.
* TOTAL_SIZE - Caution. The total size of this page is 172525 bytes, which will load in over 20 seconds on a 56Kbps modem - or 48.78 seconds on a 56Kbps modem. Consider reducing total page size to less than 100K to achieve sub 20 second response times on 56K connections. Be sure to provide feedback for pages over 100K by layering your design to display useful content within the first two seconds. Consider optimizing your site with Website Optimization Secrets, Speed Up Your Site or contacting us about our optimization services.
* TOTAL_SCRIPT - Caution. The total number of external script files on this page is 3 , consider reducing this to one or two. Combine, refactor, and minify to optimize your JavaScript files. Ideally you should have one (or even embed scripts for high-traffic pages) on your pages. Consider suturing JavaScript files together at the server to minimize HTTP requests. Placing external JavaScript files at the bottom of your BODY, and CSS files in the HEAD enables progressive display in XHTML web pages.
* HTML_SIZE - Congratulations, the total size of this HTML file is 8090 bytes, which less than 50K. Assuming that you specify the HEIGHT and WIDTH of your images, this size allows your HTML to display content in under 10 seconds, the average time users are willing to wait for a page to display without feedback.
* IMAGES_SIZE - Caution. The total size of all your images is 54662 bytes, which exceeds 50K. Consider optimizing and creatively cropping your images, and combining them where appropriate. Even better, replace graphic text and form controls with styled text to eliminate unnecessary HTTP requests. Ideally each image should be less than 1160 bytes, to easily fit into one TCP-IP packet.
* SCRIPT_SIZE - Warning! The total size of external your scripts is 66133 bytes, which is over 20K. Consider optimizing your JavaScript for size, combining them, and using HTTP compression where appropriate for any scripts placed in the HEAD of your documents. You can substitute CSS menus for JavaScript-based menus to minimize or even eliminate the use of JavaScript.
* CSS_SIZE - Warning! The total size of your external CSS is 43640 bytes, which is over 20K. Consider optimizing your CSS for size by eliminating whitespace, using shorthand notation, and combining multiple CSS files where appropriate. By using labeled container cells and descendant selectors you can target chunks of HTML content efficiently without the need to embed extra claases and styles.
* MULTIM_SIZE - Congratulations, the total size of all your external multimedia files is 0 bytes, which is less than 10K.
[quote name=‘IsItFast’]I too am becoming EXTREMELY FRUSTRATED with CS performance. I have even moved over to CyberLnc to speed things up but a basic search just takes WAY too long! My current cart I use can search my entire site (4000+ products) for a keyword and instantly come up with results. The same type of search using CS takes over 30 seconds. And we all know in internet surfing times that is useless as no one will wait that long for a page to load.
To top it off most of my number one page rankings come in from Google using a mod re-write that does a basic search in my store for a keyword. I was hoping to change the re-write settings so CS can do the same thing but a 30+ second wait when coming from Google (or other search engine) just won’t work as the customer won’t stick around.
I have disabled statistics as suggested and the site is still slow. I am to the point where I am afraid to even continuing to move all my products over to CS since it will take months to do. And I’m sure I will lose all kinds of business with the slow load time. What am I to do?
The site is currently just getting products (and a few pages) moved over but see for yourself. Do a search for something like “4x4” on CS at [url]http://fastdecals.com/cscart/index.php?target=search[/url] compared to my current site at [url]http://www.fastdecals.com/search.html[/url]
I’ve already spent hundreds of dollars modding the cart to get it to do what I need. Not to mention hundreds of hours playing with CS. But I am about to say F*** IT and s**** the whole plan of moving if these speed issues can’t be addressed.[/QUOTE]
Analysis and Recommendations
* TOTAL_HTML - Congratulations, the total number of HTML files on this page (including the main HTML file) is 1 which most browsers can multithread. Minimizing HTTP requests is key for web site optimization. Y
* TOTAL_OBJECTS - Warning! The total number of objects on this page is 72 which by their number will dominate web page delay. Consider reducing this to a more reasonable number. Above 20 objects per page the overhead from dealing with the actual objects (description time and wait time) accounts for more than 80% of whole page latency. See Figure II-3: Relative distribution of latency components showing that object overhead dominates web page latency in Website Optimization Secrets for more details on how object overhead dominates web page latency. Combine, refine, and optimize your external objects. Replace graphic rollovers with CSS rollovers to speed display and minimize HTTP requests. Consider using CSS sprites to help consolidate decorative images. Using CSS techniques such as colored backgrounds, borders, or spacing instead of graphic techniques can reduce HTTP requests. Replace graphic text headers with CSS text headers to further reduce HTTP requests. Finally, consider optimizing parallel downloads by using different hostnames or a CDN to reduce object overhead.
* TOTAL_IMAGES - Warning! The total number of images on this page is 65 , consider reducing this to a more reasonable number. Recommend combining, replacing, and optimizing your graphics. Replace graphic rollover menus with CSS rollover menus to speed display and minimize HTTP requests. Consider using CSS sprites to help consolidate decorative images. Use CSS techniques such as colored backgrounds, borders, or spacing instead of graphic techniques to reduce HTTP requests. Replace graphic text headers with CSS text headers to further reduce HTTP requests. Finally, consider optimizing parallel downloads by using different hostnames to reduce object overhead.
* TOTAL_CSS - Caution. The total number of external CSS files on this page is 3 , consider reducing this to a more reasonable number. Because external CSS files must be in the HEAD of your HTML document, they must load first before any BODY content displays. Although they are cached upon subsequent requests, CSS files slow down the initial display of your page. Combine, refine, and optimize your external CSS files. Ideally you should have one (or even embed CSS for high-traffic pages) on your pages. You can optimize CSS files using shorthand properties, grouping, and then minify and GZIP compress them to reduce their footprint. Remember to place CSS files in the HEAD and JavaScript files at the end of the BODY to enable progressive display.
* TOTAL_SIZE - Caution. The total size of this page is 172525 bytes, which will load in over 20 seconds on a 56Kbps modem - or 48.78 seconds on a 56Kbps modem. Consider reducing total page size to less than 100K to achieve sub 20 second response times on 56K connections. Be sure to provide feedback for pages over 100K by layering your design to display useful content within the first two seconds. Consider optimizing your site with Website Optimization Secrets, Speed Up Your Site or contacting us about our optimization services.
* TOTAL_SCRIPT - Caution. The total number of external script files on this page is 3 , consider reducing this to one or two. Combine, refactor, and minify to optimize your JavaScript files. Ideally you should have one (or even embed scripts for high-traffic pages) on your pages. Consider suturing JavaScript files together at the server to minimize HTTP requests. Placing external JavaScript files at the bottom of your BODY, and CSS files in the HEAD enables progressive display in XHTML web pages.
* HTML_SIZE - Congratulations, the total size of this HTML file is 8090 bytes, which less than 50K. Assuming that you specify the HEIGHT and WIDTH of your images, this size allows your HTML to display content in under 10 seconds, the average time users are willing to wait for a page to display without feedback.
* IMAGES_SIZE - Caution. The total size of all your images is 54662 bytes, which exceeds 50K. Consider optimizing and creatively cropping your images, and combining them where appropriate. Even better, replace graphic text and form controls with styled text to eliminate unnecessary HTTP requests. Ideally each image should be less than 1160 bytes, to easily fit into one TCP-IP packet.
* SCRIPT_SIZE - Warning! The total size of external your scripts is 66133 bytes, which is over 20K. Consider optimizing your JavaScript for size, combining them, and using HTTP compression where appropriate for any scripts placed in the HEAD of your documents. You can substitute CSS menus for JavaScript-based menus to minimize or even eliminate the use of JavaScript.
* CSS_SIZE - Warning! The total size of your external CSS is 43640 bytes, which is over 20K. Consider optimizing your CSS for size by eliminating whitespace, using shorthand notation, and combining multiple CSS files where appropriate. By using labeled container cells and descendant selectors you can target chunks of HTML content efficiently without the need to embed extra claases and styles.
* MULTIM_SIZE - Congratulations, the total size of all your external multimedia files is 0 bytes, which is less than 10K.
source [url]http://analyze.websiteoptimization.com/wso[/url]
[quote name=‘IsItFast’]Are you suggesting I just have 1 category on the left? That doesn’t seem like a logical “fix” to me as it would remove all the different categories for the customer to see. Or maybe I am just not understanding the point of this test. I was also not able to make out the error image you attached so I’m not sure what that is all about.
I was looking at a similar site at [url]http://www.cmsmallengines.net/[/url] This site has about the same amount of products, categories and sub-categories as mine but is BLAZING FAST at searching the entire database. So I see that CS is cable of being fast but not sure why mine is so slow?
I surely do appreciate your input.[/QUOTE]
They generated a HTML catalog in the cs cart under the administration tab in the admin area. My cart is super fast with this feature as well ; however, I’m not sure if i’m going to use the catalog or the SEO feature. I assume the catalog would be more user friendly on the consumer, but using the SEO would probably keep the site on good terms with the search engines.
Jesse-Lee–
Suggesting the csv option is the way to go. I actually know all about csv (now) as I had a hard time getting my old data converted over to a csv format (it was in a dat file). And none of my options were transferable since they used an outside html page for reference (which sometimes included several options on that one reference page). So that is all going to have to be done manually. But I have imported and exported csv data with CS cart so I know how that works. I in no way wanted to import all my products and images in the move. It is getting late around here so I’ll have to put this project off until tomorrow.
Just for reference to the mods I had done, an example can be seen at: [url]http://fastdecals.com/cscart/yamaha-decals/newdsdf.html[/url] Mod 1 is that the first option (size) sets the standard price for the item. Then all the options below are percentage based off the size price. Typical percentage pricing wouldn’t work because as the decal gets larger so do the price of the color options too. The second mod was the little pop-up information box to the right of the options. Having so many options to customize a single product can be a little overwhelming if all the instructions are put in front of the customer. So the little pop-up can help explain IF the customer doesn’t understand. Obviously some formatting still needs to be done in this example but this is a rough idea of a working item.
Finally, the Sticker vs. Decal debate lives on. My site actually ranks the same for the same search term whether sticker or decal is used for many searches. Most people though think a sticker is something a kid puts on his notebook. While a decal is more of a commercial or automotive type material that is of much better quality. I myself consider the terms interchangeable which is why I have everything listed as a “decal / sticker”. But some DECAL makers get a little upset when you call them “stickers” :rolleyes:
KBM–
Thanks for the WSO information. I actually went ahead and reduced my number of results generated from 50 down to 10 but that didn’t help any with the speed. Wishful thinking I suppose. All the other warnings I think are just CS cart issues that I’m not real sure if I have much to do with.
But I am curious to know how you know that CMSsmallengines is an html catalog? From a url point of view it appears the SEO add-on was used. And I don’t think the html catalog would actually increase speed of a search would it? Since the results page has to be dynamically produced anyway it seems it would still be searching the database (not pages). But I could be wrong. Then again my site seems pretty slow when clicking on a catalog too but not near as slow as a search. If I can just get my site up the that sites speed I’ll be ready to move on to my next problem…sigh.
Ok Jesse-Lee. I did the test as suggested. Moved all the products into one “Test Category” and deleted all the other Categories. It absolutely did nothing to change search speed. It still takes about 30 seconds for it find anything. So I guess that categories is not the issue. I did notice it even takes a while for the page to load when clicking on Test Category link though.
Suggestions to anything else I should be looking for?
[quote name=‘IsItFast’]Ok Jesse-Lee. I did the test as suggested. Moved all the products into one “Test Category” and deleted all the other Categories. It absolutely did nothing to change search speed. It still takes about 30 seconds for it find anything. So I guess that categories is not the issue. I did notice it even takes a while for the page to load when clicking on Test Category link though.
Suggestions to anything else I should be looking for?[/quote]
Sounds like pagination is taking a while to load the category page.
Since we now know it’s not the categories, put all products back where they belong (restore the database backup)
Have you searched just one category for “4x4” at all? or have you always been searching the entire store (why isn’t relative, we’re just benchmarking here). If there’s too many products loading per category there might be an issue there. Since you’ve had mods created I can’t say much if they effect it etc.
J