Website load time

[mikel2634]

I'm using a template that contains shared boarders and navigation. It also
contains a shared border for the right side. But when I look at the estimated
page load time in FP2003 it indicates [email protected]. The question is... what is
acceptable in todays marketplace? Should I continue to use the 28.8 or
higher? Since I have a DSL it's hard to determine what a person using dial-up
experiences. Please suggest. Oh, the pages are done in html.

 

[Murray]

Based on what I see, the target weight for an INITIAL page load is 40-45K
total (including image, rollovers, externally linked files, etc.). This
will allow a 56k dial-up connection to download the page in 10seconds or
less.

That 10 second number is the general 'wait time' for enagagin content. If
you can quickly provide engaging content, then your page can be
correspondingly heavier.

On interior pages, since your images are already cached, it's likely that
you can relax that target weight value quite a bit.

By the way, I believe FP is calculating that 36 value using the MAXIMUM,
THEORETICAL throughput for a 28.8kbps modem, and that's not a good number if
it is. A PRACTICAL, ACHIEVABLE number would be more like 65-70% of that.

 

[mikel2634]

Thank You Murray,
I've never had a better explanation than that. Is "engaging content" the
text within a page or the (in my case)shared borders? And how can I determine
or set this time?

 

[Kevin Spencer]

If I might step in here briefly, "engaging content" is content (stuff you
see in the browser window) that engages (captures the interest and attention
of) the user. It isn't necessarily text, images, swfs, or anything else
specifically. It can be anything. The only requirement is that it is
engaging.

We live in a fast-paced age, and the pace gets faster every day. People
browsing the Internet are like people shopping in a downtown shopping mall.
Your home page is like a store front. If you want people to come into your
store, you need to capture their attention while they're walking past your
store front. It's got to be quick, as they will not want to stand around and
wait for it. Grab their attention, and get them interested in what's inside.

What constitutes "engaging content" is mostly a matter of what type of web
site you're developing. The Google site, for example, has a very simple home
page, but it has what most people want right there, ready for them to use -
a search form. On the other hand, an online store has to attract people in
much the same way as the storefront I mentioned earlier. It should display
the most popular items, and use other sales techniques to lure the user
inside. A Blog should pput the latest blog entries right on the front page.
And so on.

Your home page is like a carny barker. If you're too young to remember what
that is, it is a person who works at a carnival, and uses a loudspeaker to
entice people to enter the attractions. Like the carny barker, people are
surfing by, and your home page's job is to make them stop, look, and listen.

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
..Net Developer
Neither a follower nor a lender be.

 

[Murray]

LOL - well, speak for yourself, Mr. Carny Barker!

8)

But, you're absolutely right.

 

[mikel2634]

Kevin, Thank you so much for that valuable information. Now I understand what
"engaging content" is, and as for the rest of the information about catching
peoples attention, well, I guess I have some more work to do. Yes, I remember
the carney barkers....yes I'm that old! You too?

 

[mikel2634]

Thanks Murray,
I know that, that's what you would have said too.

 

[Murray]

8)

--
Murray

Thanks Murray,
I know that, that's what you would have said too.