I’ve been doing web development for a summer camp now for 6 months, and I have had a lot of trouble understanding why our site loads so slowly.
Even simple pages without much content are taking 10+ seconds to load! Parents and frequent users of the site have complained, our bounce rate is 50% which I think is far too high and is related to this issue. I want to resolve this issue once and for all.
My boss still has the person who initially created the site under contract, and I’ve reached out to him about the issue. He says from his end, there is nothing else he can do to make it load quicker. I can’t imagine this to be the case when other sites with sometimes far more content are loading much faster!
Some comments: I have compressed all files to levels I believe are sufficient (all pictures are below 100KB where possible). We do not have many WordPress plugins installed or active, and those that are do not have reported issues causing sites to slow down this much.
Hi,
if you look in the “Performace review” of the test it is showing:
Compress Images: 100/100
58.7 KB total in images, target size = 58.7 KB - potential savings = 0.0 KB
I think this is “miss-leading” because you are using png-files for the slider.
(In using png this test cant show you the better results)
And this is a problem - because here you can do the most - very easy!
The slider-images on the index-page are not optimized.
In the “waterfall” you see the long blue bars from the png-files (images) .
I think they are much to heavy. (Click of each blue bar and you see file size)
One example: http://campvoyageur.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/camp-v-one2-01.png
has nearly 1.3 MB (loading time 9119ms!)
If you try this free online compression tool ( https://tinypng.com/ )
you come from 1.3 MB to 433 kB (lossy png compression but good!)
But better is using jpeg-Format for the image-slider - you get smaller file sizes (but optical good results)
In Photoshop you get this 1.3 MB Image to 260KB in a good quality saved as jpg.
Next big thing “Time To First Byte” (TTFB) ist too long with 3sec.
May be a problem of the hoster because of a “slow database”.
Normally I have about 0.2 sec TTFB with static html-files.
There is are some WP-Plugins which offers static html-files for better performance. Example: WP Super Cache – WordPress-Plugin | WordPress.org Deutsch
Greets from Germany
(Interesting site you made - hope you get it faster)
Your main problem is bloat. How fast does anyone expect over 5.6 megabytes to load on a browser? That is equivalent to a five and a half minute CD quality mp3 file! Show me a fat site and I will show you a slow site, every time.
First main way to address this bloat is by following the suggestions in the post above about optimizing these images. The massive png image pointed out above needs to be turned into a progressive jpg since it’s not a transparency or anything special. This will eliminate 1mb of load right there without changing anything else!
You’re also scaling these images in the code to appear smaller in dimensions than they are, on the rendered page. But this does not affect the file size of these images - the entire image still loads on the browser no matter how small you make it appear to be.
Also - every image in your slideshow loads regardless of what the visitor is actually seeing.
IE11 is seeing even more calls and more MB than IE 10 you used to test, is.
I’ll go ahead and compress all these images. To be honest, I’m shocked that the guy who was contracted to build the site had not compressed it (I assumed he had). The site in general (since I have worked on it) has been sloppy to say the least. The file management is just a mess, and the way he built some of the pages just doesn’t make sense to me.
But what’s the deal with this First Byte time? I mean he insists that there is nothing he can do about it. I know we are hosted through him somehow. A little background on the guy: he runs an independent operation in TN, had a career change and has recently started doing web development/marketing. My boss pays him a monthly fee (not sure what he pays) and he manages the hosting, etc.
Again, I appreciate the feedback. I wish I was a little more savvy as to the technical aspects of our site.
[quote=“campvoyageur, post:6, topic:9729”]
But what’s the deal with this First Byte time? I mean he insists that there is nothing he can do about it. I know we are hosted through him somehow. A little background on the guy: he runs an independent operation in TN, had a career change and has recently started doing web development/marketing. My boss pays him a monthly fee (not sure what he pays) and he manages the hosting, etc.
[/quote]Well, lets first get the bloat addressed. Let’s fix the seconds of load time, then sweat the milliseconds FBT represents. You should be able to get this pageload down to just over 1mb total still using all your images and slideshow and all.
Just turn all those large png images into progressive jpegs, and upload them in place of these monsters. Then let’s see where we are.
You may want to consider installing some RUM performance tracking like SOASTA’s mPulse (free) which will give you more visibility into the timing from users visiting the site. From the looks of the 2 tests you provided, I’m guessing that there is a lot of variability in the back-end timing (FBT) and when it is really slow that is causing the really slow times that people are reporting.
Clicking around a bit I regularly see 2-3 second delays in getting the base page back and that’s making it feel excruciatingly slow, even on a fast connection. Going into the blog was on the order of 20-30 seconds.
After hitting one of the pages, running tests against it were somewhat faster which looks exactly like a slow database (first visit triggered the queries to get cached so subsequent visits were less painful). Since he is doing the hosting, fixing that is 100% in his hands. Simply throwing the database onto a SSD instead of slower disks would solve most of the issue.
I’m assuming he also built or at least deployed the wordpress theme for you. If so then automatically resizing the images to an appropriate size is also his responsibility. There are plugins that can help but from a quick search it also looks like the theme can specify it explicitly: Auto-Resize WordPress Featured Image and Crop if Necessary | Buckle Up Studios
I couldn’t replicate the long 20-30s load times so I can’t say what was causing that (whether it was the FBT or further along the waterfall). However I’d recommend installing a page caching plugin such as Super Cache, W3 Total Cache to help to reduce the first byte time. If properly configured correctly it should make a significant difference for most users.
The second main issue is the fade in transition between pages. The page can actually begin to render a lot sooner than it currently is. Right now it looks like it’s waiting for all the resources to load before rendering the page. This should help to make the website appear to load a lot quicker for users but won’t affect the overall load time.
Optimizing the images as per above recommendations will also help.
If you still have a lot of variability in the load time (especially for the FBT) when browsing the site after making the above changes, then upgrading to a faster should address this.
The FIRST and really only main issue is the bloat. You cannot reasonably expect good performance when you are loading over 5 and a half MEGABYTES on browsers. Fix this first, then sweat the small stuff.
Look at the FBT on the repeat view! Is it supposed to look like that? From the reading I’ve been doing, we could be getting bottle-necked at backend processing. Browser caching and CDN also between 23-24% across multiple tests on diff. browsers, locations, etc. =/
Edit: Testing more, the FBT seems almost random, sometimes spiking to 20-30sec.
Just looking through some of the plugins this guy has enabled to address the issue:
Cloudfare
WP Supercache
Also, if this is at all helpful:
WordPress Plugin Profile Report
Report date: January 6, 2016
Theme name: Creativo 5.0
Pages browsed: 18
Avg. load time: 3.3205 sec
Number of plugins: 27
Plugin impact: 60.62% of load time
Avg. plugin time: 2.0128 sec
Avg. core time: 0.3860 sec
Avg. theme time: 0.6662 sec
Avg. mem usage: 91.43 MB
Avg. ticks: 46,035
Avg. db queries : 120.39
Margin of error : 0.2555 sec
Have to disagree with Anton on this one. You won’t get the site loading quickly by reducing the image sizes, in fact you have only managed to reduce the load time of the home page slightly. The main issue while browsing the site is the FBT and the page fade in transition, which is stopping the site from becoming interactive. Fix these first then worry about optimizing the images if they are appearing too slow for your liking.
Not sure why there would be a Cloudflare plugin as the DNS records aren’t configured to use Cloudflare. I don’t recommend Cloudflare though as it can still result in inconsistent load times. With the amount of plugins you may need to upgrade to a faster host/plan to get a more reliable FBT.
I’d double check the Super cache settings as no pages appear to be getting cached. Set a high expiry time if possible eg 1 day.
Interesting… I also suspected the plugins weren’t properly configured. The reading I’ve seen about Clouldflare has been very bipolar (either it’s amazing or it’s garbage). I imagine that were it were the upgraded version and was properly configured it would likely improve things.
The problem is that this guy is still contracted by my boss, and while the site is not proprietary by any means, he has certainly made an effort to hold on to it. Hence, I do not have the passwords or necessary information to configure these plugins.
He is also unwilling to describe exactly how we’re set up with our host (at some point we’re hosted by Bluehost). He manages a few other small sites along with ours. I know for a fact that with the plan we pay for through Bluehost that FBT should be much better.
I’ve been working with him for about 6 months. If this isn’t resolved soon, I’m going to advise my boss to drop the contract and move the site. Does that seem too rash?
First of all IMO we muddy the waters quite a bit by testing from various sites, locations, browsers, etc. Because you are introducing multiple variables, such as quality of internet connections, quality of machines, etc. I ONLY test with IE 11 from the Dulles VA location because I know that one to be the most consistent and reliable internet connection and machine I’ve seen on WPT. (Pretty sure this is Patrick’s personal set-up.) I don’t like introducing unnecessary variables to the testing, but that’s just my preference.
More and more I am seeing FBT problems sometimes even on my own sites, and with nothing changed on my end. I am not sure how reliable the FBT testing in WPT is at this point. Sometimes when you click on the grade, it doesn’t show any target FBT, sometimes it does. Plus the host servers themselves are variable, their connection, their traffic and how well they are running can affect FBT. It’s a highly variable item in the testing and again, you’re dealing in milliseconds there, not seconds.[quote]The reading I’ve seen about Clouldflare has been very bipolar (either it’s amazing or it’s garbage). [/quote]I used it for two years and personally never said it’s garbage, I simply do not recommend it either. It is proven and even admitted by CF itself that CF interferes with FBT, and really it doesn’t do anything for you other than ostensibly, serve your static content to a visitor from a spot geographically closer to that visitor. But when CF is down, you are down and it happens a lot more often than your typical host server down time is.
Good work so far cutting the bloat - From the tests I’ve run, it shows you have cut your bloat almost in half and the full load times have come down to single digits now. I am seeing anywhere from 6-9 seconds on full load, vs. the 12-19 seconds we were seeing before. This is a much much bigger difference then fixing 500 milliseconds of FBT. (That’s on average how much you are missing the target by.) Cutting unnecessary bloat is always good advice and it always helps performance greatly.
Here’s one additional test I do when curious about FBT. I pick ONE call out of the waterfall, and run a test on just that link. Always weird to me how FBT gets smaller, the smaller the page load bytes are. I have been told over and over again that there is no relation at all between the kb size of your site, and FBT but never got a explanation of why FBT is always stellar when you’re only calling up one file. Take a look - I test ONLY your great big background image:
And wow, somehow we PASS the FBT test with a A grade when we are loading only a small amount of KB.
Also, just for educational purposes and curiosity, turn off all the plugins then test this site. See what your baseline looks like without all the bells and whistles, just the installation itself. Then of course, turn everything back on.
Hmm, very interesting. I think this particular test would indicate that my back-end processing is bottle-necked, no?
[/quote]I don’t know what it indicates. This kind of thing has been true with every site I have seen FBT troubles on. But it does seem that for some reason if we aren’t loading scripts and instead only just just files like images, we have no FBT troubles. But… how does the browser and server “know” during the handshake, what scripts are coming if no bytes have been downloaded yet? It’s called “first byte” for a reason.
I haven’t gone so far as to test just the CSS, or other scripts called up.
The FBT grade tests the time to the first byte for the first resource only, in the case of the WordPress site it’s an html file which is created by accessing hundreds of php files as well as calls to the database. This takes significantly longer than calling a static resource such as an image, so it’s no surprise testing an image by itself gives an A grade, as there is barely any processing involved to serve the file.
As your site is on a shared hosting plan, it will be sharing resources with a lot of other websites, which would explain the fluctuating load times. Some shared hosting plans are worse than others as they tend to overload the server with way too many websites. The FBT you have is fairly typical of a WordPress site on a shared hosting plan. Visual composer also tends to slow down the backend time of WP sites. So upgrading hosts will definitely help.
You can mitigate the load time issues by ensuring super cache is installed correctly and removing the transition as mentioned previously so content displays as soon as possible. If the developer isn’t willing to address these I would recommend looking else where.
[quote=“clubberz, post:17, topic:9729”]
The FBT grade tests the time to the first byte for the first resource only, in the case of the WordPress site it’s an html file which is created by accessing hundreds of php files as well as calls to the database. This takes significantly longer than calling a static resource such as an image, so it’s no surprise testing an image by itself gives an A grade, as there is barely any processing involved to serve the file. [/quote]Where’s the bolded, in the waterfall? This is very interesting to me as i have never heard this explanation before.
[quote]As your site is on a shared hosting plan, it will be sharing resources with a lot of other websites, which would explain the fluctuating load times. Some shared hosting plans are worse than others as they tend to overload the server with way too many websites. The FBT you have is fairly typical of a WordPress site on a shared hosting plan. Visual composer also tends to slow down the backend time of WP sites. So upgrading hosts will definitely help.
You can mitigate the load time issues by ensuring super cache is installed correctly and removing the transition as mentioned previously so content displays as soon as possible. If the developer isn’t willing to address these I would recommend looking else where.
[/quote]I’d mentioned connection, traffic and machine variables of the hosting earlier. To me these are especially significant on a oversold shared hosting machine and part of “you get what you pay for.”
[quote=“clubberz, post:17, topic:9729”]
The FBT grade tests the time to the first byte for the first resource only, in the case of the WordPress site it’s an html file which is created by accessing hundreds of php files as well as calls to the database.[/quote]Where’s the bolded, in the waterfall? This is very interesting to me as i have never heard this explanation before.[/quote]
It’s the first line in the waterfall, which is an html file. This time can also be easily seen in the “first byte” column in the table above the waterfall (2.65s in the following report): http://www.webpagetest.org/result/160106_GA_ZDA/
[quote=“clubberz, post:19, topic:9729”]
It’s the first line in the waterfall, which is an html file. This time can also be easily seen in the “first byte” column in the table above the waterfall (2.65s in the following report): http://www.webpagetest.org/result/160106_GA_ZDA/
[/quote]Well, at 17kb that’s hardly “100s of php files as well as calls to the database.”
Host: campvoyageur.com
IP: 50.87.219.122
Error/Status Code: 200
Client Port: 55634
Request Start: 0.228 s
DNS Lookup: 132 ms
Initial Connection: 91 ms
Time to First Byte: 2426 ms
Content Download: 111 ms Bytes In (downloaded): 16.8 KB
Bytes Out (uploaded): 0.3 KB
Here’s the actual contents of call #1, what comprises the 16.8kb of data represented. [code]
Request #1
Details Request Response Object
Camp Voyageur Camp Voyageur- A Camping Summer Camp on the Boundary Waters img.wp-smiley, img.emoji { display: inline !important; border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; height: 1em !important; width: 1em !important; margin: 0 .07em !important; vertical-align: -0.1em !important; background: none !important; padding: 0 !important; } .tp-caption a{color:#ff7302;text-shadow:none;-webkit-transition:all 0.2s ease-out;-moz-transition:all 0.2s ease-out;-o-transition:all 0.2s ease-out;-ms-transition:all 0.2s ease-out}.tp-caption a:hover{color:#ffa902} /* Welcome to Custom CSS! CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a kind of code that tells the browser how to render a web page. You may delete these comments and get started with your customizations. By default, your stylesheet will be loaded after the theme stylesheets, which means that your rules can take precedence and override the theme CSS rules. 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For boys 9-18, life in campmolds character and builds skills. On the trail experiential learning builds self confidence. A summer full of teachable moments boosts a boy’s ego.
COMMUNITY BUILDS CHARACTER
While playing sports and camping kids learn to collaborate. Living in the woods everyone carries their own weight, so campers of all ages become teammates and fishing buddies.
WILDERNESS INSPIRES ADVENTURE.
Camp Voyageur specializes in wilderness trips. In Camp sports and activities get kids in shape for the trail. On the Trail experienced guides lead small groups into the BWCAW and Quetico.
Good things happen when a you leave home for a few weeks camping in the wilderness. You gain independence and find your voice. Camp Voyageur fills a summer with sports, fun and adventure exploring the Boundary Waters with wilderness experts and new friends.
Two weeks at camp- test the waters: Two-week sessions abbreviate the Camp Voyageur experience. Kids practice canoeing and camping skills before heading out on the trail. Many campers stay six or eight weeks by combining the four-week and two-week sessions.
Four weeks at camp: Over four weeks kids bite into the full Voyageur experience. Campers perform on the Gong Show, Clue, Casino, the cardboard boat regatta, the WELK radio show and CV’s Olympic games. Take day trips to fish, explore iron mines that built America and visit the International Wolf Centerand the North American Bear Center. Recreational sports work boys into shape as they prepare for two, progressively longer canoe or hiking trips. Fish for walleye, small and largemouth bass, northern pike, rainbow, brown and lake trout on adventures into the BWCAW and Quetico.
Eight weeks at Voyageur: The best value in every sense of the word, eight weeks away from home rejuvenates the soul. Physical fitness becomes fun, wilderness trips unleash self-discovery. Ma Nature awakens a primal sense from within. As confidence grows, boys value responsibility to the group and seek opportunities to lead. This simple, physical life whittles one down to the essence of their character. Kids get fit, learn valuable life-long skills and confidence soars as they overcome new challenges. Experienced campers can spend nearly half their time on the trail.
Director John Erdmann rigs a Sunfish with campers.
Over 60 years of experience.
In 1951 Charlie and Mim Erdmann founded Camp Voyageur on a secluded peninsula at the edge of the Boundary Waters in Ely, Minnesota. Our camp mission remains the same: To foster personal growth through group interaction in a wilderness setting. For over 30 years siblings Deb and John Erdmann continue their family’s tradition of summers filled with fun and adventure for boys of all ages.
[/code]So, the more things it has to assemble in this way, the more time it takes? Would making this significantly smaller, help?
But, from your second link the bolded is interesting:[quote]The First Byte time is the time from when the user started navigating to the page until the first bit of the server response arrived. The bulk of this time is usually referred to the “back-end time” and is the amount of time the server spent building the page for the user. [/quote]This makes it sound like, indeed the amount of requests, things it has to find and assemble, and kb load coming does affect FBT. Which might explain what I have found over time, that greatly reducing bulk can help FBT.
EDIT - much later on I added the following:
[quote]So, the more things it has to assemble in this way, the more time it takes? Would making this significantly smaller, help?[/quote]I decided to try to answer this.
On one of my sites that is a vBulletin install I get very consistent ‘B’ grade for FBT. Can I improve this grade by reducing the amount of stuff that has to be assembled? Reduce the kb of request #1?
My normal request #1 is 14.5kb.
I turned off all add-ons, plugins, and template hooks system and ran the same test again - NOW my request #1 is only 11.5kb.
And now, consistent ‘A’ grades on FBT.
Granted this is only one tiny variable in the whole thing, but the ‘A’ grade is consistent with the smaller request #1, every time I repeat the testing. Turns out it is a SURPRISING amount of code and calls and stuff, it no longer goes to find and assemble. It’s not the kb, it’s the finding and assembling!
When I turned all the hooks, plugins and add-ons back on giving me back the 14.5kb, I now consistently get the ‘B’ grade back for FBT, on every test.
Granted we cannot leave some of these plugins off, some of them are anti-spam stuff. But to me this looks promising as a way to perhaps address slow FBT? Find ways to reduce the pieces needed assembled to comprise request #1?
At minimum it seems a good enough reason to do “baseline” tests, with all add-ons and plugins and extras, off? Just to further educate us on what exactly all the added bells, whistles, extras, gadgets and all do to our performance? Might even be a way to exclude server issues as the reason for poor FBT?
