How do I find out what's slowing my site

Hi All,
Is there a way to find out what is causing my web site to load slowly?

Sometimes it loads quicker than other times, but I can't put my finger on why it's doing it.

It's the first link in my signature

Cheers
Dean

 

Probably all the images, and the scripts. Specifically the animated images that aren't hosted on your own webpage but are linked offsite.

 

thanks, I'll look into it

 

I use
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/

It shows me which files are the largest and I try to reduce the size.

It looks like there are a lot of files from other servers... you would almost need to do process of elimination during a slow time..

Make a list of all the external resources on your page then when its slow... trying going to each URL of the individual resource.. If you find who is being slow the only thing you can really do is look for an alternative for that resource.


Good luck.

 

Hi skelton,
thanks I'll give that a shot, it seems to me that it's mainly images and graphics like you said, especially those linking out to other servers. I never knew that if their server is slow it will affect your web sites load time

Cheers
Dean

 

Main reason i see is that its the google adsense taking time to load.

 

hi paidhosting,
that's an interesting observation - thanks

 

I used the web site above and got this

# This site is not using HTTP compression, otherwise called content encoding using gzip. Consider compressing your textual content (XHTML, JavaScript, etc.) with mod_gzip or similar products.

* CSS alternate stylesheets may be referenced in the HTML but are not actually downloaded until they are needed and are therefore not included in the total page size.

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.
TOTAL_OBJECTS - Warning! The total number of objects on this page is 19 - consider reducing this to a more reasonable number. Combine, refine, and optimize your external objects. Replace graphic rollovers with CSS rollovers to speed display and minimize HTTP requests.
TOTAL_IMAGES - Warning! The total number of images on this page is 12 , consider reducing this to a more reasonable number. Combine, refine, and optimize your graphics. Replace graphic rollovers with CSS rollovers to speed display and minimize HTTP requests.
TOTAL_SIZE - Warning! The total size of this page is 198102 bytes, which will load in 39.48 seconds on a 56Kbps modem. Consider reducing total page size to less than 30K to achieve sub eight second response times on 56K connections. Pages over 100K exceed most attention thresholds at 56Kbps, even with feedback. Consider contacting us about our optimization services.
TOTAL_SCRIPT - Caution. The total number of external script files on this page is 6 , consider reducing this to one or two. Combine, refine, and optimize your external script files. Ideally you should have one (or even embed scripts for high-traffic pages) on your pages.
HTML_SIZE - Caution. The total size of this HTML file is 37384 bytes, which is above 20K but below 100K. With a 10K ad and a logo this means that your page will load in over 8.6 seconds. Consider optimizing your HTML and eliminating unnecessary features. To give your users feedback, consider layering your page or using positioning to display useful content within the first two seconds.
IMAGES_SIZE - Warning! The total size of your images is 128297 bytes, which is over 30K. Consider optimizing your images for size, combining them, and replacing graphic rollovers with CSS.
SCRIPT_SIZE - Warning! The total size of your external scripts is 32421 bytes, which is over 8K. Consider optimizing your scripts for size, combining them, and using compression where appropriate for any scripts placed in the HEAD of your documents.
MULTIM_SIZE - Congratulations, the total size of all your external multimedia files is 0 bytes, which is less than 4K.


I was wondering how this gzip thing works? Does anyone know

I am going to look at fizing up some of the images to

 

gzip basically compresses the content at the expense of the server's CPU, but it can increase the speed at which the users download your webpage, provided their browser accepts compressed content.

 

Page loads pretty quick for me. (?)

 

Thanks,
I've actually made some changes since posting this initially, mainly to do with a couple of images.

Unfortunataly, my server only allows gzip for dedicated servers.