RootsChat Performance: how can we help ?

[Berlin-Bob]

You've probably all noticed (and suffered  ) when RootsChat has outages, "go slows" etc.

This is a typical response:

Has anyone else been having problems accessing RootsChat yesterday (31 December) and today (31 January)?

As you can guess, I've had problems - receiving the "try again in an hour" page, on both days.   I have had no problems accessing other popular websites, eg BBC etc.

[...]

And, is there anything we should do as Rootschatters to reduce the risk of this "freeze out" occurring?

Annoying, but we all have to live with it

However . . .

And, is there anything we should do as Rootschatters to reduce the risk of this "freeze out" occurring ?

Yes, there is

1)  Images on RootsChat

Those of us who use broadband tend to forget how many people there are, who still use slow dial-up connections.
So anything that speeds up page downloads is an improvement. Even on Broadband !

When we call up a page in the browser (i.e. click on a link) then the page, text and graphics, is downloaded to our computer, whereby "graphics" includes avatars, smileys (both in the text and in the signatur), and images attatched to the text

1) On 15 replies to a topic (maximum replies per page), up to 15 profile pics are downloaded.
(that's the worst case: if it's just two people, answering back and forth, then only two profile pics get downloaded)

I downloaded two RootsChat pages, one with just one avatar (profile pic) and one with 10:
The text part of each page was about 100 KB
The graphics part of the 1st. page was 60 KB   
The graphics part of the 2nd. page was 250 KB

Doing the maths, nearly 200 KB of the 2nd. page was taken up with avatars and smileys.

Most people have an avatar/profile pic of 10 KB or less, which is reasonable,
but I have noticed some bigger avatars, one even going to 65KB.
(update: I've since seen two, over 150 KB !)

So please keep this in mind when choosing a profile pic, as we can all benefit from faster page loads.


2) Images attached to replies also need download time. 
Obviously, for the Photo Restoration board, they need to be big,
so that the restorers have the best 'raw material" to work with,
and some of the "can someone recognise/decipher this ?" images may need to be big,
but images on other boards can be smaller, especially snap-shots
(see replies #2, and #3 about a voluntary code of conduct.

Please try to keep larger images to a maximum width of 600 - 700 pixels. 
This reduces the overall size, improves download times,  and also, very important,
avoids 'screen stretching', where we have to keep scrolling right and left to see a picture.
Remember that many of us use use laptops and notebooks with a screen width of 1024 pixels,
or even older computers with a screen width of 800 pixels.

Thanks,   
Bob

see Topic: Adding images to Posting & Profiles
1) Resizing and cropping your image file:[/color]
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,130922.0.html


ps:
I've now edited my signature, as the two smileys there were nearly 10 KB (animated GIFs !!)

[Gadget]

Hear, hear!!

Having had to suffer the dreaded dial up a few times over the last couple of months, I know exactly how it  feels. I remember that I gave up on many pages because of the problem of images. And those widies 

My new avatar is half the file size of my old one 

Also, for non-photo restoration images, it is possible to do jpeg compressions that reduce the overall file size substantially. The image still looks fine to view though.

Gadget 

[kerryb]

I was wondering about image sizes myself this morning, seeing the thread about keeping some of the totally off topic stuff such as Our Ancestors. 

Could we not have a voluntary code of conduct whereby images for threads for enjoyment other than photo restoration be reduced in size, where huge size is not absolutely necessary??

Kerry

[Berlin-Bob]

Could we not have a voluntary code of conduct whereby images for threads for enjoyment other than photo restoration be reduced in size, where huge size is not absolutely necessary??

Yes please, hence my suggestion for a maximum size:

Please try to keep larger images to a maximum width of 600 - 700 pixels. 

but this is just for the maximum size - anything smaller is also acceptable 

[julianb]

Thanks, Bob, and for getting it stickied

[NB - No smileys!]

JULIAN

[Berlin-Bob]

And, is there anything we should do as Rootschatters to reduce the risk of this "freeze out" occurring ?

Yes, there is

2) E-Mail notifications

E-Mail notifications also use up RootsChat resources.

a) Notifications for topics

When you reply to a topic, or start a new topic, you can choose whether you want to be notified by e-mail.
On large topics many e-mail notifications may get sent out, which is a drain on the RootsChat resources. 

Many members have reported that the  Show new replies to your posts.
 link is sufficient notification, so we would like to encourage you not to use the e-mail notification.   

Here are three possibilities for turning it off:

1) When posting, click on "Additional Options" and you can uncheck the "Notify me of replies"

2) You can also click on the "Notify" button at the top/bottom of a topic at any time to turn e-mail notification off

3) you can enter in your profile, whether the default should be "notify"/"don't notify"
see Profile / Notifications and Email
You can also edit your current notifications here

Related Topics:
Topic: Please tell me what this means.
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,165622.0.html

Topic: Topic reply notification
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,174535.0.html
By the way, if you received an e-mail notification and found no new replies, then see Reply #13
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,174535.msg882211.html#msg882211

Topic: Messages, Replies and E-mails
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,161799.0.html

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b) Notifications for PMs

You can also edit your profile to turn off e-mail notifications for Personal Messages (PM)

See Profile / Personal Message Options in your profile

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Ps. Nothing to do with RootsChat performance, but another aspect of the quantity of e-mails, is that some members have reported that their ISP and e-mail providers put RootsChat e-mails in the junk box, on the grounds that bulk mails are likely to be SPAM   

[yn9man]

Bob -

FYI -

I have tried to "turn off" the e mail notification setting twice now. I still receive the notifications though. Does it take a few days for the notifications to stop?

Thanks.

yn9man

[trystan]

yn9man,

I've had a look at your profile, and you have the first one not ticked, but the other two ticked:

  Receive RootsChat announcements by email.
  Receive reply notification only for the first unread reply.
  Turn notification on when you post or reply to a topic.

From that same page, you will need to remove notifications from other topics too.

Trystan

[yn9man]

Trystan -

Thanks for looking at my profile. 

Guess I need to go back and untick the other two again. 

yn9man