Low Quality Forums?

[billo.]

hello- yes. I love how the outspark/fiesta forums look.

But..

Its too good for me..

My computer runs without a graphics card
(which I know is fatal for playing fiesta, but - anyway) and it takes about a week to load up the start page. -
I wondered if Outspark were thinking about releasing a sort of... Low Quality forums.. Without all the images around the side and all the other 'bells and whistles' about it.
its also a bit of a problem when I want to come on via my iPhone, which I'm using now. And it takes the Mick to load up a single page of the forums.

If it ain't gonna happen- no sweat. Im happy.

just a thought (:

-billo.

[TheCentrix]

Graphics cards have nothing to do with loading a website. I used no gfx card for 3 days and it only affected scrolling on a page, not the actual load time.

[Angelxx]

Hehe...and there I was getting ready to argue against your title. :o :D

[billo.]

ha- I never thought of that.
still- can anybody answer my question?

[zues8844]

I don't think the Staff would make an alternate Forums for just one case, usually many people would have to be experiencing the problem for them to remake a whole new website, adding all the sticky threads, and so on. I'm sorry, I don't think it's going to happen.......

[apathos]

Don't many forums have a "low-quality" option, that strips out all the images and makes it text only? It wouldn't require a separate forum, it's often just an option you can click.

The downside, of course, is that the option would remove the ads as well, so it would reduce Outspark's potential ad-revenue. So they may not make the option available. It is their discretion.

[Ian]

I'm curious... Can you post your system specs? If you don't know how, just click start->run (or press windows key+R) and then type 'dxdiag'. It should show you your CPU speed, the amount of RAM you have, etc.

[KireiYosei]

There isn't much to this page really. The background image is like a wallpaper planted in the background. And everything else isn't too flashy.

Not too many go around without a graphics card ^^;; I'd suggest trying to get one?

[iLoveless]

I suppose if you're having trouble with loading you can go to User CP > Edit Options > scroll down to Thread Display Options and uncheck the boxes that says Avatar, Signatures, and Images.

It "might" make loading faster without all the embedded images.

[Poisoned77]

I don't get it, how do you not have a graphics card? Doesn't every computer come default with one? How do you play any game?

[apathos]

Many budget computers come only with integrated graphics (no separate card). Most people can't even play Fiesta without a graphics card though.

My 5-year-old Dell at work has no graphics card, which is why I spend more time on the forums during the day. :D

[Poisoned77]

I know that older computers won't, but if he is somehow able to play Fiesta, he must have at least s semi-decent modern comp.

[Liala]

You problem is probably due to the fact that who ever designed this page, didn't develop it properly.

I looked at the coding and it's a mess. The css is on both the html page and a css page. The site hasn't been optimized at all for easy user acessibility and it doesn't even meet 508 standards (which since they are a company could get them in trouble)

The total size of this page is 965,550 bytes, which will load in 202.03 seconds on a 56Kbps modem. They should want their page size to be around 30K. pages over 100k, cause problems for those with slow connections.

The total size of the images is 856,895 bytes, which is over optimial 30K that most sites should aim for.

The total size of external their scripts is 88,103 bytes, which is the over the optimal 8K. This is most likely because the designer left their scripts in the actual html document instead of putting them in seperate documents.


So what I'm saying is, It's not you, it's them. The forums are giving you problems because they designed it for prettiness and forget to ensure it's usabiliy.

If you use firefox, you can download an add on that will allow you to disable the css. This should help you browse the forums a bit easier.

[billo.]

Well, i tested my internet connection speed, and its around 120Kbps. and it takes about 30 seconds to load a page on the forums.

nope, not a graphics card at all - and i play fiesta with a LOT of lag, but i'm used to it.
=]

[Ian]

If you use browser caching, the webpages might load a bit quicker, since a lot of the images are stored for reuse.

[kalone]

If you can afford an iPhone... get better internet?

If that's not the case then, you have a (if not, many) viruses. I suggest anti-virus.

[GM_Pilkysico]

Text doesn't take long to load.

It's people with signatures in their pictures and the flash advertisements at the top.

This is why forums have signature sizing rules + kb size.

Ours doesn't yet. Unless you want me to push for it. Common forum signatures is the same Size and KB as my signature below.

[TheCentrix]

I'm curious... Can you post your system specs? If you don't know how, just click start->run (or press windows key+R) and then type 'dxdiag'. It should show you your CPU speed, the amount of RAM you have, etc.

Im more interested in his internet connection.

Internet connection is the only thing that can make a webpage load slow, no matter how good your computer is, if you have dial up or anything similar to that, a page will always load slower than a crappy computer on a fiber-optic line.

[apathos]

Text doesn't take long to load.

It's people with signatures in their pictures and the flash advertisements at the top.

This is why forums have signature sizing rules + kb size.

Ours doesn't yet. Unless you want me to push for it. Common forum signatures is the same Size and KB as my signature below.

PLEASE push for it! Please!!!! I have a fine connection, and pages load fast--but there is no reason for me to have to look at someone's sig that takes up the entire screen! Please!

[Kaiza]

I dont had any problems ever, it loads in 1~3 seconds always. xD Why did you not post this at feedback subforum? It should be better there. ^^