Very slow intra-site navigation

[apistomaster]

Hi,
I have been meaning to report a problem with extremely slow speeds I encounter navigating within the site. Speed hasn't been a problem in years past but for more than 8 months it has.
It takes 30 to 60 seconds for me to click on a topic or load a post.
I'm using a Dell Studio 1749 laptop with an i3 processor. It has 4GB RAM and a 256 GB SSD
Windows 7 Home Premium OS.
My average connection speeds are as follows:
1. Ping about 80 to 100 ms
2. Download 30.0 Mbps
3. Upload 3.0 Mbps

I have a Sony Vaio laptop which is same age, uses AMD Processor, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB spinning HD.
There is no difference between them on the same connection. It is also running on Win 7 home premium.
If everyone was having my experience it seems the members would crash the site asking this same question. I don't know of anything I can do on my end so I thought ask.

[bekateen]

I haven't bothered to check speeds or rates but I can affirm that certain pages within the site load slower than others, and slower than they ought to, IMHO.

[apistomaster]

Sometimes I can get to another page quicker by right clicking and selecting " open in new tab".
I forgot to mention that I use Google Chrome web browser although Firefox has not proven to work any better.
It made me feel a bit better after seeing bekateen's post.

[Jools]

There are a lot of variables with page load speed. Because the slow speed (a page load shouldn't take more than 10s on a broadband connection) is consistent across two devices one would tend to look at the environment. The ISP is one thing. Do you have the same or different browsers on each machine.

Are you running any ad blocking software in particular but also any "security" products like mcafee, symantec or the like. Have you tried a different browser on the same machine?

Jools

[Jools]

I ran this URL through http://www.webpagetest.org (via Dulles) and got the following results - might be worth doing on your side and posting the results?

Load Time - First Byte - Start Render - Speed Index - DOM Elements Time Requests Bytes In Time Requests Bytes In Cost
First View 6.623s 1.955s 3.686s 3751 947 6.623s 81 951 KB 8.950s 84 954 KB $$---
Repeat View 9.094s 0.288s 1.491s 1500 945 9.094s 16 214 KB 9.715s 18 215 KB

In short, 6.6s load time.

Jools

[apistomaster]

I seem to get about the same results as your's although I'm not certain I am interpreting the tests correctly.
I could not get the link/URL you used so I used the planetcatfish homepage for the tests.
Google Chrome is my default browser using Adblock Plus and LastPass extensions.
Here is the link to the tests.
http://www.webpagetest.org/result/150422_8Q_18AE/
The home page always loads faster than within site page change views.
Replies to threads take 30 to 45 seconds before appearing.

Then I tried with Firefox which I haven't used for quite some time. It already had LastPass' extension.
Browsing speed on planetcatfish was great! While on FF, I added the Adblock Plus extension.
No decline in speeds noted.
Again I ran the webpagetest and got these results.
http://www.webpagetest.org/result/150422_0H_18ZK/
Firefox apparently likes planetcatfish very much but Google Chrome apparently doesn't.
It shouldn't be that bad on Chrome. Too many users are not complaining if they were having the same problems with it and planetcatfish as I am.

[bekateen]

I used webpagetest.org via San Francisco, using IE10 (it's what's on my computer) with Symantec End Point Protection running to visit the PC main page, the forum home page, and this particular thread. I ran each about 6-7 times and got these results:

http://www.planetcatfish.com/

Load Time - First Byte - Start Render - Speed Index - DOM Elements - Time - Requests - Bytes In - Time - Requests - Bytes In - Cost

First View 3.511s 0.991s 1.799s 1823 743 3.511s 66 704 KB 3.574s 67 713 KB $$---
Repeat View 1.001s 0.204s 0.601s 603 759 1.001s 11 206 KB 1.480s 13 208 KB

First View 2.546s 0.249s 0.998s 1027 759 2.546s 72 705 KB 2.830s 76 709 KB $$---
Repeat View 8.220s 6.379s 6.599s 6603 921 8.220s 19 134 KB 8.262s 19 140 KB

First View 3.159s 0.694s 1.499s 1527 759 3.159s 66 675 KB 3.222s 67 684 KB $$---
Repeat View 2.476s 1.450s 2.000s 2004 769 2.476s 30 305 KB 2.938s 32 307 KB

First View 3.385s 0.206s 1.599s 1614 745 3.385s 77 820 KB 3.435s 78 828 KB $$---
Repeat View 1.694s 0.204s 0.999s 1016 745 1.694s 40 260 KB 1.751s 40 260 KB

First View 9.246s 6.826s 7.598s 7621 921 9.246s 65 797 KB 9.298s 66 806 KB $$---
Repeat View 1.904s 0.289s 0.502s 545 786 1.904s 28 374 KB 1.949s 28 380 KB

First View 5.765s 2.916s 3.698s 3726 801 5.765s 66 732 KB 5.901s 70 741 KB $$---
Repeat View 1.500s 0.333s 0.500s 540 786 1.500s 32 116 KB 2.359s 41 147 KB

First View 3.564s 0.395s 1.099s 1145 786 3.564s 78 783 KB 3.660s 79 792 KB $$---
Repeat View 7.677s 6.877s 7.100s 7103 921 7.677s 17 175 KB 8.360s 19 182 KB

First View 4.138s 1.583s 2.298s 2341 768 4.138s 78 735 KB 4.191s 79 743 KB $$---
Repeat View 1.492s 0.934s 1.401s 1401 743 1.492s 8 100 KB 2.190s 10 102 KB

---------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/

First View 2.708s 0.256s 1.404s 1409 984 2.708s 69 817 KB 3.133s 73 827 KB $$---
Repeat View 0.832s 0.199s 0.599s 603 983 0.832s 10 147 KB 1.594s 13 149 KB

First View 2.810s 0.260s 1.123s 1300 981 2.810s 71 757 KB 2.866s 72 766 KB $$---
Repeat View 1.567s 0.205s 1.499s 1500 980 1.567s 59 654 KB 2.077s 61 656 KB

First View 2.716s 0.259s 1.102s 1180 981 2.716s 71 748 KB 2.767s 72 757 KB $$---
Repeat View 1.161s 0.203s 0.599s 603 979 1.161s 14 93 KB 1.753s 16 94 KB

First View 2.750s 0.253s 1.098s 1223 979 2.750s 71 833 KB 2.808s 72 842 KB $$---
Repeat View 3.855s 0.198s 0.499s 505 978 3.855s 22 247 KB 5.528s 28 277 KB

First View 2.759s 0.314s 1.200s 1405 979 2.759s 71 724 KB 2.811s 72 732 KB $$---
Repeat View 2.137s 0.196s 1.099s 1248 978 2.137s 63 558 KB 3.143s 72 587 KB

First View 2.913s 0.270s 1.223s 1364 982 2.913s 71 834 KB 2.965s 72 843 KB $$---
Repeat View 5.327s 0.253s 1.412s 1402 981 5.327s 108 860 KB 5.920s 112 867 KB

---------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 46#p285980

First View 3.181s 0.306s 1.099s 1198 1040 3.181s 74 834 KB 4.408s 77 843 KB $$---
Repeat View 1.946s 0.242s 1.099s 1151 1038 1.946s 18 228 KB 3.180s 19 236 KB

First View 2.896s 0.288s 1.098s 1205 1040 2.896s 73 735 KB 4.134s 75 745 KB $$---
Repeat View 1.041s 0.235s 0.799s 843 1038 1.041s 11 204 KB 2.228s 14 205 KB

First View 3.193s 0.410s 1.498s 1669 1040 3.193s 69 698 KB 4.377s 73 750 KB $$---
Repeat View 1.548s 0.236s 1.099s 1184 1038 1.548s 29 195 KB 2.906s 40 227 KB

First View 2.830s 0.281s 1.699s 1836 1040 2.830s 72 729 KB 4.526s 84 763 KB $$---
Repeat View 1.788s 0.231s 0.899s 970 1038 1.788s 22 282 KB 3.064s 23 289 KB

First View 4.083s 0.367s 1.598s 1687 1041 4.083s 74 892 KB 5.319s 76 901 KB $$---
Repeat View 1.640s 0.236s 0.999s 1041 1038 1.640s 11 112 KB 3.079s 12 121 KB

First View 2.644s 0.278s 1.098s 1213 1041 2.644s 71 844 KB 3.877s 73 853 KB $$---
Repeat View 1.205s 0.284s 1.100s 1120 1038 1.205s 19 159 KB 2.413s 23 162 KB

First View 2.944s 0.294s 1.496s 1582 1040 2.944s 72 735 KB 4.173s 74 744 KB $$---
Repeat View 1.020s 0.303s 0.899s 924 1038 1.020s 9 70 KB 2.211s 12 72 KB

In general the speeds are pretty similar between the three pages (about 3s), but if I'm understanding the test results (particularly with regard to the "Repeat View" Load time), then the PC home page is slower than the other two pages I tested. Since 3s was typical on these loads, I flagged anything 5s and above in red.

Most of the >5s results were obtained with the PC home page. I thought this might be correlated with the graphics in the right-side column (my cats updates, etc), but that wasn't the case at all. I was just as likely to get a slower load time with a home page showing text columns on the right side (donations updates, BLOG updates, etc) as I was with the home page showing images in the right side, based on what the thumbprint images displayed underneath the test results for first view and repeat view.

These results also mirror my experience: The forum page loads rapidly, but the front page is slower to load, refresh, or return to from other pages inside PC. Not a huge difference, but noticeable.

Cheers, Eric.

[apistomaster]

I wish my knowledge was deeper on this subject. My thanks for you fellows for looking into this and trying to help.
My simplest solution is to enjoy planetcatfish by using Firefox.
My ISP is Cable One, a ViaCom subsidiary.
They have forced upon it's subscribers a strange hybrid of their infrastructure and that of Google's.
As many of you already know, Google has been "unifying" many of it's diverse products. I think they call it "eliminating conflicting accounts."
For users, this can be a difficult beast to work with. This unification has many bugs. Different accounts with different log in information are force mashed together, eg, cableone.net web mail is actually gmail but cableone.net mail requires a different log in credentials than my true gmail.com account I had to open in order to unify my various google services.
If I want broadband internet service then Cable One is my only available provider.
Whenever I am in a hurry, I'll just switch to the Firefox browser.

[bekateen]

The Google stuff sounds complicated and annoying.

Just for the record, my tests were done using my university's network. This explains the 3s load times. It's fast compared to my home service. So I bet my results at home will differ.

Cheers, Eric