dwt download time seems to be too slow

[Guest]

I created a dwt page and it contains a header - text and color, footer -only
address text and color. On left side I have 8 navigation buttons - inserted
using the FP2003 web component options and I did the same on the right side.
I have 2 logos on each side - small gif file each 36kb. This page is listed
in the too slow section and takes forever to load. And of course any page
that the dwt is attached to is even slower. The .dwt download time 150
seconds - once attached to index page that contains an image and a paragraph
of text - it becomes 160 seconds.

I can't figure out what is happening here - can i have too many navigation
buttons? They seem to be using 3 images each - is that the problem? Anyone
have any suggestions?

 

[Ronx]

That is a huge page you have described. And without actual content.

I aim to get the total weight of a page to no more than 50K-60K bytes,
including CSS, JavaScript, text, and images, which gives a download time
of about 15-20 seconds with dialup.
You have 2 "small logos" that add up to 72K bytes on their own. Plus
about (if your description is correct) 2 lots of 8 rollover buttons - 2
x 8 x 2 x 3K = 96K bytes of navigation images (each image is generally
3Kbytes). (The third button is not used in pages, except as a "pressed"
image in the page the button is associated with.
That's 168K bytes without content, CSS, JavaScript ...

This needs a rethink. Consider using a text based navigation instead of
images. And redo your logos - 3.6K each is more like the target.

 

[Guest]

Thank you so much for your response! I really appreciate it. I will work on
the logo but it seems like my problem is the buttons which I was afraid of.

I could go with static buttons or text as you mentioned but would like to
keep the ones that FP offered with the rollover effect. Of course, if not
possible I will change but would like to explore alternatives.

You mentioned that 1 of the images is used only used when pressed - can this
image be removed without having FP go haywire? Would I need to tweak code to
achieve this?

What is the general approach when you have information that need to be
organized in approximately 18 categories?

 

[Ronx]

You mentioned that 1 of the images is used only used when pressed -
can this

image be removed without having FP go haywire? Would I need to tweak code to
achieve this?

This image is used on the current page where you cannot press it.
Removing this will increase the image count on the page - retaining it
actually reduces the image count by 1.

What is the general approach when you have information that need to be
organized in approximately 18 categories?

Many sites nowadays go for flyout menus - hover over a main category
button and links to pages associated with that category fly out. This
type of menu cannot be done with FrontPage navigation components.

You can use CSS to provide background images for text buttons, and use
CSS to emulate the FrontPage rollover images. This reduces the total
navigation image count on a page with 2 blocks of 8 links to 3 images,
from 31. A significant reduction. Since the background images have no
text they are smaller as well. An example of this is at
http://www.rxs-enterprises.org/tests/themed-css-navigation.htm. This
page also shows an example of a flyout menu.

The CSS rollover method may be possible using FrontPage text navigation
- I have not tried this yet.

Image count::

Using FrontPage - 1 for current page. 15 for links (7 on one side, 8
on the other), 15 for rollovers. = 31

Using CSS rollovers: - 1 for current page, 1 for links, 1 for
rollovers = 3

--
Ron Symonds - Microsoft MVP (FrontPage)
Reply only to group - emails will be deleted unread.
FrontPage Support: http://www.frontpagemvps.com/
http://www.rxs-enterprises.org/fp

 

[Guest]

Hello - Thanks again for your response.

Live and learn - I guess - I ran all the images through photoshop and saved
for web but that only shaved a few kbs. Then I went in and tweaked the code
to use only two images and then deleted all the pressed images - that got is
down from 150 to 85 and that is still way too much but I guess I wouldn't
have know that if i didn't try - learn from experience, right?

I am trying to understand now why that experiment did decrease the size if
you say that removing the pressed image would in fact increase the number of
kbs. I am probably not understanding your explanation well, sorry.

I love the suggestion of using css but need to learn how so that is my next
step. I will explore this option now - thanks you have been most supportive.

 

[Ronx]

I have assumed that you are using the FrontPage navigation. If you are,
in fact, using Interactive Buttons then removing the pressed images will
make a saving. This approach also makes conversion to flyout menus
easier.
--
Ron Symonds - Microsoft MVP (FrontPage)
Reply only to group - emails will be deleted unread.
FrontPage Support: http://www.frontpagemvps.com/
http://www.rxs-enterprises.org/fp

 

[Guest]

Yes, I am using FrontPage Interactive buttons. Flyout menus will be my next
adventure - beyond my capabilities at this point but I am taking a course