pics loading slow

DWFII · January 2018

In threads where there are a lot of photos...such as the one about "What are you drinking," or any threads about pizza, it seems to take a long time for the thread to load. And the photos don't seem to cache , so that once you close the thread, even if you open it up a minute later the whole slow loading process has to begin all over.

Is this just a "reality" we have to live with or is it my computer or my configuration? I post to a number of fairly large, graphic intensive forums across the internet and none of the others seem to be this slow.

poster · January 2018

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/comment/2224114

Theophan · January 2018

Two things: Main one is that most folks don't seem to know how, or maybe just don't care enough to learn how, to shrink the size of their photos before uploading. The size of the picture in your phone is VASTLY larger than it needs to be to display on a web page in this forum, and those huge, huge files take a long time to load. Some other forums have software that will automatically resize pictures when they're uploaded, but I gather that this forum has not been able to implement such software.

Second, in my experience there's a huge difference between the evening and the morning, which means that I think another problem is that when a lot of people are logged on and therefore downloading images, the whole site slows down. The same pictures that were so slow to load in the evening that I just gave up and left the forum load right away the next morning. So it may be a money issue: is it worth it to whoever's paying for this forum to pay more to increase the bandwidth?

DWFII · January 2018

I administer an internet forum although it is small compared to this one. But most modern forum software that I looked at when setting it up, have a built-in capacity to limit the size of a photo being displayed.

In my software, for instance, regardless the upload size, the display size can be limited to 1024x768 (or whatever you choose). This speeds up the loading considerably and lets the software take care of it automatically.

Most of my members don't have a clue of course and can't realistically be expected to downsize their photos themselves.

FWIW...

SamIAm2 · January 2018

Want to see SLOW?? Click the Best OF... link at the top right of this forum page.

DWFII · January 2018

I know that this will most likely fall on deaf ears or short attention spans, but....

Look in on the "What are you drinking now" thread and notice which photos on the whole last page come up right away.

Do the ones that take minutes to upload really and truly present more information or a clearer, more recognizable picture than the ones that snap open right now (not talking about thumbs)?

I guess it doesn't matter but for me at least, I'm gonna scroll through that page and look at the photos that are available right now (or by the time I get to the bottom of the page) and skip the rest.

Bottom line you have to know that for many people here if someone posts a photo that is too big to load quickly, it's a waste of their time--it's not gonna get looked at very much. So...why bother? It's just annoying.

Just sayin'

DMW · July 2018

Did you ever figure this out? I ended up with 56K dial-up (long story, can't explain in public) and so many threads take forever to load. Hoping to find a solution.

jeffwit · July 2018

DMW said:

Did you ever figure this out? I ended up with 56K dial-up (long story, can't explain in public) and so many threads take forever to load. Hoping to find a solution.

You got busted harassing kids in Hawaii and the only WiFi in prison is 56K.
Oh, you said you didn’t want to explain in public. My bad.

Botch · July 2018

As a clueless person, who wants to help, what should I do? I've set my old Nikon D200 (which I only use for cooks) to take "Small" jpeg's, is that enough? What else should I be doing?

DWFII · July 2018

There's no solution...at any speed...on the download end.

The only solution is... and this would take a forum rule / setting, or a concerted effort by users (all users)...to reduce image size upon posting.

A 1024 x 769 pixel size is large enough to present every detail necessary on a forum such as this...esp. if compression is kept to a minimum...and 800 x 600 would be even better. Most people wouldn't be able to tell, or care about, the difference in quality.

Again most forum software includes an option to limit posting size. I'm not familiar with Vanilla but if it's php based (and it seems to be) it should be possible.

DMW · July 2018

DWFII said:

There's no solution...at any speed...on the download end.

The only solution is... and this would take a forum rule / setting, or a concerted effort by users (all users)...to reduce image size upon posting.

A 1024 x 769 pixel size is large enough to present every detail necessary on a forum such as this...esp. if compression is kept to a minimum...and 800 x 600 would be even better. Most people wouldn't be able to tell, or care about, the difference in quality.

Again most forum software includes an option to limit posting size. I'm not familiar with Vanilla but if it's php based (and it seems to be) it should be possible.

DWFII · July 2018

Botch said:

As a clueless person, who wants to help, what should I do? I've set my old Nikon D200 (which I only use for cooks) to take "Small" jpeg's, is that enough? What else should I be doing?

What platform are you on? Windows comes with a small utility called Paint, if I'm not mistaken. You can open your photo in Paint and then click on "resize" (close to the left side of the tool bar. There you will have the option to set the size of the photo in pixels or a percentage of what the original was coming from your camera.

Even older cameras took pretty big photos.

And if you want to get technical the size of a photo is really a function of resolution. The Internet is only capable of displaying 72ppi. (pixels per inch)

When you open a photo in paint and resize it, be sure to "Save as" (with a new name) rather than just "Save". And make sure the resolution is...for example, 800 x 600 at 72ppi.

There are lots of free (yes, free) programs out there that can do this job as well--paint.net, Jpegger (an easy one) ...the list is endless. I use both of those, as well as Corel PhotoPaint (a similar program with many of the same capabilities as Photoshop), depending on my mood.

Downsizing a photo can also make sending it in email a little faster and easier on the network. Esp. in a group of photos.

FWIW, I've been on the Internet since before there was an Internet--it was called Fidonet back then. And I am currently the original and long term Webmaster and Admin of an Internet discussion forum (for my Guild) that has been in existence for roughly 20 years. I coded that first forum back then but nowadays the Guild pays to have it done professionally when and if we need an upgrade. I also wrote my webpage with a text editor in basic html. It is the oldest shoe or bootmaking related webpage still up and running on the Internet.

FWIW...

alaskanassasin · July 2018

One thing we could all do is not quote someone’s photos in a follow up comment, then they have to load twice!

DMW · July 2018

The internet was never known as FidoNet. FidoNet was a network of BBSs. ARPANET was the packet switched network that was the predecessor to what we now know as the internet.

Theophan · July 2018

DWFII said:

... 800 x 600 would be even better. Most people wouldn't be able to tell, or care about, the difference in quality.

That would have been true a decade or two ago, but not today. When I really want to see a picture on this forum well, I click on it to get the bigger picture, and 800 pixels is just too small to really enjoy it. My 27" monitor is 5120 x 2880 pixels, so a 800x600 image is really rather small.

I agree that people posting images that are several thousand pixels in each dimension is a huge problem, but I think 800x600 is too small. My preference would be for the largest dimension to be around 1200 pixels.

But I think this is all irrelevant, because realistically most people seem to post from their phones, and I think most people aren't going to get an app on their phones to resize pictures, so this is just going to keep happening. The ideal solution would have been to have a server-side application that automatically resized uploads when necessary, but the owners of this forum don't seem to have been able to find any.

The_Stache · July 2018

Vanilla, at least in it's current versions, does NOT allow for image resizing... It CAN limit total upload size of a file.

Supposedly there may be add-ons to Vanilla to handle the image resizing but there are other issues with this process that may actually increase the file size of the image once it is re-sized.

Based on the above, this could actually further degrade the amount of time it takes to load that re-sized image.

DWFII · July 2018

DMW said:

The internet was never known as FidoNet. FidoNet was a network of BBSs. ARPANET was the packet switched network that was the predecessor to what we now know as the internet.

That's true. The Internet was never known as Fidonet and Fidonet was never known as the Internet. In fact, Arpanet was never known as the Internet and the Internet as we know it was never known as Arpanet.

More to the point, Arpanet was not a public utility the way Fidonet was. In fact, it was illegal to use Arpanet for anything but military and scientific purposes/communications.

The network that was Arpanet may have been the technical foundation for the Internet as we know it today but philosophically it was worlds apart. And when those networks became available to the public through Fidonet and other BBS's, the military began looking for and creating a different and more secure network.

In the way it was used, and intended to be used, Arpanet was not the forerunner of the Internet. Fidonet came closest and for the ordinary person Fidonet was nearly the only option. (there were other similar protocols but Fidonet was the largest).

FWIW, I was there. How about you?

DWFII · July 2018

Theophan said:

But I think this is all irrelevant, because realistically most people seem to post from their phones, and I think most people aren't going to get an app on their phones to resize pictures, so this is just going to keep happening. The ideal solution would have been to have a server-side application that automatically resized uploads when necessary, but the owners of this forum don't seem to have been able to find any.

Well, your remarks about posting from phones is on point (although I do have a simple app--BeFunky--for my Android phone that allows me to resize photos).

And very often a little judicious cropping which, AFAIK, most phones can do in situ, would also make the photo smaller and load faster.

And your point about a server-side application is one I also made above (although my forum software--phpBB--has the built-in capability to do that).

But what kind of detail do you need to make your point in a discussion forum? How many specks of lint do you need to see on a bottle of whisky to communicate the maker?

In a photo such as this (800x600) little more would be gained or communicated at 1280x1024...IMO

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/3q/txacpcmf5oii.jpg

DWFII · July 2018

The_Stache said:

Vanilla, at least in it's current versions, does NOT allow for image resizing... It CAN limit total upload size of a file.

Supposedly there may be add-ons to Vanilla to handle the image resizing but there are other issues with this process that may actually increase the file size of the image once it is re-sized.

Based on the above, this could actually further degrade the amount of time it takes to load that re-sized image.

So it really comes down to the end user (as I suspected) and as we all know that's a losing battle...probably.

Dondgc · July 2018

DWFII said:

The_Stache said:

Vanilla, at least in it's current versions, does NOT allow for image resizing... It CAN limit total upload size of a file.

Supposedly there may be add-ons to Vanilla to handle the image resizing but there are other issues with this process that may actually increase the file size of the image once it is re-sized.

Based on the above, this could actually further degrade the amount of time it takes to load that re-sized image.

So it really comes down to the end user (as I suspected) and as we all know that's a losing battle...probably.

In 2018 users should not have to manually resize images when it can be done so easily on the server side. Just not on Vanilla, unfortunately.

baychilla · July 2018

When people say images are loading slowly are they referring to the ones hosted on this site or the ones hosted elsewhere?

slovelad · July 2018

Did you ever get your old egg up and running? Haven't been on the forum in a while

DWFII · July 2018

slovelad said:

Did you ever get your old egg up and running? Haven't been on the forum in a while

If you're talking to me, that it in the 800x600 pic above.

DWFII · July 2018

baychilla said:

When people say images are loading slowly are they referring to the ones hosted on this site or the ones hosted elsewhere?

Myself, I'm referring to images hosted on this site. I have 138 new messages in "What are you drinking...now" simply because, AFAIK, there is no way to unsubscribe from a specific topic on this board and I don't want to sit twiddling my thumbs for 10 minutes, +/-, while those images (as well as ones that aren't new) load.

So I just ignore that topic even though I like the concept.

DWFII · July 2018

FWIW...and I know this is probably unwanted information...one of the most powerful and popular forum software solutions is phpBB.

As much because it is free, I suspect, as any other reason.

But many well known web forums use it--Mozillazine for one.

And "extensions" are being developed constantly.

Theophan · July 2018

DWFII said:

... But what kind of detail do you need to make your point in a discussion forum? How many specks of lint do you need to see on a bottle of whisky to communicate the maker?

In a photo such as this (800x600) little more would be gained or communicated at 1280x1024...IMO

Most of the time, I'm not trying to make a point, I'm not looking for specks of lint, and I don't even need a photograph AT ALL to communicate the maker of a bottle of whiskey. Once in a while, as in the photo you posted, yes, I'm interested to see someone's setup, how he did it, and I don't need a huge photo for that.

But most of the time it's more like looking at a magazine and seeing a photo of some really gorgeous food. Looking at a small inset photo just isn't as pleasant as looking at a full-page photo of something really pretty. There's a reason people talk about "food porn." Do you really not understand why they used to make centerfold photos in (ahem) certain magazines?

It also may make a difference what someone's looking at a photo on. Here's a photo I took as displayed on my own iMac desktop at 800 and at 1200. (I've made this very much smaller for this forum -- if you want to see it at its original size, it's here.)

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/bo/b0nijrmyp7je.jpg

On my desktop, the smaller image (800) is fine, and sure, you can see the shrimp. But the larger image (1200) is just better, more pleasant to look at, more luxurious, you might say, more like a (cough) centerfold.

SamIAm2 · July 2018

@DWFII - To unsubscribe from a topic, click on My Bookmarks on the top, right hand menu and you will see a list of the topics you bookmarked. Click on the yellow star for the topic you want to unsubscribe from. It won't help with folks posting high res, slow loading photos though.

Legume · July 2018

DWFII · July 2018

SamIAm2 said:

@DWFII - To unsubscribe from a topic, click on My Bookmarks on the top, right hand menu and you will see a list of the topics you bookmarked. Click on the yellow star for the topic you want to unsubscribe from. It won't help with folks posting high res, slow loading photos though.

Thank you @SamIAm2.

I'm not sure how that works on this forum though. I have never bookmarked a topic. Yet I have three bookmarks. The "What are you drinking...now" topic was not among those bookmarks.

But every time I open a topic...one that I've not opened before...I start getting the yellow "unread post" marker by the topic name. And every time I post to a topic I start getting email notifications for that topic.

Like this topic...it's not among my bookmarks but I am getting email notifications from it. Whether I want them or not.

Yes, I know posting to a topic...on most forums...activates email notifications

but on those forums posting triggers an automatic subscription.

If bookmarks function as a subscription on this forum, how is it that those topics aren't in my list of bookmarks?

What are bookmarks on this forum and what good do they do?

Why am I getting email notifications for topics I haven't bookmarked or subscribed to?

No real harm, I guess. But not a standard convention..or at least not one I've ever seen before.

Dondgc · July 2018

DWFII said:

SamIAm2 said:

@DWFII - To unsubscribe from a topic, click on My Bookmarks on the top, right hand menu and you will see a list of the topics you bookmarked. Click on the yellow star for the topic you want to unsubscribe from. It won't help with folks posting high res, slow loading photos though.

Thank you @SamIAm2.

I'm not sure how that works on this forum though. I have never bookmarked a topic. Yet I have three bookmarks. The "What are you drinking...now" topic was not among those bookmarks.

But every time I open a topic...one that I've not opened before...I start getting the yellow "unread post" marker by the topic name. And every time I post to a topic I start getting email notifications for that topic.

Like this topic...it's not among my bookmarks but I am getting email notifications from it. Whether I want them or not.

Yes, I know posting to a topic...on most forums...activates email notifications
but on those forums posting triggers an automatic subscription.

If bookmarks function as a subscription on this forum, how is it that those topics aren't in my list of bookmarks?

What are bookmarks on this forum and what good do they do?

Why am I getting email notifications for topics I haven't bookmarked or subscribed to?

No real harm, I guess. But not a standard convention..or at least not one I've ever seen before.

The yellow unread count is a major aggravation. Especially on popular discussions that you might realize you don't have an interest in. As far as I know there is no way to stop seeing that on any thread you view

As to bookmarks, on mobile if you accidentally click the star on the right end of the line it will bookmark. Click again to remove.

pUreHkcoL · July 2018

@DMW don’t send messages. If you feel I’m a troll that’s great. You acted in this thread like the arrogant asś that you are so I flagged you. No need to send messages.

pics loading slow

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