Digital Workshop

Hi all,

I'm after any tips or advice on how to improve the speed of a website I've produced using Opus Creator. The site is around 4Mb total size, (1.5Mb is imbedded MP3) I opted to use the Create a Web Publication option which requires the viewer to have the plexus plug-in loaded. This allowed me to include some features that I were not available when publishing a flex version.

While I'm very happy with the results the site can take an age to load. Obviously connection speed, traffic etc all play a part but to have a website that can take over a minute to load is unacceptable. Even the splash screen takes time to load so the viewer has no idea if the site is loading.

I've previously created a different site in Opus but published as a flex output and this was considerably quicker even though it was a similar size. Is the delay down to the plug-in? I've tried to reduce image and MP3 file sizes where possible.

I also creating a front page with very little on it and then publishing using the option to create separate datafile for each page as recommended in the manual. The initial load time is still very long when compared to most websites particularly as the first page is just an image and an enter button.

I guess I need to know the answer to 2 questions

1) Is it slow because it uses the pluxus plug-in?

2) If it possibe to preload the rest of the site while the first page is displayed so that it appears quickly when the user clicks the enter link.

Pleaes have a look for yourself and let me know if you experiance the same delays as me. (Any design feedback or tip are also welcome)

http://www.mtpage.co.uk/test/Mohawkwebsite.htm


Cheers
Terry

Hi Terry
1. I visited your website using IE (latest version) across an ADSL2+ connection. The initial screen displayed almost immediately, and to enter the site to about 30 seconds.

The concerning matter is this: The next time I tried to access your site, IE reported an error and automatically closed. It did that on 3 other attempts to load the page. I had to reboot before I could view your page again, but similarly, on the next attempt, IE found a fault and immediately closed.

Thinking this might be a plug-in issue, I downloaded the latest version, installed it, and tried again. Unfortunately, that made no difference -- same thing happened.

That has never happened before.

2. I switched to Firefox which took between 12 and 15 seconds to load, and was even faster the next time.

3. A suggestion: your visitors might appreciate an Exit Button. If there is one, it's not obvious. I know you probably don't want your visitors to leave but making them use Windows Task Manager might lose you some friends.

4. Several years back I designed a website using the appropriate plug-in of the day. I thought the site was great, but it took so long to load (particularly when first-time users had to download the plug-in) that many people stopped visiting. Fortunately, some kind souls emailed my, so I ditch the Opus-based website and reluctantly went back to Front Page.

Several times over the years I have asked a simple question to which I have not received a reply, so I'll ask it again here: Using Opus, has anyone built a website that they regard as being successful? I'd really like to give Opus another try at a website, but I'm a little reluctant.

I would l love to use Opus for web design, but don't because of the plugin requirement. I sometimes use Opus to create Flash content.

I also would be very interested if anyone uses Opus for serious web design.

Hi Ray,

Thanks for taking the time to check out the site and the feedback. I didn't think to add an exit button, I though people would either close the browser window or navigate to a new location but it's a good point.

I would prefer not to use the plug-in as I believe this will deter many people from looking at the site. I'm trying to convert this to a non - plugin version (flex) to see if it improves the speed and reliability issues.

I love Opus and have tinkered with it for a number of years. I'm not a programmer or web designer and Opus allows me to do thing that I simple would not know how to do in other apps. The limitations are very frustrating and like you I wonder if anyone has actually created a true multi media website with audio, video etc. If DW could produce a working streaming solution then I think they would have the perfect product. (for me anyway )

Cheers
Terry

This post might be more appropriate in The Lounge, but because 2 of you have indicated an interest in website development, I'll briefly tell you about the current direction in which I am proceeding.

Last week my web host introduced me to a new, free feature. This is a site builder called Soho Launch Pro Edition which is part of a suite called Fantastico.

It is relatively simple to use, incorporates images, video, and audio -- and possibly others that I haven't yet discovered. It includes a pretty sophisticated e-commerce building function, as well as many other site enhancement and management features.

Once I've learned more about Soho Launch, I'll be investigating how I might incorporate material produced in Opus.

If you want to discuss this, I'm happy for you to email me on aaa@jeelan.com.au

Terry

Had a look at the site and like the layout but IE6 did crash at one stage but for no obvious reason.

I like the design and will be showing my Applied A Level ICT students what you can do with Opus.

I also got a bit of a shock when I looked at the Gig list - most are in my local area with one venue not more than 200 metres from where I am sitting. Small World!

Clive Cartmel

Nice site.

First impression... is the long load time. 22 sec. just to see the 1st image. And almost 1 min. following "enter site". This is Firefox 2, Cable connection, West coast US.

Have no idea what it takes Firefox to run to that point.

The Opus work ran fine and smooth once up, with some minor notes: (pun intended)
* display did not autosize, so I had to scroll vertically (less than 1 inch off screen). This is 1023x768 mode. (FFox toolbars are kind of 'fat' though)
* Mute worked until I clicked another menu selection.

Maybe use a static splash pic and push Opus in the background?

Hi All

Thanks for the feedback the speed and reliability issues are a bit of a show stopper I can't use the site unless I can crack these issues, hence the original post.

Clive does this mean I can have an A level . If you are planning to go and see the band don't rely on the gig list as it's not 100 acurate I'm only using it to test the database.

Use http://www.mtpage.co.uk/mohawk/mohawk.htm this is the current site. It's the one I'm trying to replace.
I also created this in Opus but it seems to run a bit faster.

I'm the drummers dad so ask him to point me out and say hi if you ever get along to a gig.

Cheers
Terry

Hi All,

I've now managed to make this into a flex (flash) based site. It has improved the speed a little but it's still not brilliant when compared to other sites, even over a reasonably good broadband connection. I've tried using some SWF optimising software but it made no difference to the overal file size, so I'm guessing Opus already takes care of this.

I think the product is fantastic and I'm really pleased with the what I've managed to produce, but to be a usable website the time between a user clicking in the link and some viewable content has to be much quicker. I'd estimate no longer than 10 - 15 seconds. I've tested the site from a number of PC's on various connections at different times of day and I've concluded it's just too slow to use.

So before I scrap it and draw the conclusion that Opus is a good product but no good for web sites, despite what it says in the marketing blurb. One final request for help from DW.

http://www.mtpage.co.uk/test/Mohawkwebflex.swf

Cheers
Terry

Terry have you thought about making many smaller Flex publications and then using an HTML "wrapper" to call them?

For instance, use HTML and buttons on the top to call individual pubs. You click on the Gigs button and it brings up the Gigs Flex publication in the frame. You click on the Bios button and it brings up the Bios Flex publicaiton and so forth. That way you wouldn't have to load the giant pub but would load smaller ones. Plus once they've been loaded, they'd be cached so the user wouldn't have to suffer the timing hit again when reviewing the page.

Or I suppose you could do the overarching pub as Flex and then call smaller Flexes from within it as well. It all depends on how comfortable you are with HTML and SWFs.

I think I would also be tempted to make the width/height fixed and then use a size in your publications that you think most people's resoluation can handle (like 1024x768 or 800x600).

Slow(er).




Still taking a 'long time'. Initial loading AND between a couple tabs... over a minute. My status bar simply shows: "transferring data from (site)" while my browser display is white. (Did see a centered progress bar once)

Within the Pub... are images optimized for web, or are they very high resolution. Check the option for 'Bilinear Resample' (off is faster).

Hosting... is it the problem? Also, have you tried testing someone else's Flash .swf file from your site, or your file on a friend's site.

Since I extracted nearly 14Mb of sound files from the swf it's easy to see where the problem is -- it's not DW's fault.

Do as bwpatric suggested and break up files into manageable sized swf's.
The initial index page load should be under 50k if possible, written in html and let anyone browsing your site know what to expect. Let them get in the front gate without Flash.

Give them friendly warnings like: "this will take 6 minutes on a 56k modem/20 seconds on broadband" near the links to larger pageloads/files.

Maybe 50% of people looking at your site might wait 30 seconds without an indication that something is happening, but then they will leave the site feeling a little annoyed. That probably means they won't come back again.

Paul

Hi BWP, Paul

Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a try.

Paul not sure how you manage to get 14Mb of sound, as the sound files are less that 2MB (MP3)I reduced the quality as much as possible to acheive this. The whole site is only 4.2Mb in total. Unless you extracted them into .wav format.


I was not having a pop at DW I think it's a great product as stated.
I just think it's limited when trying to produce multi-media websites. If it supported audio and video streaming them a large amount of the download time would be reduced. I accept it may also be due to my limited programming skills but if I was a fully fledged programmer I'd be using Macromedia etc and would not need Opus. (not carping just trying to explain myself, honest)

Anyway thanks for the advice, I'll give it a go

Cheers
Terry

Hi Terry,
I know you are not criticizing Opus -- frustration gets to all of us -- I suffer from it frequently
It might pay give yourself more versatility and buy an older version of Dreamweaver on ebay, -- you can go back a couple of versions to MX and get it at a good price -- for most users it's no different than the latest version, and you don't need to be a programmer to use it.
You will find life a lot easier with something like this, and you will have more options in building a website that contains Opus made swf's.

The size of the sound files you use doesn't matter (within reason) -- as long as anyone browsing the site knows what to expect.

cheers
Paul