Great looking templates...but are they fast?

clk320 · #1 03-13-2012, 09:41 AM

There are a lot of great looking templates out there that also have awesome functionality. However, using some of the tools measuring web site performance, such as http://www.webpagetest.org/ , the demo sites of these templates appear to be slow and not optimized from performance perspective.

So, my question to those of you who have purchased commercial templates, is how optimized for speed the templates are? Do I need to budget additional time and investments to bring the templates up to speed, no pun intended, or they are good enough to be used on production sites right our of the box?

Thanks

P.S. This is a good read on the topic of performance http://www.webperformancetoday.com/2012/02/28/4-awesome-slides-showing-how-page-speed-correlates-to-busine...t-walmart-com/

cflsystems · #2 03-13-2012, 10:05 AM

Keep it simple. The more gadgets and "cool" things you put on a site just because the functionality exists or someone else is using it will slow down your site. Also keep in mind that some of these templates may need adjustment for your server environment.

JacksmithxD · #3 03-14-2012, 02:05 AM

Basically more modules you have, slower your site, normally. ^ What Steve said.

clk320 · #4 03-14-2012, 06:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JacksmithxD

Basically more modules you have, slower your site, normally. ^ What Steve said.

My question is not around the modules, but about how well the CSS, images, Java Script, etc. are optimized and packaged. Sure, the more modules the more elements to deal with, but a well optimized template can combine CSS files, compress and minify JS, etc. and make the template load very fast.

balinor · #5 03-14-2012, 08:18 AM

The stock CSS files and templates in X-Cart are HUGE and bloated. We typically rebuild them from scratch for each branch. Tons of unnecessary code and 4 templates when one would suffice. Also, there are classes in the main css file for things that can be turned on/off, so they load even if you have a feature turned off. So yes, there is definitely room for improvement if you clean up the default templates.

You can also use something like this to really speed things up:

http://www.maxcdn.com/features/integrations/x-cart/

cherie · #6 03-14-2012, 01:48 PM

Sure, optimizing the template can be helpful, but it's not as high on the priority list as using a high-quality (and X-Cart-recommended) host, turning off unused modules (especially Advanced Statistics), and optimizing all images.

Would hate to see someone optimize their template only to not get the speed boost they were hoping for because the other areas weren't addressed first.

balinor · #7 03-14-2012, 02:03 PM

True, the host is priority #1

clk320 · #8 03-15-2012, 03:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by balinor

True, the host is priority #1

The good news is that high-quality low-cost hosting has become a commodity because of cloud providers, such as Amazon EC2. Using Amazon's EC2 free tier, over the weekend I was able to build a screaming fast CentOS + cPanel host for my x-cart. If people come to these forums here, they can do it themselves too and liberate themselves from other hosting providers.

I am a complete newbie, yet I was able to build the OS, install cPanel, replace Apache with Nginx, secure the host, install x-cart, and install Amazon's CDN solution over a few hours on Sat and Sun. On a fresh x-cart 4.4.4 install I get well under 2 sec complete site render on first visit and under 0.5 sec after that. I get all As from the site tester at http://www.webpagetest.org All that for $15/mo, which is the cPanel rental cost. Who needs a hosting company anymore?

balinor · #9 03-15-2012, 05:03 AM

That's all fine and dandy, but what happens when you have an issue or fail a PCI scan? Amazon doesn't understand X-Cart, and since you admit you are a newbie, chances are you won't be able to fix it either. The hosts who specialize in X-Cart are worth every penny IMHO - and are not all that much more than what you are paying. If you are going to skimp, hosting is the last thing you should skimp on.

We have over 350 clients on X-Cart, and the only ones we ever have hosting problems with are the ones NOT on an X-Cart recommended host.

cflsystems · #10 03-15-2012, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clk320

The good news is that high-quality low-cost hosting has become a commodity because of cloud providers, such as Amazon EC2. Using Amazon's EC2 free tier, over the weekend I was able to build a screaming fast CentOS + cPanel host for my x-cart. If people come to these forums here, they can do it themselves too and liberate themselves from other hosting providers.

I am a complete newbie, yet I was able to build the OS, install cPanel, replace Apache with Nginx, secure the host, install x-cart, and install Amazon's CDN solution over a few hours on Sat and Sun. On a fresh x-cart 4.4.4 install I get well under 2 sec complete site render on first visit and under 0.5 sec after that. I get all As from the site tester at http://www.webpagetest.org All that for $15/mo, which is the cPanel rental cost. Who needs a hosting company anymore?

Keep in mind that this free* service is temporary and for starters only - http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/ - and as balinor mentioned you are on your own