Performance Testing a Site. 2

[PaulyP]

Hello everyone.

I've been working on a new site for a while now. I'm setting up a new business and wanted to get the web site sorted before I start. I've made it using flash but because I have a fast connection and PC, I am unable to test it at various speeds.
I would very much appreciate it if anyone could possibly just go and have a quick look around and let me know what you think, specifically the private and special occasions part of the site rather than the business or general sections.
Advice about any of the site would be a great help as this is the first one I have done.
I would also appreciate it if you could just mention what speed pc/mac you have, connection speed and IE or Netscape and comment on how it ran.

Thank you very much to anyone that takes the time look.

Best wishes

Paul

Heres the site:

http://www.dreamscenevideo.com

 

[BooYaKaSha]

Check it out --

In Flash, there is a tool to simulate various connection speeds. It's not perfect (it doesn't take into account how congested the network is, individual ISP speeds, etc.) but it does offer a general, average idea of how your flash file will load on a web page.

To access it, when you preview your movie by "ctrl + enter" or "control -> test movie" a new window pops up and plays your movie. Then goto "view -> bandwidth profiler" and make sure "view -> show streaming" is checked. Then you can go to "debug -> " and choose the appropriate speed. You can even define your own speed settings. Most commonly used is prolly 56k.

Ultimately, to ensure smooth playing of your movie, you may want to make preloader. It is a simple way of ensuring that the movie completely loads before it starts playing, and gives the viewer a % completed so they know how long it will take to load.

Here is just one tutorial that tells you how to make a preloader:

http://www.flashkit.com/tutorials/Actionscripting/Basic/Percenta-Chris_Be-870/index.php

 

[BooYaKaSha]

P.S. I got a "page not found" error when I tried to go to your page. Peace.

 

[PaulyP]

Thanks for your suggestion BooYaKaSha but the problem with the bandwidth profiler is that it simulates the download of your movie in its uncompressed state which isn't really very helpful, nor is its test similar to real world performance once the movie is embedded in a html page. I already have preloaders for the site.
Thats interesting that you got a 'page not found error' - did you click on the link in my first post or type it in manually? The entrance page which the link goes to is just a plain html page, there shouldn't be a problem with that...I hope.

Thanks again Boo

Paul.

 

[PaulyP]

I should also say that clicking the link above takes me straight to my site without any problems - can anyone else not view the site by clicking the link in my first post?

Thanks for all your help.

 

[oldnewbie]

No problem visiting the site. Generally looks pretty good and navigation seemed relatively easy. Personally don't like the font you used as it is, with your choice of colors, sometimes a bit hard to read. Would like to see a smoother transition between pictures in the gallery section, but outside of that, pretty damn good for a first site.

PIV - 1.8 - ME - IE5.5 - CABLE MODEM Regards,

 

[PaulyP]

Thanks oldnewbie, just the kind of constructive feed back i was looking for.

You're a star - so have a star on me.

Thanks again

Paul.

 

[wangbar]

Yep, it all works for me too, tested the below systems:

Pentium IV, 1.4GHz, DSL, IE6
Mac G4, OSX, DSL, IE5

(Also tested on the PC with a dial-up modem and took about fifteen seconds to load the largest movie which nobody's going to object to).

Looks pretty good, especially for your first site, I don't object to the font like Old does but the browser/plug-in warning on the first page seems a bit over the top! If your movie doesn't use any specific version 6 features (and it seems not to on the face of it) it's probably an idea to publish it out as Flash 5 which more people will already have installed on their machines without having to download anything.

 

[PaulyP]

Thanks wangbar thats really good of you to test it in various ways and on different machines for me, thank you very much.
Unfortunately there are quite a few version 6 specific features that I have used; text field instance names and lots of flash ui components in the build your own package section of the site, and there are quite a few more.
I understand what you are saying about the plugin warning on the first page - I ummm'd and aarrr'd about that for quite a while. The reason I did it was to try to put at ease the real computer novices that might visit the site and have no idea what the flash player is. The other reason I did it was because I absolutely hate Macromedia's implementation of their flash download process. On a modem it takes ages for the security download to open asking if you want to install flash and when you do finally begin to install it there is absolutely no way for the average user to tell how the download is progressing - this seems rediculous to me as it takes modem users nearly 2 minutes to get flash 6 - I wouldn't have thought many people would hang round that long not knowing what was happening. Obviously broadband is not a problem - it all happens so quick, but there aren't a huge amount of broadband users here yet in the UK. Anyway that was the reason for the opening plugin message - what do you think - should I simplify it a bit?

Thanks again wangbar - that was really helpful of you (you also got me out of a few holes when I was building the site)

Best wishes

Paul.

 

[oldnewbie]

Have checked into this:

http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/player/flash_deployment_readme/

Regards,

 

[wangbar]

The message you're showing isn't necessarily a problem, I just think where you show it is a bit off putting - by making a big deal about the download you really will scare the 'novices'.

What I'd do is have a detection script in there which takes you straight to the flash if you're set up for it but takes you to an HTML page with your warning notice and a link to the Macromedia download page if you're not.

If the deployment kit in Old's link doesn't suit your needs I can mail you a good detection script which will do the divert etc.

 

[BooYaKaSha]

Yeah Pauly, it's working now. Must have been down temporarily last night. And it looks good.

AMD 1.4
Win XP
IE 6
Cable

 

[PaulyP]

Thanks guys.

I am actually using the flash deployment kit to do the divert, direct to macromedia if a user doesn't have flash 6, and straight into my site if they do.

I think what you suggested wangbar is probably a better idea. What I have done at the moment is put the redirect stuff after clicking on the logo to enter the site. A better place to put it, is on the first page so that Flash 6 users go straight to the Flash site and dont see the opening page, non flash 6 users then go to what is now my first page. Yeah - thinking about it, that's a much better idea - thanks wangbar - I'll get on to that.

Thanks BooYaKaSha - you had me worried there for a mo. Thanks for clearing it up and for the thumbs up.

Thanks to all of you for your advice and help.

Paul.