Increase page loading speed like at vBulletin.com?

[I, Brian]

I've noticed that vbulletin.com loads up significantly faster than my own forums, even when I have only a nominal server load.

I'd like to be able to tweak my own forums to emulate the efficiency of the board here.

Is there a list of recommendations?

For example - here the header graphics remains on screen while you surf, while with my own forums, the header disappears and has to be reloaded on every individual occassion. Which is the box I need to check to take advantage of such a feature?

I have some options obviously unchecked, such as not listing members viewing a board or thread. But it hasn't seemed to particular impact loading speed.

Hope this doesn't sound too basic a question. It is important to myself, though.

Many thanks for any answers.

[I, Brian]

Hm, is this a really difficult question - or simply too easy to answer to?

I do have server admin options down and all the options that warn of affectnig performance, but vbulletin still runs very significantly faster.

Is there a specific command in the admin CP for keeping the header from loading for every page?

Or does the vBulletin staff have special software installed on their server to achieve this? (One of my forums is at VenturesOnline, as is vBulletin.com, yes?).

Apologies for my ignorance of programming and SQL and general server administration. I'm just trying to please my modem members.

[Princess Nikida]

vBulletin.com could load faster due to a lot of reasons (so of which could be settings in vb, but some of which could server settings, some of which could be hardware issues, and still some of which could be related to the server's connection / host)...

While updating my other two lists, I notice a few people asking how to optimize their boards and decided to start a new list while I was going through all of the posts. It has a few specifically suggested options and a few that I noticed had the server load warning in the Admin CP. It is quite small so far, but I still have ~25 pages of threads to go through in the Suggestions forum (then I want to check this forum for optimization suggestions)...

Of course, enable / disable these settings at your discretion... Sometimes the added benefits of the feature out weigh the extra server load to one admin and not to another...

Server Settings and Optimization Options

• Enable "Cached Post Lifespan"
• Set "Update Attachment Views Immediately" = No
• Set "Update Thread Views Immediately" = No

Thread Display Options

• Set "Show Users Browsing Threads" = No
• Set "Check Thread Rating" = No
• Set "Check Thread Subscription" = No
• Set "Show Similar Threads" = No

Forum Display Options

• Set "Show Users Browsing Forums" = No

Message Searching Options

• Set "Automatic Similar Thread Search" = No

[merk]

Turn off most no-cache headers too.

Your browser might be being forced to load everything again on each page.

CSS to File would also be a good one, because it could be cached as well, though, i have a feeling it isnt 100% ready and had a few image path bugs in it.

[Erwin]

I do notice that vB.com's pages load a lot faster. I am curious to know if there has been some Javascript code tweaks as well.

[I, Brian]

Thanks for the comments. I appreciate that people running dedicated servers are at a greater liberty to optimise server performance outside of the software.

However, for those still on shared accounts, these straight tips are certainly appreciated.

[marketfocus]

I've disabled all the settings that people have recommended but it still takes about 10 seconds to load my board... Although every once in a while it'll load in about 3 seconds. Any other thoughts on how to troubleshoot the slow speed?

[wential]

It's all in your cpu speed, ram and line speed.

[marketfocus]

So if a web hosting company is hosting my board then I'm at there mercy? Is there anything I can say to get the speed boosted?

[Andy Huang]

On top of what Princess Nikida suggested, I'd suggest reduce the amount of images you are using for skin. This usually is what's causing the most delay on the presentation of the forum. Some browser configurations (*cough*malconfigured IE that I'm using*cough*) seem to wish to load all graphics before displaying the page; that usually cause a good 2 to 3 seconds delay before I see anything on my screen.

[okrogius]

Thanks for the comments. I appreciate that people running dedicated servers are at a greater liberty to optimise server performance outside of the software.

However, for those still on shared accounts, these straight tips are certainly appreciated.

The fact that you're on a shared account (which is what I'm inferring from your post) may be the reason.

Shared boxes are fit to the point of as many users as possible (while still getting a certain acceptable level of performance). On the other hand jelsoft has a powerful dedicated server which most likely has loads much less then an average shared box.

[Zachery]

Yes, that would probaly be the fact,

vBulletin is on a dedicated box, with a dedicated line, and it only runs 4 sites.

Most shared servers have 30~+ accounts that share one pipe.

[marketfocus]

I will take those considerations into account... Also, when I click on a link like User CP, it takes a while to load but if I click on it twice, it comes up quickly. Why is this?

[Andy Huang]

You mean double clicking the link makes the page load faster? If that's the case, I'm guessing that the second click didn't go through but the first click's http request was processed by your service provider and responded hence making the second click seem to respond faster than first...

[Icheb]

I have that issue, too. Sometimes when I click the first time, IE loads the page slowly and when I click a second time, the download bar in IE progresses fast and the page loads almost instantly.