Webmaster forum - Accurate web site/page size tool ? (Plus a bonus rant!)

Author

Accurate web site/page size tool ? (Plus a bonus rant!)

Marc Bissonnette

2006-11-19, 7:58 pm

Hi all;

I just had a frustrating situation.

Client of a client had a site with a flash movie on the _home_ page that
was over 3 megs. I mentioned that this, combined with the 500K of _other_
elements in the site was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too large and was costing
the clients visitors: 10++ minutes on a 56K modem (target market is the
US, where true broadband[1] is no where even close to 50%)

So after being told for a couple of months that I don't know what I'm
talking about, that the visitors expect "high-end <cough> content", the
site owner finally says "Hey, my site initial hits to my home page is
great, but less than 15% are going beyond the first page" - Suddenly, I'm
not such an idiot anymore.

So today, they launch the "improved" version of the home page with the
video replaced.

I know you're all waiting with bated breath for what it was replaced
with...

A slide show.

A flash slide show.

A flash slide show that was 3.8 megs.

So I send a lecture to my client worthy of a website optimization
professor on just how mind-numbingly _stupid_ this was[2] - So they get
the flash guy to "fix" it.

The result ? an 890K flash file.
Plus 25K of HTML (32 tables *embedded* within one master table - shudder)
Plus 350K of thumbs
Plus 156K of other imagery (nav, design elements, etc)

Sigh.

I'm trying to get this studio[3] to realize that the rest of the world,
especially the US, does not have the kind of broadband we do in Canada,
especially in the urban areas: They *must* keep at least the home pages
super-friendly to 56K users and let the *users* make the choice to grab
high-end content.

I spent a ton of time googling for site size checkers, but what I found
is garbage. Netmechanic.com doesn't detect embedded flash files at all,
which tend to be large file-hogging culprits. Many of the client-side
tools I found not only do not detect flash, but they do not detect
dynamically generated content or IMG tags.

I don't want to have to download entire directories to see the download
size of a single page because often a directory will contain content for
much more than a single page.

Anyone have an online or offline tool that I can plug a URL into and
it'll spit back a total transfer size (at minimum) and a detailed
breakdown of the content (I'd be satisfied, though, with even just the
total transferred amount)

Gracias!

[1] "true broadband" being 1 megabit per second or faster, not the US
government's cheesy description of 256Kb/sec - not to mention many "US
Broadband penetration reports" count "broadband penetration" as being a
zip code with at least one 256Kb/sec or faster user within it

[2] I like my paycheque and the ability to feed my family, so the term
"mind numbingly stupid" did not _actually_ make it into my feedback :)

[3] While I am technically a part of this studio, I'm the perl/MySQL guy,
so much of my generated content is plain text or regurgitated templates
from the design guys

--
Marc Bissonnette
Looking for a new ISP? http://www.canadianisp.com
Largest ISP comparison site across Canada.

Gwin

2006-11-19, 7:58 pm

Marc Bissonnette wrote:
> Hi all;
>
> I just had a frustrating situation.
>
> Client of a client had a site with a flash movie on the _home_ page that
> was over 3 megs. I mentioned that this, combined with the 500K of _other_
> elements in the site was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too large and was costing
> the clients visitors: 10++ minutes on a 56K modem (target market is the
> US, where true broadband[1] is no where even close to 50%)
>
> So after being told for a couple of months that I don't know what I'm
> talking about, that the visitors expect "high-end <cough> content", the
> site owner finally says "Hey, my site initial hits to my home page is
> great, but less than 15% are going beyond the first page" - Suddenly, I'm
> not such an idiot anymore.
>
> So today, they launch the "improved" version of the home page with the
> video replaced.
>
> I know you're all waiting with bated breath for what it was replaced
> with...
>
> A slide show.
>
> A flash slide show.
>
> A flash slide show that was 3.8 megs.
>
> So I send a lecture to my client worthy of a website optimization
> professor on just how mind-numbingly _stupid_ this was[2] - So they get
> the flash guy to "fix" it.
>
> The result ? an 890K flash file.
> Plus 25K of HTML (32 tables *embedded* within one master table - shudder)
> Plus 350K of thumbs
> Plus 156K of other imagery (nav, design elements, etc)
>
> Sigh.
>
> I'm trying to get this studio[3] to realize that the rest of the world,
> especially the US, does not have the kind of broadband we do in Canada,
> especially in the urban areas: They *must* keep at least the home pages
> super-friendly to 56K users and let the *users* make the choice to grab
> high-end content.
>
> I spent a ton of time googling for site size checkers, but what I found
> is garbage. Netmechanic.com doesn't detect embedded flash files at all,
> which tend to be large file-hogging culprits. Many of the client-side
> tools I found not only do not detect flash, but they do not detect
> dynamically generated content or IMG tags.
>
> I don't want to have to download entire directories to see the download
> size of a single page because often a directory will contain content for
> much more than a single page.
>
> Anyone have an online or offline tool that I can plug a URL into and
> it'll spit back a total transfer size (at minimum) and a detailed
> breakdown of the content (I'd be satisfied, though, with even just the
> total transferred amount)
>
> Gracias!
>
> [1] "true broadband" being 1 megabit per second or faster, not the US
> government's cheesy description of 256Kb/sec - not to mention many "US
> Broadband penetration reports" count "broadband penetration" as being a
> zip code with at least one 256Kb/sec or faster user within it
>
> [2] I like my paycheque and the ability to feed my family, so the term
> "mind numbingly stupid" did not _actually_ make it into my feedback :)
>
> [3] While I am technically a part of this studio, I'm the perl/MySQL guy,
> so much of my generated content is plain text or regurgitated templates
> from the design guys
>

http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/
i don't know if it'll read the flash content or just the player though.

John Bokma

2006-11-19, 7:58 pm

Marc Bissonnette <dragnet\_@_/internalysis.com> wrote:

> Anyone have an online or offline tool that I can plug a URL into and
> it'll spit back a total transfer size (at minimum) and a detailed
> breakdown of the content (I'd be satisfied, though, with even just the
> total transferred amount)

For a one time check I would say:

- clean the cache of your browser
- hit the page
- look

IIRC you wrote that some elements are reused, so maybe you have to follow
the path your client wants the customer roughly to follow.

Probably the best demonstration is to get a 56k6 modem and show the issue.
A flashing modem light says more then a thousand speed reports.

--
John Need help with SEO? Get started with a SEO report of your site:

--> http://johnbokma.com/websitedesign/seo-expert-help.html

Marc Bissonnette

2006-11-19, 7:58 pm

"Gwin" <gwin@mindless.com> altered the spacetime fabric by disgorging
news:1163554035.487420.305580@e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com:

> Marc Bissonnette wrote:
>
> http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/
> i don't know if it'll read the flash content or just the player
> though.

I came across that one in my Googlings; While it was the most impressive
of the bunch, it doesn't catch the flash content (it's reporting a total
page size of 560K of a page that I *know* is transferring at least 1.3
megs at the minimum.

Thanks, though :)

--
Marc Bissonnette
Looking for a new ISP? http://www.canadianisp.com
Largest ISP comparison site across Canada.

Marc Bissonnette

2006-11-19, 7:58 pm

John Bokma <john@castleamber.com> altered the spacetime fabric by
disgorging news:Xns987BC95BE28F9castleamber@130.133.1.4:

> Marc Bissonnette <dragnet\_@_/internalysis.com> wrote:
>
>
> For a one time check I would say:
>
> - clean the cache of your browser
> - hit the page
> - look

Bleh - and lose all the saved settings, etc, etc, of my general browsing ?

Nah :)

I can't imagine that this type of thing hasn't been done before - I really
don't want to try to write my own in Perl, though I suppose the next step
if no one knows of an accurate tool would be to check CPAN. ( I did,
incidentally, read through the man pages of wget, but it doesn't seem to do
the trick)

> IIRC you wrote that some elements are reused, so maybe you have to
> follow the path your client wants the customer roughly to follow.
>
> Probably the best demonstration is to get a 56k6 modem and show the
> issue. A flashing modem light says more then a thousand speed reports.

Well, that would work, except my office is 500 km from my client's office
and about 1500 km from my client's client's office in the States :)

--
Marc Bissonnette
Looking for a new ISP? http://www.canadianisp.com
Largest ISP comparison site across Canada.

John Bokma

2006-11-19, 7:58 pm

Marc Bissonnette <dragnet\_@_/internalysis.com> wrote:

> John Bokma <john@castleamber.com> altered the spacetime fabric by
> disgorging news:Xns987BC95BE28F9castleamber@130.133.1.4:
>
>
> Bleh - and lose all the saved settings, etc, etc, of my general
> browsing ?
>
> Nah :)

Just the cache. Clean cache. It's full in one day, so no worries about
that.

> I can't imagine that this type of thing hasn't been done before - I
> really don't want to try to write my own in Perl, though I suppose the
> next step if no one knows of an accurate tool would be to check CPAN.
> ( I did, incidentally, read through the man pages of wget, but it
> doesn't seem to do the trick)

Yeah, I was thinking about suggesting wget as well. But for a one shot
cleaning the cache is probably the easiest thing. Or if you're on XP:
create another account, log in, and use the browser on it. Comes with a
clean cache AFAIK.

>
> Well, that would work, except my office is 500 km from my client's
> office and about 1500 km from my client's client's office in the
> States :)

I hear you (probably have to get on a plane end this year, begin next
year for a meeting :-( ).

I am quite sure that there is software that does bandwidth limiting, no
idea if that's an option? I still think it's the best to show someone
how 56k6 actually looks from a users' point of view.

Talking about simulation:
http://www.google.com/search?q=mode...ulator%20online ->
http://www.optiview.com/POV/task,ov...demo/parse.html

I tested it with CNN, and if that doesn't convince your customer...

--
John Need help with SEO? Get started with a SEO report of your site:

--> http://johnbokma.com/websitedesign/seo-expert-help.html

Els

2006-11-19, 7:58 pm

Marc Bissonnette wrote:

> Anyone have an online or offline tool that I can plug a URL into and
> it'll spit back a total transfer size (at minimum) and a detailed
> breakdown of the content (I'd be satisfied, though, with even just the
> total transferred amount)

Found this 'load time analyzer':
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/3371/

--
Els http://locusmeus.com/

Marc Bissonnette

2006-11-19, 7:58 pm

Els <els.aNOSPAM@tiscali.nl> altered the spacetime fabric by disgorging
news:ilqml05vwvb4.18xvmj4n035wg$.dlg@40tude.net:

> Marc Bissonnette wrote:
>
>
> Found this 'load time analyzer':
> https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/3371/

Thanks, but that's a browser-dependant tool and I don't use Firefox :)
(Opera all da way, baybee!) :)

--
Marc Bissonnette
Looking for a new ISP? http://www.canadianisp.com
Largest ISP comparison site across Canada.

Els

2006-11-19, 7:58 pm

Marc Bissonnette wrote:

> Thanks, but that's a browser-dependant tool and I don't use Firefox :)
> (Opera all da way, baybee!) :)

I thought you were a webdeveloper...
(scnr ;-) )

You could of course install Firefox with that one plugin, and call it
"tool that I can plug a URL into and it'll spit back a total transfer
size (at minimum) and a detailed breakdown of the content". It's not
like it is obligatory to use it for anything else ;-)

--
Els http://locusmeus.com/

GreyWyvern

2006-11-19, 7:58 pm

And lo, Marc Bissonnette didst speak in alt.www.webmaster:

> Els <els.aNOSPAM@tiscali.nl> altered the spacetime fabric by disgorging:
>
>
> Thanks, but that's a browser-dependant tool and I don't use Firefox :)
> (Opera all da way, baybee!) :)

Marc, have you tried Opera's Info panel? I find it is usually pretty
accurate.

Grey

--
The technical axiom that nothing is impossible sinisterly implies the
pitfall corollary that nothing is ridiculous.
- http://www.greywyvern.com/orca#search - Orca Search: Full-featured
spider and site-search engine

Marc Bissonnette

2006-11-19, 7:58 pm

GreyWyvern <spam@greywyvern.com> altered the spacetime fabric by disgorging
news:op.ti19wbxbsl6xfd@news.nas.net:

> And lo, Marc Bissonnette didst speak in alt.www.webmaster:
>
>
> Marc, have you tried Opera's Info panel? I find it is usually pretty
> accurate.

SHWING!!!!

Sonufagun, I didn't even know that existed! Thanks, Grey! Sure enough,
there are two size widgets in there:
Size of Main page (25326 bytes)
Size of inline elements (1418665 bytes)

And the inline elements got *all* the size data right

Thank you very much ! What a perfect solution - and I had it all the time
:)

--
Marc Bissonnette
Looking for a new ISP? http://www.canadianisp.com
Largest ISP comparison site across Canada.