New site test

Post by **Jeff** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 1:37 am

First, to manage expectations, so far the site aesthetically is almost identical.

However, for the past few days I have been rewriting the site from scratch using the latest web technology and techniques. We are using Google App Engine for the back end and Amazon S3 for large static files.

This is sweet because the site will now scale to as many people as we want and still be unbelievably fast. Google App Engine also doubles as a content distribution network, so no matter where you are, the website should be just as fast!

My goal was to get the page to load as fast as Google. Please let me know how it performs around the world!

http://jeffr.appspot.com

We're going to have a lot more news for you guys soon!

Grayswandir · Post by **Grayswandir** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:52 am

Using the internet at work it took roughly 6 seconds to load compared to the 15 seconds it took to load the current Wolfire site. This is after I cleared the cache and even refreshed the site.

Post by **Jeff** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:11 am

That seems pretty slow... Even slower than my edge iPhone. How do other sites compare on that connection?

Grayswandir · Post by **Grayswandir** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:23 am

Jeff wrote:That seems pretty slow... Even slower than my edge iPhone. How do other sites compare on that connection?

This is assuming I let it load completely, not to the point where I can scroll and start using the site:
Wolfire Forum takes about 16 seconds.
Google takes about 1-2 seconds.
Wikipedia main page takes about 15 seconds.
Yahoo takes about 17 seconds to load.

Inventor · Post by **Inventor** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:23 am

The font size on the new site could be a tad smaller. When comparing the two side by side the smaller font size on the original makes it look a lot better.

But yes, nice work with the loading times

rudel_ic · Post by **rudel_ic** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 6:38 am

It loads instantly. I could benchmark it, but it's definitely below 1 second.

Edit: The min width is too small in my opinion. Some stuff looks awfully cramped. Observe:

The pic on the bottom is with text size increased by one step.

Jendraz · Post by **Jendraz** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 11:15 am

Mine loads instantly as well.

Wolfire.com loads in about 1 second...I must be on a fast connection.

Silb · Post by **Silb** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:58 pm

Same as Jendraz:

New site loads instantly.
Old site takes 1-2 seconds.

This is from Paris.

Chainsaw man · Post by **Chainsaw man** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 11:41 am

Decent.

Viking Zippy · Post by **Viking Zippy** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 1:55 pm

Wow, that was indeed fast, can't have been any more than a second. Very nice

zamzx zik · Post by **zamzx zik** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 6:02 pm

I can't even tell the difference. Nice job.

Count Roland · Post by **Count Roland** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 6:45 pm

it's about 1 or 2 seconds here in AK with my crappy internet.
Edit: