P2 Explain the user side and server side factors that influence the performance of a website

In this report I will be discussing the user side and server side factors that influence the performance of a website.

Factors on the User End Download Speed Download speed can affect the loading time and performance of a website in several ways on the user end of the system. If the user has a low download speed, then the webpage will take longer to load. Slow download speeds will create a long waiting time in loading of the website, and so performing tasks such as loading videos, clicking on hyper-links and navigating through the websites pages will take a long time and can become frustrating for the user.

Computer Specification/PC Performance Factors The user’s computer specification may be a factor that influences the performance of a website that the user is trying to interact with. There are several factors within computer specification that may have an influence on the performance of a website.

Browser The user’s web browser of choice may have an influence on the performance of the websites it is attempting to visit. Certain browsers perform better than others. For Example Google Chrome being the most popular web browser of choice, it is arguably the best suited web browser to use for internet browsing with its instant access to the Google search engine through omnibox which enables you to enter search terms and URL making browsing a lot quicker. Internet Explorer can have slow load times and is arguably behind Chrome in web browsing suitability without the addition of omnibox so will influence the website performance.

Cache Memory Cache memory is temporary memory stored on your computer. A computer with a larger cache memory will be able to store more of the temporary parts that websites need to run like Cookies, passwords and other scripts that websites generally perform when you access the website. A larger cache memory will allow for more of these to be stored, allowing for quicker access and quicker website performance, meaning overall a better website performance.

Processor Speed Processing Speed is when data from the script of the website is calculated and processed into information which will appear on the website. The speed of the user’s processor will be a factor that influences the performance and speed of websites. A processor with a higher speed will allow the computer to perform the change from scripted data to information faster, which is when the website is fully loaded up after you have downloaded it.

Factors on the Webpage End Web Server Capacity Websites are all stored on web servers, and each web server has a capacity for the amount of information it can send and receive in a certain amount of time. When accessing a website, the user's computer will send and receive information from the web servers, and with a higher web server capacity, the website will be able to send, process and receive this information quicker. Available Band Width Bandwidth is the available amount of data that can be transferred from the server to the users of a website per second and it can have a cap on the total amount of data available to transfer per month. It depends on the type of bandwidth needed depending on the website views per month because if a websites viewers increase every month then more bandwidth will be needed as it will speed the website. Therefore the more bandwidth on a website, the faster it is which then makes it more efficient as viewers will be able to access pages faster. If a website had a lot of viewers with a low bandwidth then the website won’t be efficient as it will be very slow. Therefore the amount of bandwidth used on a website is very important as it helps websites becomes more efficient as the viewer’s increase. Executions to be performed before page load Each webpage must execute several actions before the webpage is completely loaded. These may be the loading of videos, animations, cookies or saved searches and tasks which will all be data before processed into information. The more actions that have to be performed before the webpage is fully loaded the longer the processing will take. Number of Hits The number of webpage hits can have a small effect on webpage performance. If a lot of people are on the same webpage all at once, then it can overload the servers and affect the website performance. Many web servers are prepared for this, and have large servers which can handle many hits all at once.

File Types Bitmap Bitmap images are saved so that the computer remembers each pixel type that has been saved. Common bitmap image types are gif and bmp, which generally have large file sizes and will slow down the loading time of a webpage. Vector Vector images are more compressed and have generally smaller file sizes when compared to Bitmap images. A well-known vector image type is pdf, which has a more compressed image and a small file size when compared to jpg and gif files. Having Vector images on your webpage will slow down the loading times, though less so than using Bitmap images. Wav Wav files are one of the most common audio files, and can often be found on webpages. Wav files are not compressed audio files, which can make them very large in size and dramatically slow down webpage loading times. While they are common, they often slow down webpages. MP3 MP3 files are compressed audio files, and are generally a more popular and better alternative to Wav files. While the compressed files will generally have lower quality audio compared to the Wav file, the difference in quality is rarely noticeable. MP3 files will still slow down a webpage, but as they are compressed files it will be slowed down less so than using a Wav file. AVI Short for Audio Video Interleave, the file format for Microsoft's Video for Windows standard. See under Video for Windows. SWF SWF is a file extension for a Shockwave Flash file format created by Macromedia and now owned by Adobe. SWF stands for Small Web Format. SWF files can contain video and vector based animations and sound and are designed for efficient delivery over the web. SWF files can be viewed in a web browser using the Flash plug in.