Hello all,
As you probably would have noticed over the last week we've been having some trouble with our hosting (where our website is stored). With thanks to 'Illori' we have moved to a new server with much faster speeds.
I also don't have the worry of us using 18gb bandwidth a month when we should only have been allowed 2gb!!!
Whilst we made the move we've had to put the forum on .org.uk as a temporary measure. We'll go back to storing the forum on .co.uk in a few weeks. Typing in www.NGaugeForum.co.uk (http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk) will always be the main address to access the forum, so you may not even notice the difference. :)
Thanks for your patience and for allowing this forum to grow bigger.
Tank
Thanks for putting in the effort to keep it going.
thanks for all the hard work guys :thumbsup:
:wave: :beers:
Much appreciated! We always need good people behind the scenes!
It may be worth noting for some that any new post notification emails could end up in their spam email box. Like mine did. I've now added the domain to my safe senders list so I will receive them all as before.
:computersmile: :thumbsup: :NGF:
Thanks Tank and Illori. Go Team! ;D
It's great that the forum is so popular - so :thumbsup: to everyone.
And I guess we have everyone to thank for the successful raffle as the improved hosting will be one of the ways that the raffle will be helping keep the forum going and getting better. So :thumbsup: everyone again!
if it impresses anyone since we moved the forum, we have used a gig of bandwidth already.
thanks to all
kevin141
:o
any idea on how thats spread? i.e. if theres a lot of traffic looking for particular products (search logs) then that could help with approaching advertisers to pay for the new forum home.
just thinking out loud, ive noticed that I keep seing the top image loading, where i didnt before. I remember you mentioning something about not cashing the image. is it possible that just loading the non cashed static images is swallowing a load of B/W?
the caching has nothing to do with that specific image, as long as we are using this rotator script the image will be slightly delayed in loading. those images would not use much bandwidth at all.
ah cool, any idea on the general split?
general split?
just in terms of why people visit NGF i.e. do people come here looking for advise on how to build a layout, or what stock to buy. This info would be valuable when approaching advertisers as they would have a tangeable target audience.
I don't think you could narrow it down to those kinds of questions from looking at the statistics. As for advertising, I should think that anyone who sells N Gauge would or should be interested. Lots of the places that myself and the moderators have already asked either don't bother to reply, or promise to look into it, but never get back to us. The people you see on here are the only ones who have replied positively.
While sponsorship and advertising revenues may sound a good idea we would end up with all sorts of pop-ups and intrusive side-screens which would slow down the web site and detract from the whole user experience. I, for one, would not welcome advertising here.
There will never be pop-ups on this site. They would put me off coming here, let alone members! :)
Also, there must be advertising. I cannot afford to keep a forum going with the size it is already. The forum used 1gb of Bandwidth just yesterday, and that's with no members storing photographs on the server. :o Most of the advertisers that you can see on here will be gone by the end of the month, as they were the ones who offered raffle prizes. There are 3 regular advertisers on here to whom I'm very grateful for their business. I don't ask for much compared to other places, but I do need more.
If I didn't have advertising, then I'd have to begin a paid membership. Whilst I will never rule this out (in case I start an NGF Club or such), I don't want to start asking for money, as membership will drop.
I think the situation of advertising on the site - probably by N gauge related businesses - especially if it assists Tank and the team to run the site without the need for a subscription is fully acceptable. :computersmile:
This allows everyone to join our merry band of N gauge followers and allows them to air their thoughts, experiences and advice not to mention their jokes etc free of charge.
Some modellers - especially in the coming months, will no doubt "feel the pinch" and if we can avoid extra costs/subscriptions by offering advertising space on the site then I for one would agree.
Well done Tank and the team for providing this first class site and now expanding the system with a new server. :NGaugersRule:
I take back what I said. If there are no pop-ups and they help Tank to keep the forum 'liquid' then it must be to the good of the forum. I just had visions of pop-ups and tracker cookies intruding on the general activities here.
Thanks Avis1434 and Chinahand.
I can honestly say that I will never let this site be overrun with advertisements, and I will only accept Ads that are relevant to N gauge modelling. You must remember that I'm just a normal guy, with a mortgage and family, with no financial backing from a model shop (like some forums), no spare money to pump into the forum, and no known lottery wins on the way!!! :D
Advertising on the forum, without stating the obvious, is beneficial to both parties (or they wouldn't do it).
Personally I keep an eye on the advertisers websites as there are always things I need unavailable from the box shifters.
Thanks to this forum and County Rolling Stock I got a rake of weathered Dapol hoppers :thumbsup:
Tank
While I do like the random image header (and I in no way want it to go away), at the moment the images are 100k(ish) each and because of the way its loaded it does download every time the page is loaded (so every page is at least 100k).
I had this exact same issue when I created the Compass Tours website last year and was confused when my host cut me off without warning. While 100k isn't a lot, that 1MB for every 10 page views. I know I look at more than 20 pages a day on the NGF.
The most users online in a day is 212 ... 212 users x 20 page views x 100k = 424MB (based on 1000k not 1024k). Thats half a gig on the header image alone A DAY (or 12.4 GB a month).
The header file size can be reduced in half by saving it as a JPG with 75% compression rather than a PNG and there is very little noticeable difference in image quality (considering most people don't look at it for more than a second before reading the text below).
Must my thoughts on the subject, I can also share the random image PHP script I use if its useful to you.
Regards, Tony
I won't use jpg's, as I think the quality is awful, but I understand what you're saying.
Please PM me the script that you suggest and I'll take a look. I must admit, it is annoying that the forum downloads the pictures every time.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Cheers,
Tank.
Quote from: Tank on January 10, 2012, 11:23:07 AM
I won't use jpg's, as I think the quality is awful, but I understand what you're saying.
You should be able to get a decent quality using something like gimp with previous mode to adjust the various settings and get a good trade off. For some reason the rotating banners are also not getting cached that well.
I have to confess it got so annoying when I was using the mobile network I stuck your rotator in the advert filter !
the image size really is not that much of an issue, we have plenty of bandwidth. but if the loading time can be decreased some [either by another script or image size] it would not hurt to test it out.
also i will say it again the images in the rotator will NOT be cached at all ever.
Quote from: Illori on January 10, 2012, 12:41:51 PM
also i will say it again the images in the rotator will NOT be cached at all ever.
Then your web site design is rather broken. That would do much to explain why its so unusable on a smartphone and why the bandwidth usage is so high.
You should be caching the rotator images, because they have different names so it'll happily cache them all browser side and whenever you add a new rotator item it'll get a new name so it won't cause problems.
Quote
we have plenty of bandwidth
Yeah but how about your users ?
Alan
Quote from: EtchedPixels on January 10, 2012, 02:27:25 PM
Then your web site design is rather broken. That would do much to explain why its so unusable on a smartphone and why the bandwidth usage is so high.
The web site is not broken, hence people posting! ;D I can see what you mean though, and we'll work on something. I may just make it a .gif file. There's been a lot of work involved with the server, and a backlog of messages and emails that I've been trying to get through.
Got to side with EP on this one although I don't claim to be an expert I do have some experience with website traffic. I like the alternating header but the overhead must be chewing into your traffic allowance without the images being cached.
we have PLENTY of bandwidth so right now that is not an issue, if it is we will consider other options.
Okay folks, lets take a step back here please.
We have just moved to this new server, there has been a lot of work done already and much still to do, and we owe a great deal of thanks to our NGF Technician for the hours put in to get us to this stage.
So as far as things go, for the meantime we will make this the last word on the headers until we have the opportunity to fully assess where we are with data, image formats etc etc.
Rome wasn't built in a day so please be patient, thank you
Well from my little bit of coding knowledge all I can say is that cahce has pro's and con's if its not used effectively.
Just checked the header images and them seem to be loaded from external resources and they have a bare size of 10KB.
Coming back to cache, lets say, admin placed 10 images in rotation script and after a while he removed all of the images and placed 10 more images in there. So instead of loading 10 simple images the browser is going to have 20 images in the cache.
Moreover, if somehow the image name remain same(just assume it), in that case you are going to see cached images and not the new one. So even if you people are planning to place cache on rotating script, do it carefully.
Quote from: Chinahand on January 08, 2012, 06:59:33 AM
While sponsorship and advertising revenues may sound a good idea we would end up with all sorts of pop-ups and intrusive side-screens which would slow down the web site and detract from the whole user experience. I, for one, would not welcome advertising here.
Best dig deep and send a massive donation then ! ;D
Is there any fellow member out there that has not a clue what these boffins are talking about. Cheers john.
Quote from: painbrook on January 11, 2012, 07:18:17 PM
Is there any fellow member out there that has not a clue what these boffins are talking about. Cheers john.
YEP ! ! ??? ??? ???
All I know is that it reminds me of "cooks" and "broth" !
Can't think why ;D
On a separate subject from caching, everytime I log in at the top left hand side it tells me my password is incorrect.
Type exactly the same thing in again in the message box and instant log in ???
Anyone else experiencing this, or is it just this numpty :computerangry:
Quote from: painbrook on January 11, 2012, 07:18:17 PM
Is there any fellow member out there that has not a clue what these boffins are talking about. Cheers john.
Hmmm....sounds like a cache 22 situation to me... :smiley-laughing:.. :smiley-laughing:
Ok... I'll leave now :wave:
Quote from: newportnobby on January 11, 2012, 08:12:41 PM
On a separate subject from caching, everytime I log in at the top left hand side it tells me my password is incorrect.
Type exactly the same thing in again in the message box and instant log in ???
Anyone else experiencing this, or is it just this numpty :computerangry:
I had the same - had to change the address in the shortcut from www.ngaugeforum.org.uk (http://www.ngaugeforum.org.uk) to ngaugeforum.org.uk (no www at the beginning). My fault for not reading it properly when it changed!!
Quote from: griffo49 on January 11, 2012, 08:42:22 PM
Quote from: newportnobby on January 11, 2012, 08:12:41 PM
On a separate subject from caching, everytime I log in at the top left hand side it tells me my password is incorrect.
Type exactly the same thing in again in the message box and instant log in ???
Anyone else experiencing this, or is it just this numpty :computerangry:
I had the same - had to change the address in the shortcut from www.ngaugeforum.org.uk (http://www.ngaugeforum.org.uk) to ngaugeforum.org.uk (no www at the beginning). My fault for not reading it properly when it changed!!
Doh! (Many thanks :-[)
Quote from: alex crawford on January 11, 2012, 08:17:30 PM
Quote from: painbrook on January 11, 2012, 07:18:17 PM
Is there any fellow member out there that has not a clue what these boffins are talking about. Cheers john.
Hmmm....sounds like a cache 22 situation to me... :smiley-laughing:.. :smiley-laughing:
Ok... I'll leave now :wave:
Alex, no need to get you coat, I have it ready for you ;) :smiley-laughing: :smiley-laughing:
Hi Tank,
One thing I have noticed with the new server is that I now have to Log In every time even though I set the remember option to 'Forever' when I log in. However, as soon as I enter the first letter of my user name it suddenly remembers both that and my password. Is it me or the new server ?
Quote from: Chinahand on January 12, 2012, 05:26:03 AM
One thing I have noticed with the new server is that I now have to Log In every time even though I set the remember option to 'Forever' when I log in. However, as soon as I enter the first letter of my user name it suddenly remembers both that and my password. Is it me or the new server ?
No problem for me - must be the Chinese censors ::)
No, It's not a China problem as I go through a VPN because anything with the word 'model' in it gets blocked here. This only started when the new server came on line.
Quote from: Chinahand on January 12, 2012, 06:19:55 AM
anything with the word 'model' in it gets blocked here
I know the problem I had great difficulty communicating with someone whose email address was, quite innocently,
S&Mfamilyname.xtra.co.nz !! :angel:
Brian
Quote from: Chinahand on January 12, 2012, 05:26:03 AM
Hi Tank,
One thing I have noticed with the new server is that I now have to Log In every time even though I set the remember option to 'Forever' when I log in. However, as soon as I enter the first letter of my user name it suddenly remembers both that and my password. Is it me or the new server ?
I'm getting the same thing here.
Quote from: griffo49 on January 11, 2012, 08:42:22 PM
Quote from: newportnobby on January 11, 2012, 08:12:41 PM
On a separate subject from caching, everytime I log in at the top left hand side it tells me my password is incorrect.
Type exactly the same thing in again in the message box and instant log in ???
Anyone else experiencing this, or is it just this numpty :computerangry:
I had the same - had to change the address in the shortcut from www.ngaugeforum.org.uk (http://www.ngaugeforum.org.uk) to ngaugeforum.org.uk (no www at the beginning). My fault for not reading it properly when it changed!!
I refer to my earlier post re login problems ....
it's worked for a couple of us ....... NO WWW IN THE ADDRESS!
Well, once you've all figured it out we'll change fully back to .co.uk permanently. ;) :D
This has been one long headache, and I dread coming on the forum to read everyone's problems!!!! :'( :smiley-laughing: :thumbsup: Still, we are still the new kids on the block, and we have to try out new features until they work for everyone.
I too find I'm having to log in at every visit, despite selecting the "forever" option.
hi all :wave:
that is the same problem as i was having the solution for me was
delete my old bookmark then log onto the site then once logged in and on the home page of the forum
make a new bookmark and HEY PRESTO !!! no more having to log in every time you visit
it is something to do with the change from .co.uk to .org.uk
but the technicallity of this is beyond me :smiley-laughing:
dave :thumbsup:
Yep. That worked. Thanks Dave :thumbsup:
Worked for me as well. Thanks.
This is such a great forum that I' happy to put up with a few inconveniences for the long term good. Keep up the good work guys your efforts are appreciated. On the subject of computers I've been having trouble with bugs, beat the screen half to death with a rolled up newspaper before I dicovered it was Findus having a bit of fun :smiley-laughing: :smiley-laughing: :smiley-laughing: It's enough to drive a sane man to (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-eatdrink009.gif) (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)
Being sane is overated. I certainly didn't miss it.
Quote from: MinZaPint on January 13, 2012, 12:36:43 PMOn the subject of computers I've been having trouble with bugs, beat the screen half to death with a rolled up newspaper before I dicovered it was Findus having a bit of fun :smiley-laughing: :smiley-laughing: :smiley-laughing: It's enough to drive a sane man to (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-eatdrink009.gif) (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)
:smiley-laughing: :smiley-laughing: ;D :thumbsup: :beers:
Thanks Minzapint. :thumbsup: :NGaugersRule: