Silent Hill Community • View topic - Forum is too much for my computer.

As nice as this board looks, and it really is a marvel of design, is it possible that those of us with less than top-mark machines could get a display style which isn't so image-intensive? Of all the sites I regularly visit, this one is definitely the most burdensome. Pages take forever to load (whether in threads or not) and it lags even when scrolling.

That'd be cool, though I have no problems on my end.

Just curious, what are your specs?

Yeah man, what are your specs? My mom's ancient laptop loads this place without trouble so I'm wondering what type of tech you're running. Anyway, I can't promise when an alternative design could be made. It's summer, I don't spend long on the computer outside of work because of the nice weather. Perhaps the mobile version of this site can double as a "simple" version, also. That is, when the mobile version is ready for public use from their creators.

That's the bitch of it, really. I have a laptop and it's only a year and a half old (though it was basically entry-level even then). The specs aren't actually that bad, except the CPU is a slow, puny single core AMD something or other that runs modern software mostly because I think something hears my prayers and makes it possible. I usually take care to maximize performance by not forcing it to do too much at once.

I spent months making this design (glad you like it though) and the thought of doing that again anytime soon is... well, shit, that's just not gonna happen. But the mobile version is definitely going to happen whenever the people at phpBB make a damn stable, solid release. If you have a smancy-fancy phone go here:
http://phpbb-mobile.com/forums/

I believe viewing posts in threads (when on your phone) doesn't work or something, though. Anyway, that's what the alternative mobile theme will look like (I'll make the colors black and red or something though to be "scary.") I'm sure I can make it an option to use even when not on a smartphone.

Yeah I have to say this is the best design of a SH forum I've ever seen. You're really talented.

If you do a disk cleanup regularly, maybe you should change it so that doesn't delete your cache. The cache keeps copies of all images from sites you visit regularly to speed things up (no load time).

*edit: cash to cache.

Thank you both, Ryan and Xuch.

Sorry, the nerd in me has to say this: I think you're thinking of the word cache, not cash. And yes, clearing out your cache or allowing bigger storage to hold more temporary files could help for the time being. Once this site loads, the graphics shouldn't load again if your cache settings are in proper order and it isn't set to delete them frequently.

Ratiocinator wrote:I spent months making this design (glad you like it though) and the thought of doing that again anytime soon is... well, shit, that's just not gonna happen.

I'll translate his request for you, Ratio!

He doesn't want you to spend a lot of time making a new design, he just wants you to make the default phpbb style available from user CP.

But seriously, 1.5 year old computer and it seriously struggles with this site? Regardless of processors and that stuff, I'd say there's something wrong with the guy's computer. Or connection.

I don't really know what I want. I don't expect a whole new style to be made on my behalf right this very minute or anything. I really just wanted to vent my frustration with navigating. I'm pretty sure the problem is on my end, but I'm not really sure what I could do about it, because as I said, this doesn't happen to me with most other sites and I'm pretty keen on getting what performance I can out of this steam age contraption.

Oddly enough, I just tried browsing the forum on my Droid X, and while it did take ages for all elements to load fully (a fact which did not surprise me), actually navigating the pages was quite a bit smoother. On my laptop, it is slow to scroll even after the page is loaded.

You could try clearing out your browsing history. In Firefox, you can go to Tools and Clear Recent History. In Internet Explorer, you can go to Tools, Internet Options, Browsing History, and Delete Browsing History. I have noticed an increase in speed on some sites after the temporary internet files, cookies, and browsing history are cleared out. In addition, you can clean up your temporary files, browsing history, and system files by going to Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and Disk Cleanup. Also, Firefox seems to run a little smoother on some sites like Silent Hill Community.

The Silent Hill Community site is very well designed and nice looking. The background graphics and forums have a great atmosphere to them. The site compliments the games quite well.

I'd rather not to do that because a) I spent a lot of time working on this theme so I kinda want it to be used, b) a lot of backend custom features coincide with this site's layout (image re-sizer, spoiler MOD, signature size checker, etc) meaning the default "silver" theme wouldn't work right anyway unless I implement those extra features in there, too and c) it's the default theme; the theme EVERY phpBB forum uses if it isn't changed. I don't want that theme to be a part of this place because I'd like to think this place isn't "average/default."

I've never had any loading issues. I absolutely love the design, anyways. <3

And you see, a case such as Ryan's could be so specific to numerous causes. If his temporary internet files folder (cache) is working properly this site should only load the graphics once and never again, until that folder is cleared or these files are bumped out because his cache has exceeded its capacity. Is that working properly? Is it connection issues? ISP issues? Router issues? A virus/malware acting up his PC? His browser and/or browser version causing troubles? There's so many variables it'd make your head spin...

I could reduce the quality of the main graphics that make up this place. Right now, if I had to guess, the total space in all of the main graphics is probably around 2 megabytes. But with 5mbps+ speeds becoming the norm for most ISP's this site should not even take a second to fully load graphics.* And again, once it does load, it shouldn't again thanks to cache.

...now I'm just nerd-ranting.

*In an ideal world where we get the full connection speeds ISP's promise they're offering. But still, this site shouldn't take horrendously long to load.

Yeah, it's highly confusing, and I don't think the problem itself is (completely) either transmission or processing. It chugs along like a bad engine when I'm scrolling a page that has fully loaded, too.

I dunno. I still keep coming back. <3

I'm keeping a sharp eye on that mobile version because believe me, I want a smart phone-friendly version for when I'm on my phone cause a full resolution site on a 4" screen is a killer on your eyes, but I can also double it as a "simple" theme for non-smart phone uses, too.

Once you go full brown, you never go back.

what about Noscript? by default one of the things it does is ignore the "spoiler" tags people put up due to large images in forums, so you wont bog down by them. I've never had a problem and i think this design is one of the best ive seen in any forum, but what if you use Adblock-Plus, and tell it to ignore the background/sidebar images? the text should load much faster than images.

Actually, I discovered the problem: Since I have a very large monitor, I keep my zoom level high, since most sites are designed for people with lesser monitors than mine and are therefore filled with empty space. When I set the size to default, it runs smoothly. Of course, now everything's tiny, but at least John was kind enough to put something out there on the fringes to look at other than a void.

What I don't understand is why that causes a problem.

At least we all helped you to brainstorm so you could come up with a solution.

Yes, yes. I assume you kids will want some kind of prize? Fine. Here is an old mouse carcass. Now, I know it doesn't look like much, but if you kids are as genre-savvy as you look, you'll find some method to combine it with some plot-relevant unobtanium and turn it into a weapon which can kill Yahweh Himself in fewer than three rounds of combat.

Now, take your quest rewards and get off my goddamn lawn.

Forum is too much for my computer.

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