here is a link to a php/mysql page, its very basic, because it is just a search system, nothing special

http://dowd.info

the 1851 database and the other tables off that page make up a 250 megabyte mysql database, how 500,000+ entries , its searchable in many ways, and the pages load in no time at all.

the server this site is hosted on, is a quad dual core amd, 12 gig ram etc etc etc..

I know for a fact what other sites are hosted and what isnt, the server is not an issue, the mysql is the same mysql server as my zencart , the apache the same, the php the same.

the zencart runs crap,

it runs fine, on all pages, untill you have to open the products page with all the options

here is a link to two test sites. which i have tried these options

click this first

I am sure that page would have loaded ok, it has roughly 300+ option attributes in the drop downs.

click this second


This is the same glasses in a zencart products page, roughly same overall options in the dropdowns, just not formatted into the same layout, i didnt want to spend anymore time than about ten minutes on the agora cart system untill i was sure it would load the pages.

if you click the view all products pages in either cart, zen or agora, the load at about the same speed, zencart only struggles at the attributes pages.

ok, i realise that agora is cheating and not a fair test as it uses includes of a html template for the options, but real life has to kick in, and say that at the moment, zencart has major issues with its products pages if their are more attributes than basic choice of a few red, blue, black type options

its because i have so many different perfectly working installations of different php+mysql code systems in my same server, that i can say with more confidense than most, that it IS zencart which is at fault, not the mysql etc..

and i do not see any problems with the index's, thats not the issue, the issue is that the products page makes to many seperate quiries, for my products page it makes 11,000+ seperate queries, why the hell doesnt it just ask to select * from xx where y=z

why the hell 11,000 times for 300+ options.

ok, my page is extreme i accept that, but by being extreme it has shown up, how bad the system is, when your normal 5 option dropdown page makes 400 queries something is wrong.

dont blame the hosting or index's, it should be faster than this even if their was no index.

Steven Dowd