what is the fastest? products vs attributes

[dedj]

Hi.
This is probably easy question for you, but its not an clear answer for me.

Why I'm asking is that I'm on the verge of adding some products with odd combinations, I can add them either way (many products and less attributes, or the other way around). Just want to do it the "right/better" way so I don't slow zencart down.

What is the fastest you reckon just an example:
- To have 40 products and all products are using 100 attributes each.
or
- To have 100 products and all products are using 40 attributes each.


One more thing, does it in any way slow zencart down if you have ridiciously (say 6000) many attribute values in your database while less products or is it better to have more products (most products will have linked image etc)and less attributes connected to them?


I probably have answered my own question that less products and more attributes are better than the way around, but want to make sure. I don't want my webshop unnecessarily lagg/be slow.

Write me back your thoughts thanks
Dejan

[Ajeh]

Less attributes is faster ...

The number of products isn't where the slow down occures, it is the processing of the attributes ...

[dedj]

do you mean even when loading the mainpage on webshop, or the slow down occured when trying to view a product with lots of attributes?

good to know

thanks

Less attributes is faster ...

The number of products isn't where the slow down occures, it is the processing of the attributes ...

[mauryg]

Ajeh,

You wrote:

Less attributes is faster ...

The number of products isn't where the slow down occures, it is the processing of the attributes ...

Could you clarify that a bit?
Is it the number of attributes in the database or is it the number of attributes assigned to the product that slows the process?
I (and it seems many others) need the ability to price and inventory products by attributes. I have been trying to make the new "Attributes Modelnumbers" contribution work, but without success. I considered defining each attribute as model number + description but this leads to a very large number of attributes. Especially so since I use EasyPopulate and the number of columns in the spreadsheet is excessive. Are you saying that this will also drag down the performance of the site even if there are only a few attributes assigned to any one product?

Maury

[dedj]

good question, I wonder the same :)

and I also got the same problem with excessive columns due to too many attributes, no matter that I do, I think I will still have too many attributes, but I guess I could narrow it down some.

[Kim]

is it the number of attributes assigned to the product that slows the process?

At this time it is the number of attributes assigned to a product. The process of gathering them makes many queries to the database and that slows the site. The good news is that process is changing in the 1.4 edition. The bad news is that will not be available for a while.

Example:

Say you have a t-shirt that is available in 5 colors, 5 different sizes and 5 different printed designs - that isn't 15 or 25 different combinations - it is 125 possible combinations.

[mauryg]

Kim,
Thanks for the clarification. I suspected that was the real problem. One of my major reasons for using attributes was to reduce the number of individual products and hence, the number of pages to be scrolled in the catalog to find a product. I have decided that the simplest answer to that is to make more subcategories in the menu so the user can go to the correct page more quickly from the flyout menu.

As an aside, I'm not really crazy about the looks of the dropdown box alphabetical search menu. Has anyone ever done a simple one or two line menu of letters and numbers for selection? If not, I may try to work one up as a contribution

Maury

[dedj]

At this time it is the number of attributes assigned to a product. The process of gathering them makes many queries to the database and that slows the site. The good news is that process is changing in the 1.4 edition. The bad news is that will not be available for a while.

Example:

Say you have a t-shirt that is available in 5 colors, 5 different sizes and 5 different printed designs - that isn't 15 or 25 different combinations - it is 125 possible combinations.

for my problems its a little different, I can't do like that and have several attributes since zencart doesnt have attribute dependant function.

for example rims, 15" 6,5" wide exist in colors: gold, silver, red, blue, same type of rim exists in 16" aswell but only in colors: red and blue.

also different is that on the 15" the et on the rims are 40, and on 16" its et 12 on red and et30 on blue.

so i need attributes that are a bit done already.
my "complete" attribute would be:
15" red et 40
15" gold et 40
15" silver et 40
15" blue et 40
16" blue et 30
16" red et 12


what I save is the many products of same type of rim model.
I will end up with lots of attributes in my database, but not many combinations on every product.

do you think this might work or should I stick to many products and less attributes? thanks
Dejan

[dedj]

ajeh or kim.

do you think I could go with this type of attributes?
to narrow down a bit of the product.

thanks
Dejan

[Ajeh]

Product: 15" Rim
Product: 15.5" Rim
Product: 16" Rim
Product 16.5" Rim

Now add associated colors to each Product ...