How many attributes is too many?

I'm a bit worried about the amount of attributes I'm using using on my site.

I currently have around 250 option values under 25 option groups.

Is this a lot or can Zen handle more?

How many more, before it affects the sites speed?

Each extra attribute for a product affects the speed as it means extra database queries. On a decent server though, it's likely that customer patience will expire before the server's ability to handle the load. And Zen cart 2.0 specifically aims to reduce the number of queries needed across the board, including for attributes.

I currently have around 250 option values under 25 option groups.

How exactly are those broken down?

The way attributes work is not simply 250 times 25 - For example; let's say you have 3 option groups - color, size and style and each group has 3 options - that isn't a total of 9 option values - it is 27 possible combinations - 3x3x3

In the current code a large number of groups with a large number of options each could result in a very large number of database queries and could potentially slow the server. The upcoming release deals with the attribute combinations in a much more efficient way and shouldn't have the downside of today's code.

Hi Kim,
I tried to explain it the quickest way I could without confusing myself and anyone else hence the 25 option groups and 250 option values, these numbers are from the admin pages Option Name Manager and Option Value manager.

I understand what your are saying regarding colors, size and style, but the products I stock very rarely have more than one available option (group). Its usually a colour or a size option with roughly 6-12 values on each product.

So with my limited understanding of the inner working of Zen, I'm thinking that a large number of lines in the Option Value Manager should not cause too much of a problem as long as the amount of options per individual products is not too many?

Is this correct and does it make sense?

Thank you both for your quick replies.

If you have 40,000 attributes in the products_attributes table ... yikes!!

But ... you only have 20 to 100 attributes per product, then as long as you are on a good server you should not have a problem ...

If, however, you have 1 Product that uses 25 Option Names and each Option Name has 25 Option Values on that same Product ... then you are gonna run into a problem as that is 25 x 25 and much more than 100 or so attributes on a product ...

NOTE: you will only have a problem with the 1 Product being a monster ...

Better the server the more you can have ...

So, if you have an Option Name: Color and create 250 Option Values for it ... but are only adding a few to each Product ... then again not an issue as the Product still is not a monster ...

Hi Linda,
Thanks for the info,

40,000! no not quite, 34,203 be be exact.

Heres how it breaks down for anyone who is interested.

products_attributes table rows = 34,203
products_attributes size = 4.1mb
total site database size = 10.2mb

7,135 products
5200 products with options.

The site runs fine although looking at Google analytics we don't have a lot of concurrent users.

I couldn't really think of another way of getting our product information across without the attributes.

I hope this information helps someone.

Your products do not appear to have a lot of attributes per product ... if you are talking about the site in your signature ... granted I can only guess which products might have the most attributes ...

Do you have any products that have a lot of attributes?

If not, then even with 30,000+ products_attributes there is not a big load on a given product by itself ...

Are there any options that anybody has run into that allow many many attributes per item?

Im trying to add ~3500 attributes per item and I dont know if the query to the server is timing out or?? but it takes about 2 mins to load, and then it doesnt load any images, descriptions or attributes. If there is a work around or something this would be friggin awesome as it would allow me to finish this project. Until then, Im searching for developers...:wacko:

3500 attributes to 1 Product? :eek:

Good luck ... that is not going to happen ...

What are you trying to make that needs 3500 attributes on 1 Product?

I was wondering the same thing, and how 3,500 attributes were to be presented to users for their selection?