GZip Compression.. what is it exactly?

Hey I'd like to know what exactly the GZip Compression is in the admin>configurations tab.

I probably wouldn't be asking this if my site wasnt so gosh darn slow. Can anyone help me out with this problem as well? Is there anything I can do? I have posted another thread about this in another area but still getting no response.

https://www.everythinglebanon.com/shop

actually i did get a response from one user but he didnt really answer my question.. just kinda reassured me that it was a problem! but i'm still searching for the answer.. do i really need to switch hosts?? id really prefer not (and can't really afford) to do it now

ok so recap:

1. what is GZip Compression

2. Why is my site so slow??

Any advice is always GREATLY appreciated :)

-Chris

It's basically a code compressor. It's designed to optimize and compress code, like a graphics program can optimize images. You can read up via the Wiki about GZip .

I have high speed Internet, so I get everything pretty quick. Although IE takes a long time to load the home page on any given day. :laugh:

You should check your main product image folder and see what your pictures are at, for size. A lot of times people upload huge files that could be rendered/optimized in half and still have good quality. I see you have Image Handler and that's a good first step. You could always check your store specs with this free check.

Thanks sketchy. I dont know if you did a run on my actual website https://www.everythinglebanon.com/shop but it gave me a suggestion to "embed css" i was wondering if you knew anything about that?

thanks again,
chris

Embedding CSS isn't going to save you much unless your server itself is slow.
Zen Cart doesn't give you the option of embedding CSS.
You'd be better off removing unused content from your largest stylesheet file if you know what's doing what.

In your case, if you're not using "css buttons", you could remove the stylesheet_css_buttons.css to gain minor improvements.

GZip simply compresses content as it's sent from the server to the browser. Many hosts already compress their outgoing data for you, and if that's the case you don't need (want) to enable it within Zen Cart. If your host doesn't already have this "on", then you "should" enable it within Zen Cart. You can check whether your host has it on by going to http://www.whatsmyip.org/mod_gzip_test/

In your case, this page "is" being GZipped:
http://www.everythinglebanon.com/shop/index.php?main_page=products_all
The size before GZipping was 23K, and when the server GZipped it before sending, it became 4K, a savings of 82%

Your speed problems are likely weak tuning on the server's MySQL database.

What stats do you see in your page footer if you turn on Admin->Configuration->Logging->Display The Page Parse Time ?

Hey DrByte. Thanks for the reply.

As for the parse time it is:

Parse Time: 5.899 - Number of Queries: 220 - Query Time: 1.98190748851

I got a few other questions about your reply but I will let you comment on this first :)

thanks
-chris

The first time I hit your page in a new browser session without caching, I see:
Parse Time: 38.702 - Number of Queries: 220 - Query Time: 9.56828022647

Does the speed improve if you disable the Image Handler? I'm wondering if having it process your images is causing you some speed performance problems?

• Parse time -- this is total loading time from when you "click" until the footer is drawn
• Number of queries - this is number of hits on the database, and 220 is pretty good for Zen Cart v1.3.0 series
• Query Time ... this is how long it took the database to run those queries... and 9.5 seconds is a long time. ... back to my comment about server tuning (which is almost always out of your control unless switching hosts or upgrading your plan to a server you have control over, for big $$$)

well I will just get them all in here right now.. (i know how busy you must be)

So i should remove the stylesheet_buttons.css... how can i be sure i am not using this? and will it really give me a big enough gain in load time that i would want to delete such a file?

And I'm guessing I should turn GZip compression "OFF" before checking with that website you gave me, am i right?

and as far as the 'weak tuning on my mysql database' what can i do about this?

thanks again DrByte!

-Chris

Dr.Byte,
Is there an easy way to "disable" image handler? Or do I have to click the "Admin" and then "Remove Image Handler From Database" and will this totally remove it from my admin??

-chris

Well Gzip compression and embedding CSS will not get you a satisified solution. Your host seems to be the problem, in being very slow generatring the pages. You should try looking for another host.
This is one of the prase times displayed at the very bottom, and I browsed 4 pages and I must say, if I were a customer, I wouldn't order something, because it is ovbiously to slow.

Parse Time: 39.600 - Number of Queries: 241 - Query Time: 10.6424693572

A store should load as quick as this site.

NOTE: your hosting site has not been configured to manage fast conversions of gethost so the first hit takes 4-5 seconds ... then 2nd hit takes 0.4 seconds

Note: part of this is also the MySQL cache on an inactive site ...

The site more or less goes to sleep ... no one is there to keep the cache active ... again, first hit is slow ... next hit is fast ...

But your biggest issue is as DrByte has mentioned ... the MySQL for the server is not optimized and your site runs like a dog ... :eek:

Speak to your hosting site ... you should not be experiencing this issue with all 4 products ripping away at your server ... :blink:

Hey Ajeh,
thanks for the reply

I want to understand what you are saying. About the MySQL that is. What do i need to do? Is there a way to optimize how my site interacts with the database?

MySQL requires memory and cache to run efficiently ...

This is the responsibility of your hosting site ...

Based on the slow speed and lack of response of your site, you are not on a server that is setup properly for MySQL and php ...

I cannot tell you what they need to fix, I can just tell you it is not working right ...

Any site that takes 2-4 seconds to display page is in serious trouble ...

DrByte:

GZip simply compresses content as it's sent from the server to the browser. Many hosts already compress their outgoing data for you, and if that's the case you don't need (want) to enable it within Zen Cart. If your host doesn't already have this "on", then you "should" enable it within Zen Cart. You can check whether your host has it on by going to http://www.whatsmyip.org/mod_gzip_test/

I found out that my host is gzip compressed, and setting

Admin > Configuration > Gzip compression > On

had a negative effect on site speed. About 1-2 seconds vs. 7+ seconds difference.

Exactly.

Hi forum, I have clicked on Gzip compression on my website admin https://www.adaraclocks.co.uk and the site has now gone down,

Content Encoding Error
The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because it uses an invalid or unsupported form of compression.

I now can not get back into admin to change it back, has anyone gone any ideas please. "why do I always try to improve when verything works"

thanks

KAROBUK

Try going into phpMyAdmin and search the configuration table for the configuration_key for:
GZIP_LEVEL

and change the:
configuration_value

to be 0 instead of 1 ...