Before I roll up my sleeves ... (2)

        You'll no doubt have read Lynne's recent posts about slow loading time at Dovegreyreader and the changes she's made to solve the problem. Speaking to Lynne about it over the weekend I blithely said that I thought all was well with the Cornflower sites as no one had told me otherwise and I had no problems at all with them myself, but it seems I spoke too soon! I got an email from a reader reporting her frustrating attempts to get on to the sites, and that's despite having a high speed internet connection and helping things along with cache-clearing and the like, so of course while I'm puzzled as to how it can be fast for one person and slow for another (with no obvious differences in equipment or technology to account for that), I must do what I can to improve matters.

    Before I roll up my sleeves to tackle this, would you all be so kind as to tell me what your experience of accessing the site is - I've put an identical post to this one on Cornflower Books, and if you typically visit both sites, I'd be much obliged if you'd leave a quick comment on each one as this will help me to know what, if anything, I have to change. Roughly how long does the site take to load? Do you find that images delay it? Are you ever timed-out? Which browser do you use? If things are slow, do you find similar slowness with other sites, or is it just here? Anything else that may be relevant?

    Many thanks in advance for your help.  

Comments

[Barbara]

I noticed the immediate improvement in loading dovegrey's site and I have to say that Cornflower typically takes time to load whereas with other sites I look at, click! and I'm there. We don't expect to have to wait for anything these days!
Images: it often loads without them and they appear after a while.

[B R Wombat]

My experience is similar to Barbara's in that Cornflower always takes longer to load than other sites and the images especially take some time to appear. I've counted how long it took just now and it was about 8 seconds and I don't think I've ever been timed out. My browser is Google Chrome.

[Georgina]

I use Google. Cornflower loaded quickly today so perhaps images slow the process down but please don't take them away. I don't find Cornflower slower than other sites but I don't look at that many. As a comparison it seems to load as fast as Amazon does.

[Deirdre]

Cornflower sometimes takes a while but not so long that I get fed up! Once in a while the main photo loads slowly but normally I have no complaints. I have never timed out. Safari is the browser I use.

[Helen in Switzerland]

No significant problems to report! A little slower with photos, but otherwise I think you're pretty much par for the course!

[Sharon Moreland]

I access both sites from San Francisco in California, via a cell phone link and get both instantaneously. So I'm guessing it's each person's provider that's the problem, not your site. Sharon M.

[Liz]

No problems here, except when my internet is down. Type the web address direct into the box at the top (can't for the life of me think what it is called.)

[Francesca]

I've never experienced problems with your site. I don't visit the book site as often, but never had problems there either.
Good luck figuring out the cause and fixing it!

[Anji]

I access both sites too, from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and I don't have any problems. My machine is slow, or maybe I am a little impatient as we have changed servers and it isn't as instant as I was use to
having.

[Lee]

I use Internet Explorer and never have any trouble. If I go to the book site it is a click-through from here and loads quite quickly.

[Kate/Massachusetts]

Both sites load quickly for me, and I have never had a problem here. My browser is Internet Explorer. Also, leaving a comment is quite easy unlike many other blogs.

[Jill]

I use Internet Explorer and generally don't have much delay with either Cornflower site, which I look at every day. I agree with Kate (above) that it is easy to leave a comment. Saying that, in the past I have had significant delays accessing Dovegreyreader so I will pop across there and see how things go.

[Margaret Stedman]

I use Google and have no problems loading. I live in Auckland, New Zealand.

[Margaret Stedman]

Oops I meant to say Internet Explorer 8 - funny how that was spelled g-o-g-g-l-e??!

[Georgina]

I don't know my search engine from my browser but then I'm a bit twp as we say in Wales. I should have said that my browser is usually Safari and sometimes Firefox.

[carole]

All's well here, I use Safari.

[Toni]

No problems here in California -- your site comes up instantly with Safari.

[Ann]

Hi, I use Chrome and do have problems with loading your blog. The text usually appears first, then the images. Have had problems with the dovegreyreader too. Just tried your book site and it's slow for me too, maybe its a Chrome thing. I'm in Columbus Ohio. Love reading your posts though!

[oxslip]

It takes a bit longer, and that is down to the pictures, but it's not a problem really. The only time it's a pain is when I'm looking on my phone, whilst commuting. If these folks are part of an audience you'd like to expand then less images would help them look at Cornflower 1and2 whilst on the move. But really, it doesn't bother me

[MelD]

Mac/Safari in Switzerland; no problems, always a quick load on Cornflower. I don't know the other site so couldn't say.
Also no trouble on iphone/ipad with Safari to get Cornflower on the hop...

[Jade]

From Israel, cornflower (and cornflower books) is a litle slower than some sites - but faster than others... average speed then, but top quality content!