Faster Processor, more Ram or just going to be slow?

[Ginnys Attic]

I'm converting our site over to use the AUG (Method 2) Single Products Per page method so you have a section for each product and i've got to about 35% of the way through converting the current site to use the new design and method and thought i would give a few things a test online and found that it already with about 1000 products that when i click upload it takes between 2 and 3 hours before it's finished checking and uploading everything on version 9 (it only took about an hour and a half on V8).

At first i just thought it was becasue it was the first upload but since that i have added a few more products and noticed it takes over an hour just to check all the HTML pages :-( which i find a little odd that Actinic checks every HTML page on every upload even if only one product/page for example has changed.

Considering i have over 1500 more products to add i'm guessing that i will then be looking at around 5+ hours per upload which will be necessary on a regular daily basis as i have all the products stock controlled.

I'm now wondering if using this method is viable and i'm wondering if a faster PC might speed up the process although Actinic V9 is currently running on a Win XP machine with a Duel Core 2.13Ghz Processor and 2 Gig of Ram or if there was some option/setting to only check and upload changed files?

[dave_finlayson]

Don't have much to help you with but I can tell you that we have a SSP setup and I can run a check/upload in about 30 minutes on a 1500 product site, so I would guess that there may be something amiss (running of a similiar spec laptop). Maybe speaking to support and seeing if they can find a problems may be an idea.

[cbarling]

Adrian, I don't know about the current method suggested in the AUG, but I would have thought that using the Extended information page feature would be a much better way to achieve this. In other words, have a very short description of the product on the section page, with no add to cart buttons etc, then have the full details and add to cart on the extended information page.

I'll ask Chris Dicken to review the method recommended in the AUG. Actinic works around the idea that there are always a few products per section. So there are going to be performance issues with only one product per section once you go over a few hundred products.

Chris

[Duncan Rounding]

The second method explained in the AUG is referring to using extended info pages.

[brian.mc]

Are you using Best Seller and New Product Lists? If you are using them then each time these change it means every page will have to be uploaded to the website. There is a solution to this in the AUG - search for "Advanced Best Seller and New Products Lists"

This exercise will show you how to generate best seller and new products lists in their own separate page and then include them in via a JavaScript 'include' command on the web site. This means that if you have 1,000 sections, and then the content of the best sellers list changes, you will not have to upload 1,000 changed pages the next time you upload.

[Ginnys Attic]

Adrian, I don't know about the current method suggested in the AUG, but I would have thought that using the Extended information page feature would be a much better way to achieve this. In other words, have a very short description of the product on the section page, with no add to cart buttons etc, then have the full details and add to cart on the extended information page.

I'll ask Chris Dicken to review the method recommended in the AUG. Actinic works around the idea that there are always a few products per section. So there are going to be performance issues with only one product per section once you go over a few hundred products.

Chris

The biggest trouble with the use of extended info option as the single page per product is that this then means creating and managing Google Base feeds manually for 2500+ and counting products

I've been monitoring my system performance and whilst Actinic is checking the pages it never seems to load the PC up much as in CPU usage never really goes over around 50% so i would assume a faster processor and some more RAM might improve the speed slightly but by the time all is said and done and the remaining 1500+ products are added we would still be looking at 4 or so hours i would think for Actinic to check all the pages and upload them

[leehack]

I am working on a site at the moment where the sections using extended info pages run like an absolute dog, ridiculously slow. However, the pages that i have converted onto SPP via sections are vastly quicker, so that would contradict entirely what Chris suggests IME. The upload may take a little longer i am not sure yet, but waiting 45 seconds for a page preview will soon recoup that time.

For me i want things moving quickly while i am tapping away, while i am uploading i am locked out and can go do some other stuff so don't really care about the speed.

[jont]

That amount of time suggests something other than the PC is at fault (which is a well specced machine) ... my v8.5.1 machine is a P2 with only 512mB of RAM, sharing an internet connection (with Photoshop, notepad and 3 browsers open) and still manages to upload a site with around 1200 products with SPP and best sellers, also boughts etc in around 15-20 mins (that is sending all the pages due to a change in the outer layout as well)

[jont]

For me i want things moving quickly while i am tapping away, while i am uploading i am locked out and can go do some other stuff so don't really care about the speed.

The joy of having multiple machines on the network to switch between during uploads to read the Actinic forum

[RuralWeb]

So there are going to be performance issues with only one product per section once you go over a few hundred products

I would dissagree with this - I have built many sites now with single products per section and they all work very well indead - some have many thousands of products.

I would not touch the ext info method with a barge pole - I have made my views know on this many times on the forum.

[fleetwood]

May be worth stop watching the upload process and seeing where the bottleneck is.
If its taking 20 mins to check and 4 hours to upload, then it may be your internet connection that is slowing you down.
If its vice versa, its possibly the PC, although 2GB of Ram should be plenty.
Always worth making sure your hard drive has plenty of spare capacity.

[TraceyHand]

I am working on a site at the moment where the sections using extended info pages run like an absolute dog, ridiculously slow. However, the pages that i have converted onto SPP via sections are vastly quicker, so that would contradict entirely what Chris suggests IME.

I agree with this too.
I use my extended info as SPPs of sorts (only for GoogleBase though) but, when I did have them opening in the same page and the main product listings pages as a 'list'...my site generation time crawled to almost backwards.
They were pretty quickly switched back to (modified) pop ups.

It definitely has a much bigger detrimental effect on site generation time than using sections/SPPs.

[TraceyHand]

The biggest trouble with the use of extended info option as the single page per product is that this then means creating and managing Google Base feeds manually for 2500+ and counting products

Not true...or, at least, work-roundable.
Use Mole End's Froogle/Googlebase feed to generate it. You can link to extended info page in the settings.

[Ginnys Attic]

thanks for all the input, the speed issue is definitely with Actinic checking all the pages but I just realised that because I have set the product to not only have a section per product but each product also have an extended info page (full page using the site design) that this is what is probably making it so slow.

The reason I was doing this was because I was looking to have products listed within the relevant product category section using a duplicate and also in manufacturers sections using the original product and the only way I could figure out for Actinic to link the duplicate back to the original product was to generate an extended info page.

Does anyone have any ideas if it is possible to have the duplicate simply link back to the original product section which would then allow me to loose all the extended info pages?

[cdicken]

Could you use the Advanced Link feature in the 'Links' panel of the product to create a link back to the main section. That's a quick and dirty way - although it would mean setting the link target value manually for all your products. I'll have a play and see if there is an automatic way.