Being on dial-up I get very frustrated and often end up surfing away from many blogs when they have a lot of pictures on their main page. Simply because it takes so damn long to load their main page I end up giving up trrying to see it. It also frustrates me with the big gaps between their writings with the blank spaces between it.....Things often freeze up with my old computer while they are loading, and this is not just with that page but everything else that I am doing on the computer, which adds to the frustration levels.
These are pages that I am not likely to revisit either, as long as I remember them. Which is sad because many of them have interesting entries. But because of the long loading times many of us on poor old dial up are disadvantaged by it all.
And no, I cannot have cable or broadband in my house, with the old telephone wiring in this place. I am stuck with dial up or no internet at all. And besides I do not want any contracts running for two or three years which further restricts my internet choices.
Seed Newsvine
18 comments:
Hmm. I never thought about folks with dial up when blogging -- thanks for the heads-up. There are some things we can do to help our friends with dial up, especially if we want you to continue reading our blogs! I will do my best for you, BBG.
Katie at GardenPunks
Shoot. I too should know better, because I've only been OFF dialup for less than a year. I will certainly adjust my blog accordingly, BBG. Thanks for pointing this out to us.
Well I can happily say that bloomingwriter and garden punks were not in my thoughts when writing this.
In some blogs you go to you see that the poor computer is trying to load up to 90 or more items, (Usually pictures), and this is where dial up really falls down.
But the quicker a page loads, and that includes side bar stuff, then its not likely to put off some of our slower connections.
Phwew! Good to know. But it's great that you brought this up. Really.
Do you use an RSS reader?
This could probably save you a lot of bandwidth, because you only download the articles and no sidebar stuff. You also skip a lot of the ads.
Another benefit is you can initiate a download of all the blogs you read, and go do something else while it runs.
Some online examples of this are Bloglines and I think Google has something. I use RSS software installed on my computer, and that works well too, but It can't used while traveling or in an Internet cafe (unless you bring it with on a laptop).
I must admit I prefer going to the Blog pages myself. That way I can navigate around as it suits me rather than use rss feeds. Really I am still getting used to this Blog stuff.
Hi Bare Bones,
I'm just getting used to blogstuff too! You've raised a good debate here and I'll try and keep guys like yourself in mind for the future. Does anyone know how many people are on dial up vs. broadband?
Another variable for download times will be whether the pictures are the blogger's own or whether they've linked to one on the web elsewhere. The latter seriously slows things down and I've tried to stay away from these as far as possible. I'm also using an ancient camera for my pictures, so the size of the files will be much smaller than bloggers who are using swanky new multi-megapixel cameras!
Have a great Christmas - I have great memories of a fantastic Christmas/New Year spent in Oz 4 years ago!
Hi Bare Bones,
I've just put the following post on my site (NB Bare Bones Gardener in the first sentence links thru to your site):
Bare Bones Gardener raised an interesting issue on his blog yesterday. He's on dial-up and is constantly frustrated with blogs using a multitude of images and/or white space and thus taking a long time to load. If this happens, then he simply won't look at those blogs at all. This is an issue for any website, but as a blog newbie I've no idea what impact my site has on potential readers like him. I've learnt that linking to other website pictures can seriously increase download times, so I use these as a last resort. I'm also using an ancient digital camera for my own picture illustrations, so my jpg files will be relatively small and will therefore load more quickly. However, this may still not be enough to help those on dial-up. So can anyone out there answer the following questions or point me in the right direction?
. What proportion of web users are on dial-up vs. broadband? This will probably vary by country, so a breakdown by country would be useful, if available
. If I make my site mainly text based, is this going to put off those readers who don't have download issues?
. Where can I get information on download times for my website? How do I tell if these are good or bad?
. Where can I get a simple, non-technical guide to website optimisation?
Looking at and learning from other people's blogs, I'd been thinking of a re-design of mine to include more pictures per posting and/or put more pictures in the sidebar. I was also considering upgrading my camera so that picture quality would be better, especially for close-up shots. Bare Bones Gardener's made me think again!
Hi Bare Bones,
Thanks for taking the trouble to visit my site and leaving the tip re the number of posts on view at a time. Food for thought!
I've just been talking about this over lunch. Hubby says you should be able to alter your browser settings to download the text only and get round the problem that way. Is this an option for you?
Unfortunately I too enjoy the visual element of blogging, so seeing just text would certainly detract from that. esides I would not have a clue of how to set up my computer to do that.
I suspect there's all kinds of things that we can do to make our websites/web experiences so much better. The problem is getting the technical knowhow to do this kind of thing without becoming too geeky ;-)
It's very easy to start blogging without any technical know-how whatsoever. I'm the personification of that and as I'm relatively new to all of this, I still have much to learn! I'll start by reducing the number of Posts on my page, that's my lesson learnt for today - many thanks!
Thanks again for stopping by on my page.
I have been on dsl for a couple of months. I too have OLd wiring and the phones crackle A LOT, but it doesn't cause a problem with the internet. Maybe because of the line filters. I'm in Georgia and use Bellsouth/AT&T. Maybe you could check with Your local company. Like I said, my lines are really old and spliced together in several spots.
Hi,
Quite right about the comment you left on my site, I really am writing for myself first and foremost.
I also like the fun aspect of blogging, so in the spirit of this I've nominated you for a game of tag. Have a look at http://vegplotting.blogspot.com/2007/12/got-me.html for more info!
So good to see your post on this. I too am on dial up and can not get high speed because I live in such a remote area.
It's so time consuming waiting for pages to load and, very often, not ever getting to see the photos. Some people don't reduce/compress their photos before adding them to the blog and those sites take ages upon ages to load. It's so aggravating. Oh well, they're in the majority aren't they? I just eventually move on because I can't take the time to keep waiting.
Great to see you posted on this. I too truly enjoy the spirit of the blogging community.
Diane Sand to Glass
I'm on dial up. I limit posts to 3 a page and I've found that pictures set at 400 by 400 are fine.
I still love to visit the sites that are picture laden, but I will click on individual posts or download through RSS feed as I'm not blogline savvy.
There are so many services out there it is difficult to choose from, dail up is hold hat and broad band is the only way to go, I have wireless the desk top and router or in a unit I put together from a homebase diy kit and looks great but when the weather is good I use a laptop in the garden usually.
insightful tip, thanks. I didn't think about it either, but now that I know I will consider it.
Someone mentioned 3 pics on a main page, but is there is total size rule of thumb to go by? newb here.
i share you frustrations i also have dial up. My new pages www.seedtherevolution.com is dial up friendly as most of it's close nit users have dial up also.
www.seedtherevolution.com/fourms
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