P2 - Explain the user side and server side factors that influence the performance of a website

Explain the user side and server side factors that influence the performance of a website

Factors on the User End

Download Speed
Download speed can effect the loading time and performance of a website in several ways on the user end of the system. If the user has a low download speed, then the webpage will take longer to load and complete tasks that the user is asking it to do. This is a user side factor that will influence the performance of the website that the user is trying to access.

Slow download speeds will create a long waiting time in loading the website, and so performing tasks such as loading videos, clicking on hyper-links and navigating through the websites pages will take a long time and can become frustrating for the user.

Computer Specification
The users computer specification may be a factor that influences the performance of a website that the user is trying to visit. There are several factors within computer specification that may have an influence on the performance of a website.

Browser-
The users web browser of choice may have an influence on the performance of the websites it is attempting to visit. Certain browsers perform better than others, and with Google Chrome being the most popular web browser of choice it is arguably the best suited web browser to use for internet browsing. Internet Explorer can have slow load times and is arguably behind Chrome in web browsing suitability.

Cache Memory-
Cache memory is temporary memory stored on your computer. A computer with a larger cache memory will be able to store more of the temporary things that websites need to run. Cookies, passwords and other scripts that websites generally perform when you access the website. A larger cache memory will allow for more of these to be stored, allowing for quicker access and quicker website performance.

Processor Speed-
The speed of the users processor will be a factor that influences the performance and speed of websites. A processor with a higher speed will allow the computer to perform tasks quicker, thus processing websites and all the scripts, cookies and other tasks that websites have on them faster. A higher processing speed will also allow videos and flash animations to load faster on webpages.

Factors on the Webpage End

Web Server Capacity
Websites are all stored on web servers, and each web server has a capacity for the amount of information it can send and receive in a certain amount of time. When accessing a website, the user's computer will send and receive information from the web servers, and with a higher web server capacity, the website will be able to send, process and receive this information quicker which will then lead to faster load times for the user and the webpages the user is trying to access.

Executions to be Performed
Each webpage must execute several actions before the webpage is completely loaded. These may be the loading of videos, animations, cookies or saved searches and tasks. The more actions that have to be performed before the webpage is fully loaded, then the longer it will take. This will influence the overall performance of the website, as it may take longer to load each page.

Number of Hits
The number of webpage hits can have a small effect on webpage performance. If many, many people are on the same webpage all at once, then it can overload the servers and slow down the website performance. Many web servers are prepared for this, and have large servers which can handle many hits all at once. 

File Types

Bitmap-
Bitmap images are saved so that the computer remembers each pixel type that has been saved. Common bitmap image types are .gif and .bmp, which generally have large file sizes and will slow down the loading time of a webpage. 

Vector-
Vector images are more compressed and have generally smaller file sizes when compared to Bitmap images. A well known vector image type is .pdf, which has a more compressed image and a small file size when compared to .jpg and .gif files. Having Vector images on your webpage will slow down the loading times, though less so than using Bitmap images. 

Wav-
Wav files are one of the most common audio files, and can often be found on webpages. Wav files are not compressed audio files, which can make them very large in size and dramatically slow down webpage loading times. While they are common, they often slow down webpages.

MP3-
MP3 files are compressed audio files, and so are generally a more popular and better alternative to Wav files. While the compressed files will generally have lower quality audio compared to the Wav file, the difference in quality is rarely noticeable. MP3 files will still slow down a webpage, but as they are compressed files it will be slowed down less so than using a Wav file.