P2/P3
Unit 28 – Website Production
P2 - Explain the user side and server side factors that influence the performance of a website.
-Download Speed:
There are many things that depend the speed of the internet. Developers must use codes and
different type of algorithms that are capable to detect the different type of connections. Developers
must be aware that some undeveloped countries or places may use Dial-up, which is very
uncommon nowadays in the modernised countries, but it’s something that they must know and be
aware of so those people could use the internet and their services too. There are various of
download speeds, depending on the Internet Service Provider. Note that these download speeds will
be limited to a purchased plan, and it will also be limited in terms of up/download speeds.
-Dial-Up: It’s an old way of connecting to the internet which is not used nowadays. It transmits
digital data over telephone lines. At the time this was very easy to set-up and very cheap, however
the average speed was only about 30-56kbps. In is not used in our generation, however there are
still some places where it is still being used.
-ISDN-Integrated Services Digital Network: It uses telephone networks to send digital data and
signals, just like dial-up. However, ISDN is using special cables which is a lot faster than dial-up and
also has two channel equally providing 128kbps connection. ISDN didn’t become very popular as
there were a wide variety of other services available.
-DSL- Digital Subscriber Line (or Loop)/Broadband:
DSL is mostly known as a Broadband to the customers. The connection speed will vary between 1-
8mbps. With cable, it’ll have speeds of 10-25Mbps. This is because cable transfers data a lot faster
than anything else. DSL will be limited when we get to the download or the upload speeds, as its
users will be limited to what the service has got for them to offer. DSL will use the telephone cables
that will be filtered, so it’ll has another setup for the internet. One feature that could be the
disadvantage of the DSL is that, if many people are using it at the same time, the up/download
speed can go rapidly on a low level, which means that the connection and the speed will be very
slow. DSL is developing very quickly as a lot of work has been put into it, so the connection will
increase in the following years, and could be as high as 100mbps.
-PC performance factors (e.g.: Browser, cache memory, processor speed)
Opening up websites on a computer can be sluggish sometimes. There are several reasons why this
could happen.
1. – The browser might not be compatible 100% with the type of the website, so it might not load in
all of its contents correctly. Or it could be outdated, which could end up the user not being able to
open up, and reach the website. Plugins are also a big question, as they might not be updated to the
latest version, so it might not be able to run things like Flash contents. So whatever is not updated
frequently in a browser, could make the users not see the websites contents in the right way – These
include: images, videos, texts, symbols etc.
2. – The cache memory will save websites in compressed files, and will be backed on the local hard
drive. Cache memory is really helpful, as it could speed up the experience when using the internet.
The browser will have access to these compressed files, so the next time they get opened up, it will
open the local data that’s been stored earlier, and will refresh it with the new contents, so it will
need less time to fully load in the website.
Roland UDVARLAKI – Unit 28 – Assignment 2 - Page 1 of 4
