Software Development:
Individual Programming

Symptom

The website seems to react quite slow. This must be a web server fault. „My websites at other providers are much faster.“

Cause

It's most often an illusion that websites at other providers are faster. This is similar to the feeling, that the other queue at the supermarkt cach register is faster or that the cars on the other lane reach their destination faster. Some users compensate poorly made websites by big, expensive servers, that speed-up poor websites by their high perforamnce. But it is also possible to get a great performance from low-cost web hosting accounts. It is also more cost-effective in the long run.

Reasons for slow websites can be:

• domain name resolution
• transport route between server and browser
• number of processes and cpu load
• other users on the same machine
• database requests
• execution speed of website programs
• failure periods
• personal feeling

Solution

You can almost always achieve great performance gains when the programs of the website are improved. Analyze the true reasons for your slow website and make improvements. Wordpress- and Joomla!-users e.g. should install a page cache. For self-made PHP websites you can find many hints and tricks how to speed-up database transactions and commands. Bitpalace recommends the (German-only) advisory book „Faster Websites!“, which is available as a PDF download or as an ebook.

Overview of frequently asked questions