New Template Monster Theme very Slow

[Sparetoolparts]

Hi Guys

I have just bought a new Magento theme from Template Monster and have put it in my dedicated test server, I have made a few code changes It also has been optimized by my host. I just got my host to run a speed test and I am shocked by the results:

Homepage Live - 0.36s
Homepage Test - 2.6s

Category Live: 0.75s
Category Test: 2.8s

Product Page Live: 0.93s
Product Page Test: 3.5s

Now the new site does has a large carosel banner on the home page category page & Product, so that may explain it. But my question is then what is the best/fastest carolsels:
website: http://spare2.dx3webs.com/

P.S
The caro came with the theme hence why I've been using it

 

[fisicx]

But my question is then what is the best/fastest carolsels:

This one: http://jquery.malsup.com/cycle2/demo/

This is how I set it up on my test site: http://onepage.aerin.co.uk/image-slider/slider-overlay/

Or you could go down the pure CSS route and do something like this: http://cssslider.com/html-slider-4.html

PS: It took 12 seconds for your homepage to load...

 

[zigojacko]

Almost all 'off-the-shelf' themes are slow and bundled with junk you don't need.

Pretty much any Magento theme from Template Monster contains major code-bloat.

I just cringe when I see businesses using them, every single client we've had come to us that has used off-the-shelf premium Magento themes has experienced (lots of) issues that comes down to the theme. On many occasion, we have spent longer fixing bugs or stripping back pre-made themes than it would have took us to just build one from the ground up.

I urge any business that is serious about their web presence to avoid premium themes if possible - I appreciate that budget does not always allow for a professional Magento design/developer to be hired but usually, using a pre-made theme purchased from one of these theme stores just causes bigger problems and headaches later down the line...

 

[Faevilangel]

using a pre-made theme purchased from one of these theme stores just causes bigger problems and headaches later down the line...

Exactly, WordPress has the exact same issue, going through the same with a client which a "developer" built them a "custom site" using a theme, but it's so badly built and they paid way over the top for a theme. Pretty much told them it's crap and they will need to rebuild it soon.

Unfortunately there are also "developers" (i use the word loosely) that charge to just install a theme which the client has no clue how to manage, don't own the license (so can't get updates) and wash their hands of the client as they got their £500 for their "services".

I am not against pre-built themes and I do use them when the client budget is small but I only use ones I have checked for code quality, unfortunately most are built to sell more copies so are bundled with 2000 features to "wow" buyers.

 

[Sparetoolparts]

for £179 I thought it would be worth a punt, tbh if I can get my loadspeed down a tad, I'll run with it for a while anyway. My current site has no banners at all or exlploded drop down menu's etc so I should expect an increase on loadtimes

decisions decisions!

 

[Faevilangel]

You need to pay someone to fix the theme (imho) - https://gtmetrix.com/reports/spare2.dx3webs.com/FXsUq9kE (look under waterfall tab)

There are a lot of 404 errors (missing files) and the page size is 2.2mb and has 152 requests, you need to gzip those files so they are under as little requests as possible.

 

[fisicx]

My current site has no banners at all or exlploded drop down menu's etc so I should expect an increase on loadtimes

You don't need a £179 theme to do this. Drop downs and banners are easily added. But also consider that dropdowns reduce the effectiveness of a site and banners are mostly ignored.

 

[Sparetoolparts]

yea true I know that but I fancied a change

Also my current site isn't the best Mobile wise (www.sparetoolparts.co.uk) so hopefully when I get these issues fixed. The site should if nothing else work better on phones

I might just have to create a verified account and get my site reviewed, do you get only one? or can you ask for a review of both old and new?

 

[zigojacko]

Also my current site isn't the best Mobile wise (www.sparetoolparts.co.uk) so hopefully when I get these issues fixed. The site should if nothing else work better on phones

I just had a look at your website and it is basically the Magento RWD theme with a few (very few) tweaks. By default, the RWD theme works well on mobiles, this is what it was built for. If it doesn't, then you've had someone making changes that has cocked it all up. I can tell you now. there are hardly any 'off-the-shelf- premium themes that will beat the Magento RWD theme for usability on mobiles - they mostly do a very poor job of trying to improve on the default theme (by adding useless or irrelevant bells and whistles usually).

 

[fisicx]

^^^What he said.

You can have as many reviews as you like.

If the current site is selling tools then there is no need for a change. If they aren't selling well then new theme isn't going to make any real difference. The problem isn't the theme, it's the site structure, content, navigation and the shop pages.

 

[Sparetoolparts]

Site is selling ok but I wanted a fresh look, and something a little more fancier, hence the design change but if I can't get the new template to at least match the stats from my live then I'll write it off as a bad idea :-(

 

[Crystal Web Designs]

Hi Sparetoolparts,

If you are looking for speed for the banner, then are you talking about page download speed? If so then the size of the images may have the largest effect for this. CDN may help if you have visitors from many locations.

In regards to the actual speed of the banner, that should be negligible based on the speed of javascript nowadays. There is the time for the js to download so getting a small file for this may help too.

But generally it's the size of the images that will slow the initial home page down.