the zaps website ;)

[Necuno]

well there seems to be a little dispute over the zaps's new look and how good vs efficient it is.

go have a looky and give your developer's point of view

www.zaps.co.za

my points of concern
lag : between each page due to some funny JS/Jquery used.
glare : pictures with white backgrounds on the page with a black background.
size : well most pictures do not have a thumbs version so scaling is used with the fully sized pictures.
game sales : looks like a news site.

now those are my 4 main concerns. are they real concerns are just some silly observations as a developer ?

the size has been pointed out to me as a non worry because how much does 3 meg cost (size of the initial load on the main page) and that bandwidth is cheap . however as i've come to realized each product page with those nice scaled pictures also is anything from 400k to 2 meg a shot. which means go look at 10 pages of products and you have used about 4 to 20 megs !

 

[Tinav]

LoL Nec - hardly a dispute well not from my side.
You have raised some very valid points - more so here than on mygaming where your main concern seemed to be the prohibative costs of opening a 30mb page.
The new site has only been live for a week and we do understand that there is room for improvement.
As with the old site we will use any constructive critisicim to improve the site.

We are trying something new with the home page and I hope over time that you will come to see our point of view that having news about upcoming games and hardware on a games and hardware retail site makes sense.

BTW thanks for the plug.

 

[Fuzzbox]

Site takes too long to load. After about 8 secs if page has not loaded customer is gone.

 

[Necuno]

LoL Nec - hardly a dispute well not from my side.
You have raised some very valid points - more so here than on mygaming where your main concern seemed to be the prohibative costs of opening a 30mb page.
The new site has only been live for a week and we do understand that there is room for improvement.

well aim was to get scrutinized on my concerns. i suppose i've written them more to the point here.

As with the old site we will use any constructive critisicim to improve the site.

We are trying something new with the home page and I hope over time that you will come to see our point of view that having news about upcoming games and hardware on a games and hardware retail site makes sense.

BTW thanks for the plug.

in time yes . i am however a fan of darker tones due to the fact that my IDE is setup to be rather dark with pastel / soft colors.

 

[bwana]

size : well most pictures do not have a thumbs version so scaling is used with the fully sized pictures.

Flickr seems to be hosting most of the images I saw - why dont they use the thumbnail version of the images that flickr generates? If the rest of the site is hosted locally there are going to be problems if the visitor is capped internationally.

 

[Tinav]

Site takes too long to load. After about 8 secs if page has not loaded customer is gone.

We do know this is an issue - IE takes a long time to load but it is running better in Firefox and Chrome.
As soon as the web guys finish their hols - only on the 10th - this issue should hopefully be resolved.

 

[Tinav]

in time yes . i am however a fan of darker tones due to the fact that my IDE is setup to be rather dark with pastel / soft colors.

'I love the Gamezine integration, and the fact that you can read up on the products before buying them right there where you buy them.
Thanks for the dedication, I hope the teething problems get sorted soon.'

http://www.ps3za.co.za/forum/showthread.php?t=41721&page=5

 

[Necuno]

'I love the Gamezine integration, and the fact that you can read up on the products before buying them right there where you buy them.
Thanks for the dedication, I hope the teething problems get sorted soon.'

http://www.ps3za.co.za/forum/showthread.php?t=41721&page=5

Hey Moody,

I like the new site, the look is a little lighter and more contemporary plus the banner is cool albeit a tad oversized, and it doesnt really match with the blue-ish theme of the website. Anyway that's cosmetic, a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet....

My critisms thus far:

* It's not as easy to navigate as the old site
* Can't find the used games button


I have others, but I think they're browser related, ie sometime's when I select a product I cant find the price, and other times the price is right there.

But it I do think it is a major improvement on the old page. I love the Gamezine integration, and the fact that you can read up on the products before buying them right there where you buy them. Also, now I can create an account meaning I dont have to furnish you guys with my details everytime I make an online purchase!

Thanks for the dedication, I hope the teething problems get sorted soon.

well normally before i get a game i would watch the trailer and read-up on http://www.metacritic.com/. i tend nowadays to skip the description on the site i'm buying from altogether. however it still is good practice to have the info at hand on the initial product listing instead of depending on the user to fish around.

it's just what i wanted to point (and few others did) was that the display of the page is like a typical news site's layout, hence it gives the feel of a news site instead of a site selling products or having the products being sold hidden away feeling.

 

[Necuno]

Flickr seems to be hosting most of the images I saw - why dont they use the thumbnail version of the images that flickr generates? If the rest of the site is hosted locally there are going to be problems if the visitor is capped internationally.

one of the other things i was wondering about is how is this going to display with local only.

 

[Tinav]

one of the other things i was wondering about is how is this going to display with local only.

Its is mostly the blog images that we are hosting on Flicker the retail images are local.
So you should still be able to check an image of a product that you are thinking of buying.

 

[SYNERGY]

Graphically:

1. The Website is too cluttered. Difficult to navigate.

2. There is more of an emphasis on News rather than products. The Products tab/menu looks like an afterthought, that and took me a while to find

3. The old design was outdated for sure- but easier to use.

4. The product listings are not user friendly - it needs to be more "clean". This can be attributed to the colour scheme of the website and the way it is listed due to integration of the e-zine format.

Technically:

1. As stated before- image and website usage is too heavy.

2. The lightbox/JQuery effect is a bit slow.


That said - I will still be ordering from them due to their prices and hopefully stock availability. From my experience E-Zine & E-Commerce generally doesn't gel together, thou it can work.

With regards to the Gamezine integration- Zaps has become more of a gaming-centric website, which I believe they wanted.

Thou is it relevant to the majority of their customers?
Just work on the Useability of the website, cos Zaps do have great prices.
Perhaps a left side menu thats easier to notice?

 

[Nod]

We do know this is an issue - IE takes a long time to load but it is running better in Firefox and Chrome.
As soon as the web guys finish their hols - only on the 10th - this issue should hopefully be resolved.

Look at the browser javascript benchmarks (here). This is why IE is slow, and will stay slow until MS do something drastic to improve it.

 

[guest2013-1]

ugh....

They include jquery library AT LEAST 2 times from what i can see.

This (unfortunately) is one of the major drawbacks of using Wordpress as your website. With plugin's comes great responsibility... and it appears several plugin's they use just goes ahead and includes jquery wherever possible.

Even though it's hosted locally it loads painfully slow. This is due to the number of images and internationally hosted jquery libraries they have going.

And as you guys said, too much going on. Run this puppy through YSlow! or Page Speed:

YSlow! Grades this as an F (for Fail)

This page has 18 external Javascript scripts. Try combining them into one.
This page has 14 external stylesheets. Try combining them into one.
This page has 25 external background images. Try combining them with CSS sprites.
There are 99 static components that are not on CDN
There are 31 plain text components that should be sent compressed
There are 17 Javacript scripts found in the head of the document (put them at bottom)
There are 52 components with misconfigured ETags

 

[guest2013-1]

Page Speed:

Compressing the following resources with gzip could reduce their transfer size by about two thirds (~238.7kB).

* Compressing http://zapsonline.co.za could save ~82.1kB.
* Compressing /wp-content/themes/gamezine/style.css could save ~9kB.
* Compressing /wp-content/themes/gamezine/glide.css could save ~3.7kB.
* Compressing /wp-content/themes/gamezine/tabs.css could save ~2.3kB.
* Compressing /wp-content/themes/gamezine/tabs-accordion.css could save ~484 bytes.
* Compressing default.css?ver=3.7.41 could save ~16.2kB.
* Compressing compatibility.css?ver=3.7.41 could save ~563 bytes.
* Compressing product_rater.css?ver=3.7.41 could save ~1.6kB.
* Compressing /index.php?wpsc_user_dynamic_css=true&category... could save ~996 bytes.
* Compressing thickbox.css?ver=3.7.41 could save ~2.3kB.
* Compressing style.css?ver=2.8.6 could save ~513 bytes.
* Compressing /wp-content/plugins/mm-forms/stylesheet.css could save ~467 bytes.
* Compressing /wp-content/plugins/mm-forms/calendar.css could save ~1.7kB.
* Compressing /wpsc/upgrades/gold_cart_files//gold_cart.css could save ~370 bytes.
* Compressing /wpsc/upgrades/gold_cart_files//grid_view.css could save ~370 bytes.
* Compressing /wp-content/themes/gamezine/js/superfish.js could save ~2.4kB.
* Compressing /wp-content/themes/gamezine/js/hoverIntent.js could save ~2.1kB.
* Compressing /wp-content/themes/gamezine/js/glide.js could save ~4kB.
* Compressing /wp-content/themes/gamezine/js/slider.js could save ~8.1kB.
* Compressing /wp-content/themes/gamezine/js/hover.js could save ~231 bytes.
* Compressing jquery-ui-personalized-1.5.2.packed.js could save ~6.1kB.
* Compressing /wp-includes/js/jquery/jquery.js?ver=1.3.2 could save ~37.3kB.
* Compressing wp-e-commerce.js?ver=3.741 could save ~7.5kB.
* Compressing ajax.js?ver=3.741 could save ~1.8kB.
* Compressing /index.php?wpsc_user_dynamic_js=true&ver=3.7.4... could save ~567 bytes.
* Compressing jquery.livequery.js?ver=1.0.3 could save ~4.4kB.
* Compressing user.js?ver=3.741 could save ~11.4kB.
* Compressing thickbox.js?ver=Instinct_e-commerce could save ~9.4kB.
* Compressing /wp-content/plugins/mm-forms/mm-forms.js could save ~2kB.
* Compressing /wp-content/plugins/mm-forms/calendar.js could save ~13.2kB.
* Compressing /wpsc/upgrades/gold_cart_files//gold_cart.js could save ~370 bytes.
* Compressing /wp-includes/js/jquery/jquery.form.js?ver=2.02m could save ~5.5kB.

The following resources are missing a cache expiration. Resources that do not specify an expiration may not be cached by browsers. Specify an expiration at least one month in the future for resources that should be cached, and an expiration in the past for resources that should not be cached:

* /wp-content/plugins/mm-forms/calendar.css
* /wp-content/plugins/mm-forms/calendar.js
* /wp-content/plugins/mm-forms/mm-forms.js
* /wp-content/plugins/mm-forms/stylesheet.css
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/glide.css
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/1tab.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/2tab.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/3tab.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/balloon.png
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/body.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/fcont.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/feathead.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/featl.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/fvoot.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/gcont.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/gtop.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/head.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/lefta.png
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/lnews.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/mpost.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/navig.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/page.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/postmet.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/righta.png
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/searchb.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/sf.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/sh2.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/smit.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/top5.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/vanila.jpg
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/js/glide.js
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/js/hover.js
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/js/hoverIntent.js
* jquery-ui-personalized-1.5.2.packed.js
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/js/slider.js
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/js/superfish.js
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/style.css
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/tabs-accordion.css
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/tabs.css
* /wp-content/uploads/2009/09/headsets1.jpg

The following resources are explicitly non-cacheable. Consider making them cacheable if possible:

* /ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/jquery.min.js
* http://zapsonline.co.za/My image
* /index.php?image_id=22751&width=45&height=...
* /index.php?image_id=22754&width=45&height=...
* /index.php?image_id=4022&width=45&height=2...
* /index.php?productid=33772&width=96&height...
* /index.php?wpsc_user_dynamic_css=true&category...
* /index.php?wpsc_user_dynamic_js=true&ver=3.7.4...
* style.css?ver=2.8.6
* ajax.js?ver=3.741
* product_rater.css?ver=3.7.41
* thickbox.css?ver=3.7.41
* thickbox.js?ver=Instinct_e-commerce
* user.js?ver=3.741
* wp-e-commerce.js?ver=3.741
* compatibility.css?ver=3.7.41
* jquery.livequery.js?ver=1.0.3
* default.css?ver=3.7.41
* /wp-includes/js/jquery/jquery.form.js?ver=2.02m
* /wp-includes/js/jquery/jquery.js?ver=1.3.2
* /wpsc/upgrades/gold_cart_files//gold_cart.css
* /wpsc/upgrades/gold_cart_files//gold_cart.js
* /wpsc/upgrades/gold_cart_files//grid_view.css
* https://google.com

There are 17 JavaScript files served from zapsonline.co.za. They should be combined into as few files as possible.

* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/js/superfish.js
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/js/hoverIntent.js
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/js/glide.js
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/js/slider.js
* /wp-content/themes/gamezine/js/hover.js
* jquery-ui-personalized-1.5.2.packed.js
* /wp-includes/js/jquery/jquery.js?ver=1.3.2
* wp-e-commerce.js?ver=3.741
* ajax.js?ver=3.741
* /index.php?wpsc_user_dynamic_js=true&ver=3.7.4...
* jquery.livequery.js?ver=1.0.3
* user.js?ver=3.741
* thickbox.js?ver=Instinct_e-commerce
* /wp-content/plugins/mm-forms/mm-forms.js
* /wp-content/plugins/mm-forms/calendar.js
* /wpsc/upgrades/gold_cart_files//gold_cart.js
* /wp-includes/js/jquery/jquery.form.js?ver=2.02m

etc etc etc. Basically, their site can load MUCH faster with at least a 60-70% reduction in not only download size but speed as well if they just go through the motions and tweak it

 

[guest2013-1]

There is 61.9kB worth of CSS. Minifying could save 17kB (27.5% reduction).

* Minifying default.css?ver=3.7.41 could save 6kB (24.7% reduction). See minified version.
* Minifying /wp-content/themes/gamezine/style.css could save 2.6kB (19.3% reduction). See minified version.
* Minifying /wp-content/themes/gamezine/glide.css could save 1.9kB (35.1% reduction). See minified version.
* Minifying /wp-content/plugins/mm-forms/calendar.css could save 1.8kB (70.3% reduction). See minified version.
* Minifying thickbox.css?ver=3.7.41 could save 1.4kB (40.9% reduction). See minified version.
* Minifying product_rater.css?ver=3.7.41 could save 789 bytes (32.9% reduction). See minified version.
* Minifying /wp-content/themes/gamezine/tabs.css could save 755 bytes (21% reduction). See minified version.
* Minifying http://zapsonline.co.za (inline block #1) could save 559 bytes (44.1% reduction). See minified version.
* Minifying /index.php?wpsc_user_dynamic_css=true&category... could save 450 bytes (30.1% reduction). See minified version.
* Minifying compatibility.css?ver=3.7.41 could save 338 bytes (40% reduction). See minified version.
* Minifying /wp-content/themes/gamezine/tabs-accordion.css could save 265 bytes (36.5% reduction). See minified version.
* Minifying style.css?ver=2.8.6 could save 157 bytes (20.4% reduction). See minified version.
* Minifying /wp-content/plugins/mm-forms/stylesheet.css could save 99 bytes (14.1% reduction). See minified version.

There are 1.95MB worth of images. Optimizing them could save ~945.3kB (47.3% reduction).

* Compressing and resizing /2771/4172217051_3267541245.jpg could save ~129kB (91.2% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 500x375 to 160x110. See compressed version.
* Resizing /2562/4153945730_5505204f96.jpg could save ~121.7kB (96.5% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 500x298 to 86x61.
* Compressing and resizing /2679/4176854011_b9854ed50c.jpg could save ~70.4kB (97.4% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 500x296 to 86x61. See compressed version.
* Resizing /2765/4131120671_0d748c6e86_o.jpg could save ~63.7kB (97.9% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 576x360 to 80x55.
* Resizing /2424/4131987516_601af392b7.jpg could save ~61kB (85.4% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 482x250 to 160x110.
* Resizing /2592/4166822937_219ff37c5c.jpg could save ~60.6kB (96.7% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 500x316 to 86x61.
* Compressing and resizing /2509/4193033739_5b5f292440_m.jpg could save ~57.8kB (93% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 240x199 to 80x55. See compressed version.
* Resizing /2631/4174174172_ea72157e57.jpg could save ~49.8kB (96% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 461x288 to 86x61.
* Resizing /2802/4131953330_5c7110593e_o.jpg could save ~46kB (90.8% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 580x330 to 160x110.
* Resizing /2488/4167142996_ba6e813722.jpg could save ~30.9kB (96.2% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 500x277 to 86x61.
* Resizing /2554/4170406318_f2ef69cc99_o.jpg could save ~29.9kB (35.8% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 530x401 to 620x220.
* Resizing /2645/4187918457_84a9448d35.jpg could save ~26.2kB (23.2% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 500x355 to 620x220.
* Compressing and resizing /2618/3978322026_d997ca2835_m.jpg could save ~21.4kB (61.8% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 240x112 to 160x110. See compressed version.
* Resizing /2745/4131293899_eaaa62e660.jpg could save ~20.3kB (22.1% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 500x350 to 620x220.
* Compressing and resizing /2506/4131278007_fabd21fd01.jpg could save ~19.3kB (21.3% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 500x306 to 620x220. See compressed version.
* Compressing /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/head.jpg could save 18.4kB (13.8% reduction). See compressed version.
* Resizing /2488/3978438060_5956510b1d_m.jpg could save ~15.6kB (86.4% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 240x135 to 80x55.
* Resizing /2463/4027471844_5fa6041e93_m.jpg could save ~15.3kB (87.5% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 240x147 to 80x55.
* Resizing /2732/4141395305_0b6d8c77d7_m.jpg could save ~13.2kB (49.4% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 240x145 to 160x110.
* Resizing /2571/4015347058_cd21a5e815_m.jpg could save ~12kB (51.4% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 240x151 to 160x110.
* Resizing /3501/3990468399_f8026df701_m.jpg could save ~11.5kB (59.3% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 240x180 to 160x110.
* Resizing /4001/4173596069_7be008590e_o.jpg could save ~10.9kB (96% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 400x331 to 86x61.
* Resizing /2735/4174257918_ff91f40ff8_m.jpg could save ~8.7kB (77.9% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 240x99 to 86x61.
* Resizing /2704/4188567598_160518bfe4.jpg could save ~8.4kB (12.8% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 500x313 to 620x220.
* Compressing and resizing /2701/4187780159_8cc1d66fa9.jpg could save ~8.2kB (10.7% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 500x290 to 620x220. See compressed version.
* Resizing /2746/4027581722_869ccb4b07_m.jpg could save ~5kB (37.3% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 240x117 to 160x110.
* Resizing /2555/4172843132_24e9f18a34.jpg could save ~3.5kB (2.9% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 500x281 to 620x220.
* Resizing /2666/4167365818_761ee42c4b_o.jpg could save ~2.1kB (65.9% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 124x124 to 86x61.
* Resizing /2668/4166656525_285ab2a7de_o.jpg could save ~1.5kB (65.9% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 124x124 to 86x61.
* Resizing /2612/4147791027_6ef73301f6.jpg could save ~1.3kB (1.5% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 500x277 to 620x220.
* Resizing /2764/4132022278_9abae033e0.jpg could save ~976 bytes (2.9% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 500x281 to 620x220.
* Resizing /2570/4031691566_692ba436de_o.jpg could save ~777 bytes (10.6% reduction). The image is scaled in HTML from 160x123 to 160x110.
* Compressing /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/righta.png could save 34 bytes (3.3% reduction). See compressed version.
* Compressing /wp-content/themes/gamezine/images/lefta.png could save 33 bytes (3.2% reduction). See compressed version.

* An inline script block was found in the head between an external CSS file and another resource. To allow parallel downloading, move the inline script before the external CSS file, or after the next resource.

The following external CSS files were included after an external JavaScript file in the document head. To ensure CSS files are downloaded in parallel, always include external CSS before external JavaScript.

* default.css?ver=3.7.41
* compatibility.css?ver=3.7.41
* product_rater.css?ver=3.7.41
* thickbox.css?ver=3.7.41
* style.css?ver=2.8.6
* /wp-content/plugins/mm-forms/stylesheet.css
* /wp-content/plugins/mm-forms/calendar.css
* /wpsc/upgrades/gold_cart_files//gold_cart.css
* /wpsc/upgrades/gold_cart_files//grid_view.css

Serve the following JavaScript resources from the same host as the main document (zapsonline.co.za), or defer loading of these resources if possible:

* /ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/jquery.min.js


There is 233.5kB worth of JavaScript. Minifying could save 39.4kB (16.9% reduction).



This page makes 45 parallelizable requests to zapsonline.co.za. Increase download parallelization by distributing these requests across multiple hostnames:



There are 14 CSS files served from zapsonline.co.za. They should be combined into as few files as possible.



98% of the JavaScript loaded can be deferred (loaded later)

etc etc

 

[guest2013-1]

Graphically:

1. The Website is too cluttered. Difficult to navigate.

2. There is more of an emphasis on News rather than products. The Products tab/menu looks like an afterthought, that and took me a while to find

3. The old design was outdated for sure- but easier to use.

4. The product listings are not user friendly - it needs to be more "clean". This can be attributed to the colour scheme of the website and the way it is listed due to integration of the e-zine format.

Technically:

1. As stated before- image and website usage is too heavy.

2. The lightbox/JQuery effect is a bit slow.


That said - I will still be ordering from them due to their prices and hopefully stock availability. From my experience E-Zine & E-Commerce generally doesn't gel together, thou it can work.

With regards to the Gamezine integration- Zaps has become more of a gaming-centric website, which I believe they wanted.

Thou is it relevant to the majority of their customers?
Just work on the Useability of the website, cos Zaps do have great prices.
Perhaps a left side menu thats easier to notice?

The images loaded are the full sized images and not just thumbnails... this is one of the major hogs on load time too

 

[Tinav]

Awesome thanks Acid

 

[Necuno]

/gets PageSpeed + YSlow

 

[guest2013-1]

/gets PageSpeed + YSlow

Yea it's awesome, I usually save a lot just by minifying my JS and my CSS. Sometimes the designer also uses styles and includes unused ones while he designed the stuff reducing that file size considerably. Just wish there was a way to get Page Speed to show you a file without the styles, would make editing one to exclude them much easier

 

[Tinav]

Thanks again for the help guys I have passed your comments onto the web guys.