The new server has finally arrived and I am finally able to get busy with this project, that is really starting to burn a hole in my head…
In the next few days not much will happen than setting the new server up and configure things the way it’s supposed to be. This is all handled by the great team of ConfigServer that I always use for new server setups, which leave me some time to focus on my upcoming 48 hour PHP exam this weekend and for my other 48 hour Javascript exam in a few weeks. In between I’ll also continue working on my webdesign projects.
I have had some time to scetch this project up and while I have some very cool things planned for this design I think the most interesting aspect will be to build a subcontentbox that will automaticly use subpages to the current page and put them into tabs using the jQuery UI widget. I’ll get plenty of use for my PHP skills trying to get that to work for sure. The second task that feels a bit daunting is to code the dropdown menu for the clientarea and make sure it work with WHMCS…
Loading times are always important so speed and pageloads is high on my list of things to do, not just for this project, but also as part of my further development as a webdesigner.
For this project however I will try some, for me, new things and see how they effect the website’s performance. The first thing to do will be to consider http requests and see how to make them as few as possible. This I plan to do by taking the three categories CSS, Javascript and Images and rework them slightly so that I hopefully will get very few http request.
For javascript, which I will have a few of, I want to bundle the scripts into one, or possibly two http request. This is done by adding the different calls into one combined call that hold all the javascripts required. All javascripts will of course be minified to make them as small as possible and I will carefully look over the plugins to make sure redundant javascript is not added by them. I am considering adding the jQuery library from Google repository, but I’ll have to play with that a bit to see how that work out and what the benefits will be when combined with my other time saving efforts.
For CSS I will use a similar setup, taking advantage of the code written by Rakaz that allow the same combination of files as for javascript files, reducing the CSS files into one single http request. I will use the minified approach here as well and we’ll see how much this will speed things up.
For images I will use sprites, which is essentially one big picture with many images that is used instead of many smaller ones. This will seriously reduce the number of http requests and I will use this throughout the website. The sprite itself will of course be minified as much as possible without reducing the experience. All images are of course plced in the CSS and not in the actual HTML code.
This is all good and it will reduce the number of requests alot, but I can do more. Javscripts that are not essential should be placed at the end of the document which means that altough it att a second javascript http request it should increase speed for the visitors as it is added after the page loads. The actual pageload will be a little higher due to the second http request, but it will feel faster.
Although the new design is still far off (well, maybe not that far…) I invested in Active Collab today that will act as the project manager for Mortfiles Evolved.
The reason is quite simply that I need a projectmanager that works well right away as the old one is not working the way I want and its quite honestly a bit depressing to use…Active Collab is something I have looked at for well over a year, but never really had the drive to get, but now as I am rebuilding and rethinking my entire worksituation I felt it was time even if the cost was…not the best timing
I will leave it in its basic state for now while I fokus on more pressing issues, like getting the 3 webprojects I have setup and ready to go and fokusing on my PHP and Javascript classes. In the fall though it will be redesigned and merged into Mortfiles Evolved.
Jimi Vad gör man på sin födelsedag då? Betalar räkningar, diskar, städar, handlar och lagar mat...hämta junior och kanske baka tårta, men först ska jag sjunka ihop i stolen och se en film och bara njuta :).
