# Bandwidth-saving suggestion for the boards **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 12, 2002, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508 "2002-08-12T11:08:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/1 "2002-08-12T11:08:02Z")
Reduce the size of the Straight Dope banner on the top of the page. It’s currently 466 x 119 pixels and 256 colours - and is just under 7K. It’s also rather large in comparison to the current trends of the web. Reduce the size to a more elegant 200 x 51 pixels, and reduce the number of colours to 8 (I’ve done this [here](http://www.sayanna.com/images/tsdbanner.gif) with no discernible loss of quality) and it’s only 2.15K. Feel free to use this if you think it’s a good idea. Caches notwithstanding, you’d save 5K per page view - which would add up to a lot of bandwidth saving over the course of a day. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/2 "2002-08-12T11:34:46Z")
Correct me if I’m wrong, Arnold’s usually the one to do the tech stuff, but: wouldn’t the SD banner be in your cache after you first download it? I doubt it needs to be picked up from the SD server everytime someone loads a page. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/3 "2002-08-12T11:55:07Z")
Aye, it’s usually cached for me. If I use Opera with the ‘used cached images only’ setting it still displays (providing I haven’t cleared the cache, obviously). ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/4 "2002-08-12T12:04:19Z")
On most users’ PCs it would be cached, and also cached if someone’s using a proxy server. I suppose the true saving would be shown by the number of unique users per day. The server logs should show the amount of times the image is actually accessed, as opposed to cached file requests. It was just an excuse really: I’m motivated by the aesthetics. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/5 "2002-08-12T12:06:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*It was just an excuse really: I’m motivated by the aesthetics. \*\* Aesthetics and necessity; it’s the most prominent indicator that my mind is wandering when I’m in the office… ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/6 "2002-08-12T12:08:19Z")
I’ve always wished it was smaller, because it’s tough to hide when one _is_ in the office. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/7 "2002-08-12T12:09:02Z")
Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/8 "2002-08-12T12:24:51Z")
Ditto. I got so blasé about the logo being there that I didn’t realise how visible it was to my boss, 20 yards away. I now have to open teensy little windows and scroll down hurriedly. Of course I’m sure he now recognises the grey/white stripes as well… ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/9 "2002-08-12T13:56:14Z")
Set your contrast and brightness both to 100%. It’ll all look white to the bossman. Oh, and you can get some paracetamol at the local Boots at the end of your work day. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![blinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@blinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinx)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/10 "2002-08-12T14:31:26Z")
Something else that could be considered to save bandwidth is using compression like mod\_gzip. Compresses the text output which is proberly using a great deal more bandwidth than the few images and the banner does. ---
**Author:** ![blinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@blinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinx)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/11 "2002-08-12T14:38:21Z")
Ofcouse that should be compared to the additional load put on the server when compressing the output - proberly not the best idea I’ve had 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/12 "2002-08-12T18:42:06Z")
FWIW, I agree with **jjimm’s** suggestion to reduce the size of the banner. A few k here, and a few k there, and pretty soon you’re talking real bandwidth. I agree that it’d be an asthetic improvement too. Then again, probably the best bandwidth improvement could be obtained by eliminating “me too” posts. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/13 "2002-08-12T22:13:59Z")
Changing bitmaps for aesthetics/efficiency would probably be more Gaudere’s forte, but 7K is minuscule! And I’m not convinced that we need to go to additional trouble to make it easier for people to surf the web at work. Nevertheless I will raise the idea with the powers that be, but I doubt any change will be made. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/14 "2002-08-13T08:08:16Z")
**Arnold** , my link above already has a reduced-size GIF for your use. Please forward to Gaudere. Most of the posters I’ve enountered on the boards appear use the SDMB from work, so maybe it’s a good idea… ---
**Author:** ![femtosecond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@femtosecond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/femtosecond)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/15 "2002-08-13T15:06:21Z")
Poor guy, really thinks Cecil’s ego could be squeezed into 200 x 51 pixels. :wanders off, shaking head in pity: ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/16 "2002-08-13T16:07:21Z")
Yeah, sort of a black hole ego… ---
**Author:** ![Alereon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alereon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alereon)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/17 "2002-08-22T15:07:03Z")
Reviving thread to indulge pathological geekyness, with some additional options…Even if you don’t choose to resize the image, there are several ways to cut the file size down. I realize that the bandwidth used by the banner isn’t really significant, but heck, there’s nothing wrong with saving The Reader a couple bucks, and the modem users half a second, is there? 1. Keep the current image as a GIF, but reduce the number of colors. This has the most modest size savings, but has no cons. I think 2k can be shaved off of it with no visible difference, bringing the file down to about 5k. 2. Change the format of the current image to PNG. Pros: Absolutely no change in appearance of the image, at all. Much smaller file size. Con: People using web browsers older than v4.0 won’t be able to see the image, but its hardly critical to the functioning of the site. 3. Do both! Same Cons as #2, but the file size ends up being the smallest of the bunch. Overall, however much I might personally lust over option #3, #1 probably makes the most sense for the board in general. No visitors are lost, and there is a moderate file size savings. Actually reducing the dimensions along with #1, as jjimm originally suggested, would help even more. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/18 "2002-08-22T21:02:21Z")
I’ve just saved this page to my hard disk. The page itself is 118k. The images total to 22k. Grand total - 140k. This makes the banner 5 percent of the total. Even if eliminating the banner entirely caused a corresponding drop in response time (unlikely), it wouldn’t be noticed. ---
**Author:** ![Truth\_Seeker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Truth\_Seeker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truth_Seeker)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/19 "2002-08-23T03:15:37Z")
I was going to start a thread on this but I might as well post it here as I’m sure the ever-vigilant **Arnold** will see it anyway. Is there anything sacred about fifty posts per page? When I’m viewing a thread with say, 45 responses, it can take forever to load. This wastes both my time and the server’s bandwidth if I’m re-visiting a thread and only want to see the last fifteen or so responses. In some forums, this probably isn’t a big deal. But in GD or the Pit, the posts can be quite long. If the page size were, say, 25 posts instead of 50, the server would have to do considerably less work because it won’t have to serve up those 30 posts that I don’t really need to see again. It’s true that shorter pages might have some effect on the continuity of the debate. On the other hand, I doubt fifty posts per page has been emperically determined to be optimal. Oh, and **Rowrrbazzle** , I think the 5% number may be misleading. My understanding is that sometimes, even a small increase in server load can dramatically erode performance. It’s not really linear. If you could decrease the server load by 10 or 15%, you might see a pretty dramatic decrease in response time. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508/20 "2002-08-23T09:47:55Z")
**Truth Seeker** , you can change your settings from the User CP link/ Edit Options/ Thread View Options/ Default Posts Per Thread. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bandwidth-saving-suggestion-for-the-boards/123508.md?page=2)