Please optimize the phone version very poor ratings

[LYM3R]

Very poor ratings on the phone version mostly because of render-blocking resources in the css and unused javascript.

PC version is good but the phone version lacks on all Invision Community sites that I have checked.

[Randy Calvert]

I would not expect a lot of changes with the 4.x series as IPB 5 is so close. It already has a TON of performance improvements such as a ton of removed JS, optimized CSS, etc. 

In a nutshell, keep an eye out for version 5.  You’ll like it. 🙂 

[LYM3R]

Do we have an estimate to when IPB 5 will release?

[Gary]

Hi @LYM3R,

The short answer is, no.

Invision Community 5 is currently undergoing alpha testing with specific community managers and communities for feedback. I'm sure they're on the better end of release, but there is no confirmed date for release as of yet.

[AlexWebsites]

41 minutes ago, Randy Calvert said:

It already has a TON of performance improvements such as a ton of removed JS, optimized CSS, etc. 

I’m looking forward to this the most, before any new features. It’s amazing how impactful page load and Google page speed scores are on ranking and traffic. Arguably one of the most important updates for anyone making a living off of their sites these days.

[LYM3R]

I wish to know if there are a way to optimize on phone for now without going to IPS 5 because who knows when that will be released. Does anyone know developers who optimize invision community sites and offers that service.

[Gary]

Take a look through the Providers Directory. There is a list of developers that may be able to assist you. Or you can post a topic in the Developer Connection forum to request assistance.

Even though v5 might seem a fair way away (subjective based on who you ask), I would personally hold off on investing anything into fixing something like this now. You run the risk of it all being for nothing, and if not, having to pay for the service again once you upgrade to v5. I am on the fence myself with a new community I am launching and can see the pros and cons of waiting versus releasing now. That's not including anything custom or paying for a developer either.

Best of luck!

[KT Walrus]

3 seconds to paint seems way high. 
 

Is this repeatable by others?

[SoloInter]

Yes :

[AlexWebsites]

On 5/26/2024 at 7:52 AM, KT Walrus said:

3 seconds to paint seems way high. 
 

Is this repeatable by others?

One of my sites

[opentype]

Those Page Speed results can be misleading as they usually complain about exactly the things you cannot change (as they are part of the IPS framework) and they don’t tell you about the things you can change. 

It’s much better to focus on the things in your control. 

1. The server and all its components play a huge role. That’s the admin’s responsibility for self-hosted installation. 
2. Caching of resources and maybe even full pages. Plenty of optimization potential here!
3. Third-party interference. Loading external ads, analytics, webfonts  … that slows down the site significantly. 
4. And then of course: what’s on the page to begin with? I often see community sites completely overloaded with blocks, trying to announce everything the site has to offer on the homepage with sliders and sometimes hundreds of avatar images to be loaded, plus external ads everywhere … Of course such a page will be slow to load. IPS can’t fix that with framework updates. 

 

[Randy Calvert]

2 hours ago, opentype said:

And then of course: what’s on the page to begin with? I often see community sites completely overloaded with blocks, trying to announce everything the site has to offer on the homepage with sliders and sometimes hundreds of avatar images to be loaded, plus external ads everywhere … Of course such a page will be slow to load. IPS can’t fix that with framework updates. 

But … but… but… but…

what do you mean I can’t put a 10MB image and a 25MB video on my homepage!

[CheersnGears]

26 minutes ago, Randy Calvert said:

But … but… but… but…

what do you mean I can’t put a 10MB image and a 25MB video on my homepage!

Outside of images, which I can't help too much because I'm going for magazine or better quality, the worst performing items on my page are all served by Google. Fonts, Ads, analytics from them are some of the worst things you can add, yet that's what one largely gets dinged on. 

[AlexWebsites]

Aside from the content and blocks that are cached, there’s some room for change around how IPS delivers CSS and JS. Need a way to combine files.

On a side note, two of my sites use CSM/pages app on the front end and they load slower than my sites that use the forum on the front end. Overall page load. I have to dig in but if you have pages installed, it’s a tad bit slower page load from what I can tell. 

4 minutes ago, CheersnGears said:

performing items on my page are all served by Google. Fonts, Ads, analytics

I see the same thing. I’ve implemented some lazy load around Adsense and also removed Google captcha code loading on every forum topic, which is post before register.

[Randy Calvert]

8 minutes ago, AlexWebsites said:

Aside from the content and blocks that are cached, there’s some room for change around how IPS delivers CSS and JS. Need a way to combine files.

Agreed that being able to eventually combine files would be helpful. V5 has SIGNIFICANTLY less JS and CSS overall.  It’s using much more native browser functionality.  So it’s absolutely a step in the right direction  

IPS has said already that the changes for v5.0.0 is not the end of the road.  It’s the start of the journey that lets them start moving in a direction that lets them support the software another 10 years.  Lots more improvements to still come in subsequent releases. 

[AlexWebsites]

6 minutes ago, Randy Calvert said:

Agreed that being able to eventually combine files would be helpful. V5 has SIGNIFICANTLY less JS and CSS overall.

I'm lookin forward to it! There's some things you can do, like not use custom.css, separate theme css, js, etc. Here's a bare bones, default IPS theme result with no blocks, just a forum home page in fluid view. I've made no edits or additions. Bare as can be...

Edited May 27 by AlexWebsites

[CheersnGears]

5 hours ago, AlexWebsites said:

Aside from the content and blocks that are cached, there’s some room for change around how IPS delivers CSS and JS. Need a way to combine files.

On a side note, two of my sites use CSM/pages app on the front end and they load slower than my sites that use the forum on the front end. Overall page load. I have to dig in but if you have pages installed, it’s a tad bit slower page load from what I can tell. 

I see the same thing. I’ve implemented some lazy load around Adsense and also removed Google captcha code loading on every forum topic, which is post before register.

It would be interesting to see if there is a significant pagespeed difference between mysite.com/ and mysite.com/forums for sites that use Pages.

My guess is that there are more pictures loaded on the sites that use Pages, but the /Forums URL should be decently speedy (except my site, because I use a bunch of forum image cards)

[opentype]

4 hours ago, CheersnGears said:

It would be interesting to see if there is a significant pagespeed difference between mysite.com/ and mysite.com/forums for sites that use Pages.

I haven’t seen significant differences, but again, it would depend on what is actually on those pages. 
As Alex said, Pages databases don’t seem to be super fast. I have one site where the Pages homepage doesn’t show the main article database, but actually a block listing the latest articles. As those blocks are part of the regular sidebar block caching, it loads faster than the actual article database. Might be worth considering.  

[SoloInter]

7 hours ago, CheersnGears said:

It would be interesting to see if there is a significant pagespeed difference between mysite.com/ and mysite.com/forums for sites that use Pages.

 

 

Home using differents blocks using data from Pages : https://www.internazionale.fr/

 

 

Forums : https://www.internazionale.fr/forums

 

 

 

Informations about config : 

- We are using a dedicated server : Agile M Pro v2 - i5 9600K 64Go

- Redis is enabled (2Go)

- Cloudflare version Pro 

Edited May 28 by SoloInter
Specificities added

[CheersnGears]

4 hours ago, opentype said:

I haven’t seen significant differences, but again, it would depend on what is actually on those pages. 
As Alex said, Pages databases don’t seem to be super fast. I have one site where the Pages homepage doesn’t show the main article database, but actually a block listing the latest articles. As those blocks are part of the regular sidebar block caching, it loads faster than the actual article database. Might be worth considering.  

That’s how my site is set up. Mostly with blocks from your plug ins.

[Dll]

The fluid view definitely doesn't appear to be as efficient as the other view options. I don't know if this is a relatively recent issue or has always been that way. 

[Dll]

In fact:

 

[Marc Stridgen]

Indeed, as mentioned my Stuart in the topic above, performance is something actively being worked on

[NZyan]

1 hour ago, Dll said:

I don't know if this is a relatively recent issue or has always been that way. 

Definitely a recent issue. Members complaining since the last update.

[Matt]

Here's Google's score for it's search page:

Must be nice to control where pages rank in search results. 😂

There are huge improvements in v5 but of course if you choose layouts that work better for humans, such as card layouts with header images, it means a lower Pagespeed score as there are more images to load. We've removed lots of JS, web fonts and CSS and the HTML structure is much cleaner.

You need to find the right balance. Purely optimising for a score from Google may mean it's not going to entice new members and keep members coming back.