usable

Hi eatingrocks

Yes, these are the recommendations (below) for reducing download speed of our godaddy http://www.childrens-cancer-charities.com website.

Unfortunately they mostly have to do with the theme design and the fixes are beyond my expertise.

Granted I could enable gzip on the hosting account but I do not see an option to do that in my godaddy control panel 🙁

# TOTAL_OBJECTS – Warning! The total number of objects on this page is 43 which by their number will dominate web page delay. Consider reducing this to a more reasonable number. Above 20 objects per page the overhead from dealing with the actual objects (description time and wait time) accounts for more than 80% of whole page latency. See Figure II-3: Relative distribution of latency components showing that object overhead dominates web page latency in Website Optimization Secrets for more details on how object overhead dominates web page latency. Combine, refine, and optimize your external objects. Replace graphic rollovers with CSS rollovers to speed display and minimize HTTP requests. Consider using CSS sprites to help consolidate decorative images. Using CSS techniques such as colored backgrounds, borders, or spacing instead of graphic techniques can reduce HTTP requests. Replace graphic text headers with CSS text headers to further reduce HTTP requests. Finally, consider optimizing parallel downloads by using different hostnames or a CDN to reduce object overhead.
# TOTAL_IMAGES – Warning! The total number of images on this page is 30 , consider reducing this to a more reasonable number. Recommend combining, replacing, and optimizing your graphics. Replace graphic rollover menus with CSS rollover menus to speed display and minimize HTTP requests. Consider using CSS sprites to help consolidate decorative images. Use CSS techniques such as colored backgrounds, borders, or spacing instead of graphic techniques to reduce HTTP requests. Replace graphic text headers with CSS text headers to further reduce HTTP requests. Finally, consider optimizing parallel downloads by using different hostnames to reduce object overhead.
# TOTAL_CSS – Caution. The total number of external CSS files on this page is 4 , consider reducing this to a more reasonable number. Because external CSS files must be in the HEAD of your HTML document, they must load first before any BODY content displays. Although they are cached upon subsequent requests, CSS files slow down the initial display of your page. Combine, refine, and optimize your external CSS files. Ideally you should have one (or even embed CSS for high-traffic pages) on your pages. You can optimize CSS files using shorthand properties, grouping, and then minify and GZIP compress them to reduce their footprint. Remember to place CSS files in the HEAD and JavaScript files at the end of the BODY to enable progressive display.
# TOTAL_SIZE – Warning! The total size of this page is 360502 bytes, which will load in 80.45 seconds on a 56Kbps modem. Consider reducing total page size to less than 100K to achieve sub 20 second response times on 56K connections. Pages over 100K exceed most attention thresholds at 56Kbps, even with feedback. Consider optimizing your site with Website Optimization Secrets, Speed Up Your Site or contacting us about our optimization services.
# TOTAL_SCRIPT – Warning! The total number of external script files on this page is 8 , consider reducing this to a more reasonable number. Combine, refactor, and minify to optimize your JavaScript files. Ideally you should have one (or even embed scripts for high-traffic pages) on your pages. Consider suturing JavaScript files together at the server to minimize HTTP requests. Placing external JavaScript files at the bottom of your BODY, and CSS files in the HEAD enables progressive display in XHTML web pages.
# HTML_SIZE – Congratulations, the total size of this HTML file is 23949 bytes, which less than 50K. Assuming that you specify the HEIGHT and WIDTH of your images, this size allows your HTML to display content in under 10 seconds, the average time users are willing to wait for a page to display without feedback.
# IMAGES_SIZE – Warning! The total size of your images is 167999 bytes, which is over 100K. Consider switch graphic formats to achive smaller file sizes (from JPEG to PNG for example). Finally, substitute CSS techniques for graphics techniques to create colored borders, backgrounds, and spacing.
# SCRIPT_SIZE – Warning! The total size of external your scripts is 134500 bytes, which is over 20K. Consider optimizing your JavaScript for size, combining them, and using HTTP compression where appropriate for any scripts placed in the HEAD of your documents. You can substitute CSS menus for JavaScript-based menus to minimize or even eliminate the use of JavaScript.
# CSS_SIZE – Warning! The total size of your external CSS is 34054 bytes, which is over 20K. Consider optimizing your CSS for size by eliminating whitespace, using shorthand notation, and combining multiple CSS files where appropriate. By using labeled container cells and descendant selectors you can target chunks of HTML content efficiently without the need to embed extra claases and styles.

A speedtest here shows 72 seconds to download on a dialup:
http://websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/ (input http://www.childrens-cancer-charities.com )

Our target is 8 seconds on a dialup.

we have just launched this site with the expectation of over 500,000 visitors in the next 6 months. It is slow as. I have also recommended godaddy to some clients and also my sister 🙁 Now I feel like a fool.

Shame on you godaddy for cutting corners like this!

http://www.childrens-cancer-charities.com/

So, looks like I am seeking another webhost and will have to completely rebuild the website. Bummer. Wonder if I just upgraded my godaddy account if that would solve the problem?

I would love to see my site load in under 8 seconds.

Any advice would be appreciated.

If you are willing to move our site to a faster webhost we will trade you for sponsorship on our Child Cancer Challenge.

Kind regards
Scott