I wrote many webmaster scripts to deal with all kind of problems I run into while building and maintaining my sites.
And here is a script that many webmasters may find particularly useful, it reduces the size of html files:
htmloptim
These types of crappy banner-whore pages are sprouting up like crazy these days, and it's the most annoying thing since pop-ups. Does user experience mean nothing anymore? I'd rather have a banner between each of the games than put up with having to click through and load 5 pages
I totally agree!!
Some of the new trends are downright disgusting. Like putting a whole gallery of pictures into a flash app. Even though you only want to see a few of the pics, you must download the whole gallery. Not very compatible either...
I did a small test of the common linux compression commands back in 2000. Here are the results: (note that some of the command options have changed since then, for example tar now uses -j for bzip2)
THE COMPRESSION UTILITY TEST
Compression utilities tested: zip, rar, gzip, bzip2, tgz(tar with the z flag invoked). Each test was run three times. For each completed test the system was rebooted. Hardware used: Pentium2 350Mhz, 256Mb RAM. OS: linux Mandrake 7.1. The system load was minimal. The "time" commands was used to time the elapsed time, the "ls -l" command was used to determin the size and a script was used to determine the total size of gzip files.
Note: gzip, packs individual files recursively. For bzip2, the command invoked was tar -cvIf file.bz2 dir (in gnu tar, the I flag invokes bzip2). for tgz, tar with the z flag invokes gzip.
TEST 1 - compressing multiple files
total size of the dir: 91.621.857 bytes, total files: 3540 (most of these files are ascii and html, but there are a few gifs and jpgs too.)
default compression settings:
tool time elapsed MB/s compressed to time elapsed uncompressing gzip 1m.44s 0.88 24.884.124 37s zip 1m.10s 1.3 25.813.958 41s rar 3m.25s 0.44 20.784.489 48s bzip2 3m.54s 0.39 17.399.561 1m.17s tgz 1m.09s 1.32 23.821.446 36s
maximum compression settings:
tool time elapsed MB/s compressed to time elapsed uncompressing gzip 2m.00s 0.76 24.670.516 36s zip 1m.42s 0.89 25.593.448 39s rar 10m.12s 0.14 18.698.710 1m.02s bzip2 n/a (the comprsession rate can not be specified through tar, is the maximum default?) tgz n/a (the compression rate can not be specified through tar, is the maximum default?)
CONCLUSION: use tgz (tar with the z flag) if time is an issue, otherwise use bzip2(tar with the I flag)
TEST 2 - compressing 1 ascii file
size of the ascii file: 53.819.786 bytes (the file was taken out of my mailbox)
default compression settings:
tool time elapsed MB/s compressed to time elapsed uncompressing gzip 42s 1.28 15.560.144 15s zip 41s 1.31 15.560.261 17s rar 1m.57s 0.45 11.507.387 17s bzip2 1m.58s 0.45 10.788.502 39s tgz 54s 0.99 15.560.907 8s
maximum compression settings:
tool time elapsed MB/s compressed to time elapsed uncompressing gzip 44s 1.22 15.486.842 15s zip 45s 1.19 15.486.959 16s rar 6m.40s 0.08 09.582.810
- make sure your eyes are not tense - whatever you do (learn to be aware of it)
- avoid/minimize repetitive computer work
- split the workload over many sessions
- eliminate glares/reflections from the screen
- take frequent breaks (every 15min)
- make sure to get enough sleep
- dust-free environment is very important
- get enough fluids (2-3L/day for most people)
- good, crisp display at minimum 80Hz refresh rate
- eye relaxing exorcizes can be very helpful
- don't forget to blink
- reduce the monitor brightness/contrast
- reduce the monitor color temperature setting to no more then 6000
- take high quality A, D and E vitamins
- stay fit, do sports in a regular basis
- a healthy diet helps enormously
- avoid fluorescent lights
Adjusting your working environment. Basically, I adjust everything I see on the screen to be easy on the eyes. Window layout style, fonts (color, type and size), background/foreground colors, etc. Gray background and black font works best for me.
Did this last week to determin my computer power use:
21 inch Sony G500; runing win2k at 1280x960 32bit: 98W 19 inch Sony G400; running KDE at 1280x960 16bit: 92W 19 inch Sony G400; no X, terminal mode: 73W 19 inch Sony G400; no X, mc in terminal mode: 75W external USB 80GB Maxtor 7200RPM HD; idle:10W in-use: 10W UPS - APC Pro 500; idle: 26W UPS - APC CS 350; idle: 7W
Dell Dimension T800r:
800Mhz P3
512Mb RAM
GeForce 2 GTS 32M RAM
60Gb 5400 HD
20Gb 5400 HD
CDR
100Mb zip drive
floppy drive
PCI Sound card
Dell system as above + UPS - APC Pro 500; idle: 87W Dell system as above + 20 inch Sony G500; idle: 183W Dell system as above + external USB 80GB Maxtor 7200RPM HD; idle: 200W Dell system as above; copying files from USB HD to Primary Master: 213W Dell system as above; running folding@home: 208W Dell system as above; Sisoft Sandra cpu benchmark: 212W
Duron system:
800Mhz Duron
128Mb RAM
20Gb 5400 HD
120Gb 7200 HD
250Mb zip drive
DVD
CDR
PCI
USB 2 PCI card
PCI Sound card
floppy drive
Duron system as above; idle with win98: 86W Duron system as above; Sisoft Sandra cpu benchmark 96W Duron system as above; idle with KDE: 81W Duron system as above; idle no X, terminal mode: 81W Duron system as above; no X, terminal mode, running tar with bzip2: 80-88W Duron system as above + UPS - APC CS 350 + 19 inch Sony G400; no X, terminal mode, running ls/dev: 165W Duron system as above + UPS - APC CS 350 + 19 inch Sony G400; running KDE, idle: 185W
other equipment:
20 TV, VCR, PS2 all in idle state: 10W PS2 on: 30W PS2 playing a 3D game: 30-45W 20 TV on: 63W VCR + TV on: 68W
Slashdot Mirror
I wrote many webmaster scripts to deal with all kind of problems I run into while building and maintaining my sites. And here is a script that many webmasters may find particularly useful, it reduces the size of html files: htmloptim
These types of crappy banner-whore pages are sprouting up like crazy these days, and it's the most annoying thing since pop-ups. Does user experience mean nothing anymore? I'd rather have a banner between each of the games than put up with having to click through and load 5 pages
I totally agree!!
Some of the new trends are downright disgusting. Like putting a whole gallery of pictures into a flash app. Even though you only want to see a few of the pics, you must download the whole gallery. Not very compatible either...
I did a small test of the common linux compression commands back in 2000. Here are the results: (note that some of the command options have changed since then, for example tar now uses -j for bzip2)
THE COMPRESSION UTILITY TEST
Compression utilities tested: zip, rar, gzip, bzip2, tgz(tar with the z flag invoked). Each test was run three times. For each completed test the system was rebooted. Hardware used: Pentium2 350Mhz, 256Mb RAM. OS: linux Mandrake 7.1. The system load was minimal. The "time" commands was used to time the elapsed time, the "ls -l" command was used to determin the size and a script was used to determine the total size of gzip files.
Note: gzip, packs individual files recursively. For bzip2, the command invoked was tar -cvIf file.bz2 dir (in gnu tar, the I flag invokes bzip2). for tgz, tar with the z flag invokes gzip.
TEST 1 - compressing multiple files
total size of the dir: 91.621.857 bytes, total files: 3540 (most of these files are ascii and html, but there are a few gifs and jpgs too.)
default compression settings:
tool time elapsed MB/s compressed to time elapsed uncompressing
gzip 1m.44s 0.88 24.884.124 37s
zip 1m.10s 1.3 25.813.958 41s
rar 3m.25s 0.44 20.784.489 48s
bzip2 3m.54s 0.39 17.399.561 1m.17s
tgz 1m.09s 1.32 23.821.446 36s
maximum compression settings:
tool time elapsed MB/s compressed to time elapsed uncompressing
gzip 2m.00s 0.76 24.670.516 36s
zip 1m.42s 0.89 25.593.448 39s
rar 10m.12s 0.14 18.698.710 1m.02s
bzip2 n/a (the comprsession rate can not be specified through tar, is the maximum default?)
tgz n/a (the compression rate can not be specified through tar, is the maximum default?)
CONCLUSION: use tgz (tar with the z flag) if time is an issue, otherwise use bzip2(tar with the I flag)
TEST 2 - compressing 1 ascii file
size of the ascii file: 53.819.786 bytes (the file was taken out of my mailbox)
default compression settings:
tool time elapsed MB/s compressed to time elapsed uncompressing
gzip 42s 1.28 15.560.144 15s
zip 41s 1.31 15.560.261 17s
rar 1m.57s 0.45 11.507.387 17s
bzip2 1m.58s 0.45 10.788.502 39s
tgz 54s 0.99 15.560.907 8s
maximum compression settings:
tool time elapsed MB/s compressed to time elapsed uncompressing
gzip 44s 1.22 15.486.842 15s
zip 45s 1.19 15.486.959 16s
rar 6m.40s 0.08 09.582.810
"Having a passion for something, and wanting to work on other people's broken shit is hardly the same thing."
EXACTLY! Well put indeed.
Things that help:
- make sure your eyes are not tense - whatever you do (learn to be aware of it)
- avoid/minimize repetitive computer work
- split the workload over many sessions
- eliminate glares/reflections from the screen
- take frequent breaks (every 15min)
- make sure to get enough sleep
- dust-free environment is very important
- get enough fluids (2-3L/day for most people)
- good, crisp display at minimum 80Hz refresh rate
- eye relaxing exorcizes can be very helpful
- don't forget to blink
- reduce the monitor brightness/contrast
- reduce the monitor color temperature setting to no more then 6000
- take high quality A, D and E vitamins
- stay fit, do sports in a regular basis
- a healthy diet helps enormously
- avoid fluorescent lights
Adjusting your working environment. Basically, I adjust everything I
see on the screen to be easy on the eyes. Window layout style,
fonts (color, type and size), background/foreground colors, etc.
Gray background and black font works best for me.
Did this last week to determin my computer power use:
/dev: 165W
21 inch Sony G500; runing win2k at 1280x960 32bit: 98W
19 inch Sony G400; running KDE at 1280x960 16bit: 92W
19 inch Sony G400; no X, terminal mode: 73W
19 inch Sony G400; no X, mc in terminal mode: 75W
external USB 80GB Maxtor 7200RPM HD; idle:10W in-use: 10W
UPS - APC Pro 500; idle: 26W
UPS - APC CS 350; idle: 7W
Dell Dimension T800r:
800Mhz P3
512Mb RAM
GeForce 2 GTS 32M RAM
60Gb 5400 HD
20Gb 5400 HD
CDR
100Mb zip drive
floppy drive
PCI Sound card
Dell system as above + UPS - APC Pro 500; idle: 87W
Dell system as above + 20 inch Sony G500; idle: 183W
Dell system as above + external USB 80GB Maxtor 7200RPM HD; idle: 200W
Dell system as above; copying files from USB HD to Primary Master: 213W
Dell system as above; running folding@home: 208W
Dell system as above; Sisoft Sandra cpu benchmark: 212W
Duron system:
800Mhz Duron
128Mb RAM
20Gb 5400 HD
120Gb 7200 HD
250Mb zip drive
DVD
CDR
PCI
USB 2 PCI card
PCI Sound card
floppy drive
Duron system as above; idle with win98: 86W
Duron system as above; Sisoft Sandra cpu benchmark 96W
Duron system as above; idle with KDE: 81W
Duron system as above; idle no X, terminal mode: 81W
Duron system as above; no X, terminal mode, running tar with bzip2: 80-88W
Duron system as above + UPS - APC CS 350 + 19 inch Sony G400; no X, terminal mode, running ls
Duron system as above + UPS - APC CS 350 + 19 inch Sony G400; running KDE, idle: 185W
other equipment:
20 TV, VCR, PS2 all in idle state: 10W
PS2 on: 30W
PS2 playing a 3D game: 30-45W
20 TV on: 63W
VCR + TV on: 68W