Site Performance Update - Our New Front Page, Editor Issues Resolved
This afternoon we're happy to announce that we've shipped two site updates to help push faster content to you, increase front page performance, and fix an outstanding issue with our editor.
This is the first update we're making to improve front-end performance on the site and we will have another update coming soon.
Our New Front Page
Long end of day recap style news posts no more! We're going to be posting content on the homepage more frequently and have changed the layout to let you see an overview of the most recent topics much easier!
- Faster News - Minor news that we would normally hold off on until the evening will be posted as soon as it's available.
- Faster Load Times - Less data transfer means you're waiting less time for the page to finish rendering!
- A huge win for those on mobile who have had issues visiting the site in the past.
- No more front page video embeds which were causing browser slowdowns - go to the post itself to see them.
- Class Popularity?! - A quick overview pie (mmm.. pie) which shows the class distribution of decks created on our site over the past two weeks.
- Latest Deck Comments - Find decks that people are talking about right now.
Editor Issues Resolved
Many users have experienced issues with our text editor on the forums which would cause the browser to lag / delay when typing. We've narrowed down the issue and gotten it patched up. If you were experiencing issues before, why not try responding to this news post to check it out?
What's Next?
In our next site front-end performance update, we're targeting JavaScript and the way it loads on the site.
- We've already deployed this update to our sister-site, OverPwn.
- We're currently testing this update on our development HearthPwn site.
- Once we're done testing and are certain it is solid, we'll push it live.
I did make a poll on this to see if people likes the new page. Link to poll
They did the same thing with reignofgaming.net (LoL website) you have to click to read, ever since I don't go to this site anymore.
Why omg.... This is ugly and bad.
ReignOfGaming isn't even in the network anymore.
The new front page news layout is meh. It would have made much more sense to have important Hearthstone news in the main content column, and less important, sister site news in the sidebar. Lots of sites do this now to drive traffic between their multiple blogs.
Liked the old layout where the whole news were shown much more - more information direct on the frontpage...
ahhh... a nice update :)
In June, Google said that "within months," the search engine will adjust results up and down, based on mobile download speed:
http://www.thesempost.com/next-mobile-friendly-update-includes-page-speed-coming-in-months/
Using Google's website speed Tool, hearthpwn.com still has work to do:
Mobile Speed: 53 / 100 (poor)
Desktop Speed: 44 / 100 (poor)
https://testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com/
Mobile "friendliness" scored a very respectable 98 / 100, on the other hand. So kudos there.
I like how i looks now, but I dont like how it goes.
This is great news! The textbox on phone still is slow some times, but definitely better than before, and while typing the second part of this post is is smooth.
But more important, the loading times have decreased.
There's still something whacked about how you guys are serving browser content. I've literally never visited a website whose pages take so long to load. I have a pretty fast machine and I'm using optimized software, yet the pages still hang for 5 to 10 seconds each time you visit any of them, regardless if it's a deck page. Even right now while I'm typing the comment, the typing is unresponsive and laggy because there's so much junk side-loaded into your website. Social media, the Curse platform and like dozens of APIs... Seriously, I looked at the website through a connections app, and you guys are using more than a dozen APIs and relying on connections to their servers as well.
It's ridiculous, and the fact you made some changes means you know there's a problem, and that it's causing a slowdown with the UX. I would write more, but Jesus, it's a complete pain trying to even type out a post this long because of the constant lag and hangs. I'd settle for just some decent load-times on your pages, though. It doesn't seem any better to me at all. Maybe you really have to be using a mobile browser to notice an improvement, because right now it's still hanging for 5-10 seconds whenever you try to load a page, waiting for the browser to fully render and initialize with all your APIs and third-party sever connections...
Great update! The old front page was so slow and laggy not just on mobile but on PC browsers too. I find the news easier to take in at a glance as well - previously the news stretched across the entire window and required too much scrolling/eye movement to take in.
Can't say I like this new layout. It was good having an easy overview of the news to scroll through. Now chances are I will miss "important" (it is still a card game) information if the blurb isn't interesting enough. I liked how at times deck lists would catch my attention, but I rarely click on the various 'popular decks this weeks' are the mere title of such a deck doesn't seem to warrant further investigation.
Will we be somehow notified when a post has been updated, for example as information comes in at a high speed during card reveals? What about important stream events (reveals, twitch tournaments)? Will they feature prominently on the new page?
Like others have a suggested, a 'load as you scroll' solution would have been better.
Edit: I can't put my finger on it, but playing around with the site now and it seems to be actually a bit slower than before? Maybe I'm just imagining it or it's due to the fact I now have to load so many separate pages (or are there more ads?). As another poster suggested, it will mean having more tabs open :(.
In addition, should the deck pie chart feature in such a prominent position on the front page? Is there a benefit knowing 12.2% of decks uploaded were priest decks when on my way to rank 5 this week I could have counted priest opponents on one hand? Will these numbers change greatly as time passes and people upload their own decks?
WAAAAAAAAY FAAASTEEER.
THANKS!!!!
Old frontpage was way better but each post should have been loaded when you scrolled down to it.
How about addressing a major problem with "My Collection" loading EVERY CARD IMAGE and lagging like hell when all you wanted to do is check your card numbers after updating them with Innkeeper. I had to block the element in a userscript to make that page usable.
We want to rebuild the entire collection manager interface. It will happen, it's just a matter of seeing where we can fit it in :D
New layout is way worse, most of your traffic is just for news....
Load time is still slow, seems to be because it needs to pull all the deck information of all+9 classes on load.
Whats wrong with all of you? It was 10 times better, friendly and comfortable before.
Hey, this site loads a lot faster now. I can finally enjoy the site more. Even while at work or on the move.
Its faster in mobile. I love this new front page!