Website access problem?

13 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
  • |
I've been getting about 7 to 10 visits a day to my fairly new website that I built by myself with absolutely no web design knowledge, only very limited HTML and alot of trial and error. Anyway, I got a message the other day from a person who is having trouble accessing my site. He has tried several different approaches, but each time internet explorer errors with "cannot display website". He seems to think it is because there is a /
at the end of my URL.
Now that leads me to these questions: what does the / at the end of a URL mean, is it better to not have it, how can you get rid of it, and could it cause problems for anyone trying to access my website???? :confused:
I have no problem with access from several different computers in different locations. Can I get a "ping" from some Warriors here...Thanks
Scott Rogers
Big Fishing Shop
#access #problem #website
  • Profile picture of the author aesoft
    Originally Posted by bigfishingshop View Post

    I've been getting about 7 to 10 visits a day to my fairly new website that I built by myself with absolutely no web design knowledge, only very limited HTML and alot of trial and error. Anyway, I got a message the other day from a person who is having trouble accessing my site. He has tried several different approaches, but each time internet explorer errors with "cannot display website". He seems to think it is because there is a /
    at the end of my URL.
    Now that leads me to these questions: what does the / at the end of a URL mean, is it better to not have it, how can you get rid of it, and could it cause problems for anyone trying to access my website???? :confused:
    I have no problem with access from several different computers in different locations. Can I get a "ping" from some Warriors here...Thanks
    Scott Rogers
    Big Fishing Shop
    The forward slash '/' shouldn't have any impact as to the page timing out.

    From peeking at your site it looks like there are a few widgets that contact other sites for information (i.e. facebook snippets and various ads). Any 3rd party sites that are contacted for data can impact your sites loading time... if not make it time out.

    You'll probably need to find out which widget(s) are causing the problem and change or remove them.
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    • Profile picture of the author bigfishingshop
      Thanks for the help, but I don't think timing out was the problem - the guy said he thought it was a re-direct to a page that doesn't exist. But why would it be doing that to him and no one else??
      On loading time...I have been considering deleting the facebook fans widget, since oftentimes it seems to load slowly, according to my status bar. The other one that seems slow is the Googleads box. Maybe I should just stick with text ads for those?
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  • Profile picture of the author elronzo
    Hi Scott .. the trailing slash maybe indicates that there is a default page created in a directory (folder) and not referenced by name. i.e. index.html in a folder called <spinners> doesnt need to be referenced by the full path spinners/index.html but simply spinners as the default page is implied - when displayed in a browser the index.htm or default.htm etc etc is simply displayed as mysite.com/spinners/
    The reason the site is timing out could be because it is calling data from (several?) external sources or the service server (Godaddy) is having a slow day running php code and MySQL for all the folks with Wordpress or joomla sites etc on its shared hosting platform.
    Nice wee site btw - elronzo
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  • Profile picture of the author kkoechel
    yeah, nice site, esp considering as you said "trial and error" html

    you should be giving advice, not asking for help, lol
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    • Profile picture of the author bigfishingshop
      Thanks kk, I appreciate it. You guys are too kind. I, along with several Warrior members in this forum, think that my site is ugly and unprofessional looking. I really need some design help, or a new theme, or both. But funds are limited these days, and I gotta keep food on the table. In the meantime, I'll still be working hard on it to improve what I can myself.
      html-helper.net has been a big help!
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  • Profile picture of the author phpbbxpert
    You have waaaaay to much stuff loading.
    I got a peak HTTP rests at 195 requests and at over 1 minute 20 seconds load time.

    You need to get rid of anything that is not making you money.
    And a good start is Facebook widgets and plug-ins. Facebook stuff always loads slow, but this is just a very small start, you need to trim a lot.

    It's not just the Request trip time that is hurting you, it is the number of requests.

    You have a quite a few tracking pixels for different ad systems that are taking almost 3 seconds to load, which is awful.

    All of those requests need to be cut back considerably to see improvement.

    I seen 30 requests that were not even found, those are a big waste.

    So I would start by seeing what you actually need, which stuff is actually making a difference in your business, what ever isn't, dump...
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    • Profile picture of the author janita
      The error may because of some file is missing in theme folder that you downloaded or it may be due to hosting error. If you are using unrecognized hosting services.
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    • Profile picture of the author bigfishingshop
      Originally Posted by phpbbxpert View Post

      You have waaaaay to much stuff loading.
      I got a peak HTTP rests at 195 requests and at over 1 minute 20 seconds load time.

      You need to get rid of anything that is not making you money.
      And a good start is Facebook widgets and plug-ins. Facebook stuff always loads slow, but this is just a very small start, you need to trim a lot.

      It's not just the Request trip time that is hurting you, it is the number of requests.

      You have a quite a few tracking pixels for different ad systems that are taking almost 3 seconds to load, which is awful.

      All of those requests need to be cut back considerably to see improvement.

      I seen 30 requests that were not even found, those are a big waste.

      So I would start by seeing what you actually need, which stuff is actually making a difference in your business, what ever isn't, dump...
      What software/program/method are you using to get this information? I am curious as to how I can eliminate, for a start, the 30 requests that were not found...what/where/who are these requests and how can I eliminate them. (first time I have ever heard of a "tracking pixel") I am a rookie, so please use laymen terms, like "the thing you hold in your hand and use your finger to press down the button is called a mouse" - LOL ! I'm not quite that bad, but you get the idea. I assume all this stuff you found is on my homepage, right?
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  • Profile picture of the author smakioday
    Exactly, the slash should never hinder access. What if you were going to another page linked, it would proceed the page url with a slash as well so you are fine. I think more than likely this is a end user issue and not the site.
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  • Profile picture of the author phpbbxpert
    I used FireFox browser with FireBug.

    If you Google FireFox Add-ons and search for FireBug there.

    Once installed, in FireFox you visit your site, right click and select Inspect Element.
    Then click on the NET tab in FireBug.
    Now reload the page and it will give you all of the HTTP requests and other info.
    Load times for each, status, URL being requests, totals.

    Tracking pixels are used for statistic tracking by some software's or add companies.
    It is nothing more than a 1px clear image. The details of how it works doesn't really matter.
    But if its calling it, it should be there, other wise there is no point in it being requested.
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    • Profile picture of the author bigfishingshop
      Originally Posted by phpbbxpert View Post

      I used FireFox browser with FireBug.

      If you Google FireFox Add-ons and search for FireBug there.

      Once installed, in FireFox you visit your site, right click and select Inspect Element.
      Then click on the NET tab in FireBug.
      Now reload the page and it will give you all of the HTTP requests and other info.
      Load times for each, status, URL being requests, totals.

      Tracking pixels are used for statistic tracking by some software's or add companies.
      It is nothing more than a 1px clear image. The details of how it works doesn't really matter.
      But if its calling it, it should be there, other wise there is no point in it being requested.
      O.K. I installed firebug and followed your instructions, re-loaded my homepage and can't seem to find load times for http requests, and I understand Firebug will show me all of my code errors, how do I do this?
      Firebug looks awesome, if you are a programmer or developer, but remember I am in the kindergarten of coding. (LOL) :rolleyes:
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  • Profile picture of the author phpbbxpert
    If you right click and inspect the page, the FireBug should popup.
    Click on the Net tab.

    Keep Firebug open, right click on the site page and Reload it.

    It should show all of the HTTP request info.
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  • Profile picture of the author Maxy28
    What is extended version are you talking about? Eventually want to host more sites. Making changes now would be easier .
    Is below necessary also for DNS?
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