Whole Page Consists Of SSI Includes.

...except for main content. Is this a bad thing?

[davewray]

On my main site I am re-designing it so that I can update it much easier when need be. So, I'm jumping on the SSI bandwagon and have a total of 6 SSI includes in my code, plus the main content (which is not an SSI file). My header, top navigation, left navigation, ads, footer are all in SSI includes. I have inputted the appropriate code in my .htaccess file so I can parse .html files instead of changing all of my pages to .shtml extensions. I use the HitBack method to do this.

My question is this: By having so many SSI includes on my page using the above method, am I causing an unnecessary load on the server, and will this affect the time it takes for my pages to load? Because we all know what effect a slow loading page will have on visitor retention (or even getting people to stick around at all while the page is loading!)...

I'm thrilled with the fact that my pages will be super easy to update now, but don't want to sacrifice it with page loading time. Thanks in advance for your answers!

Dave.

p.s. Another bonus with doing SSI's now, is that I've been forced to fix all of the glaring html errors the pages had and am now validating them. Hopefully this has a positive effect on placement in the SERP's? (Who knows what is involved in the SE's algos :)

[SeanW]

It'll be a bit more load, since the server has to parse the page, plus open the files per hit.

If the pages are static, what about something like Template Toolkit? Same idea, but it's processed once.

Sean

[cgikira]

If the files being included are plain text/html, it's fine. I've used SSI's on a site getting over 60K hits (to html pages) per day with no ill effect. Now if you start calling CGI programs with SSI, that's another matter, since the server will have to fire up the Perl interpreter to run the included scripts. That will slow things down.

-j.

[davewray]

Thanks guys...the files that are being included are just .html files. It doesn't appear to be creating a slow load problem for me, but I'm on high speed and not dial-up like others may be...

Dave.

[cyberws]

The way to get around the Perl interperter is to use mod_perl. In fact if a script is probably programmed it can see an increase of 200% or more.

There are cases of the same script going from around 6 hits per second to 243 per second hits using the same resources under full mod_perl.

If one has "dirty" scripts mod_perl can be used with the PerlRun method. Both methods keep Perl loaded.

[kaled]

Final connection (dialup, cable, etc) should have little or no bearing on the SSI/non-SSI argument. In fact, if the alternative to SSI is an IFrame, SSI might be slightly faster.

Essentially, use of SSI adds to CPU load. Hard disk activity will be affected slightly but whether this is beneficial or not depends on what the alternative is. In any case, the change in hard disk activity is likely to be so small that it cannot easily be measured.

Kaled.