Does Omeka run slower when you add more photos?

Does Omeka run slower when you add more photos? Now that I’ve added 2,000 photos, my Archive doesn’t load quickly anymore.

https://topangahistoricalsociety.org/archive

Hi @THS ,

That total number of items shouldn’t affect how fast your Omeka site loads. I took a quick look at the site and it probably has more to do with the number of items you display per page. The default is 10 and you have it set at 100.

Other factors could contribute to slowness, but I’m guessing that is the main contributor.

Thanks @fackrellj , but Omekah also runs slowly when I’m working on the backend, editing and adding new photos.

Do you also see how, when pages load, the dropdown search bar appears for a brief moment? That seems to slow down the loading.


Hi @THS ,

I don’t think the search dropdown is a cause, but rather an effect of the slow loading. In other words, the javascript that hides the dropdown doesn’t run until the page is done loading.

The admin area has a separate configuration option for how many records are displayed so that could be slowing the backend down. I’m not sure what you have it set at. However, it sounds like you’re saying it’s slow in all areas and not just the Items list.

Other factors that could contribute are the plugins you have installed, the server you’re using to host the site, and your own personal internet connection.

Hi @fackrellj , yes, Omekah is running slowly in all areas. What do you think I should do first? Is there a way to solve the dropdown-menu problem? Should I troubleshoot with my hosting company?

Hi @THS ,

I recorded a quick video of your site loading.

https://www.screencast.com/t/iBwRwkDi7KFF

The front end is a little slow, but I’m not surprised based on the number of items you are displaying. I think you could improve that by lazy loading the images.

Obviously, I don’t have access to your backend so I can’t do any testing there. It could be a combination of a slower internet connection on your end and the host. I think if you contact the host, they will want you to upgrade your plan to one with faster or dedicated CPUs. If you are using a shared server, then your site is competing with other sites hosted on the same server which could also affect page loads at different times.

Sorry, I don’t have a more definitive answer for you, but hopefully seeing the video will help you decide.

Hi @fackrellj , thank you so much for showing me that! I want 100 photos to load per page, even if it takes longer. But is the dropdown menu that appears while loading actually an error?

I’m most bothered by the lag time when I’m trying to add or edit photos. Or when I click UP or DOWN on a photo page to get to the next photo.

I checked and I have 16 plugins installed, but I don’t even know which ones I’m using. Please tell me if you think it would help to get rid of some of them. I’m attaching screenshots.

Thanks!



I should also say, @fackrellj , that for the last few days Omekah has not been running slower than normal.

@THS ,

I don’t have any immediate suggestions. I might recommend deactivating any plugins you know you’re not using.

I wonder if perhaps you were using the Dropbox plugin to upload the files in bulk? It’s possible that this plugin was slowing your page loads if many files needed to be parsed each time you loaded the item form. But that doesn’t seem likely, because as you add files they get moved so it should’ve gotten faster as you added items and not slower.

Other than that, it could’ve just been that the server was bogged down by another site.

Hi @fackrellj , I use the Dropbox plugin, but beyond that, I don’t know which plugins I’m using.