[stokes]

I have a general question about add ins and how/if they perform the performance of the board. I'd like to install several of them but don't want to slow the board down. My question is "what / if anything does installing add 'in have on the board performance?"

I would assume that if you don put the blocks on all of your pages they wouldn't have a lot off effect untill the user got into using those specific addons. I also assume that having them installed but not turned on put accessed would not adversly affect your performance? Any input would be appreciated..

[Dizfunkshunal]

performance is based on several factors.
1. Server size and resources. (cpu, ram, bus, etc.)
2. Internet connection (both server and client)
3. Server setup (done right good speed, done wrong bad speed)
4. Scripting more error in code means the longer it takes for the browser to render(not sure about this one but i think its true)
5. User pc- if the pc is slow so will loading pages, malware, spyware, viruses, etc. all slow down page load times.

[stokes]

Yeah,

I get all of that. The question is pointed more towards the impact of adding more addins. You you see them having an adverse effect on performance vs. not doing any addins.

[Eestlane]

Adding modules generally doesn't slow down your site, however it depends more of the modules you install.

You should be more careful about adding blocks, though, as you probably want to show them on multiple pages. Again, it depends of the blocks you install.

It's best to just test it.

There's never a point in adding "stuff" if they don't really give any more value to your site (usability or content).

[layingback]

As Eestlane says, blocks affect every page on which they display. Most don't do much, so cost is low, but it all adds up.

With very few exceptions modules only impact performance when they are being used. So installing them and not using them shouldn't have any significant impact. When they run, the most likely attribute that will affect performance is db access. Your in the hands of the developer here of course, but bad design can mean lots of extra db i/o, and possibly slow i/o at that. But you can monitor it easily, log on as admin, and turn on basic debug, and the actual db i/o occurring, by module, is displayed along with the time each one took. Bottom of each page. So you can get a clear view of what each is costing.

But again fixing it isn't going to be easy (because if you knew how to fix it you wouldn't be asking, eh? )

If you look at several of the older modules that Phoenix has revamped, you'll often see that he has reported reduce db i/o. Painstaking work, but we're all glad that he undertakes it.

[Phoenix]

Unfortunately lowest sql queries isn't always the answer.

We tend to aim for lowest sql query load because that is often a major issue with shared hosting, which is why Diz's #1 item is the key issue.

For those with very large sites and high activity, scalability can be the key issue, so sometimes it is better to take the hit on sql queries rather than loading up PHP and your server RAM.