Shape 5

Maybe it would be nice to add a simple template with less code in it. A real lightweight. A max 2 secondes website.

I don't always need a template which is good looking, browsing the other sites they kind of all are going to look pretty much the same to me.
Big slider, space, 3 boxes, parallax of image with text in front, boxes, footer. Think the picture is clear.

The templates are nice but to slow. Doing a bit of research only a few sites are faster then 3 or 4 seconds (showcase)  which is also quite slow. Even the S5 homepage takes more then 4,5 seconds to load. For reference, rockettheme homepage took 1,5 second to load. Ran them more then once on gtmetrix. I like your work very much and no reason to leave after the account expires, but there also is a demand for fast websites, with less functionality, maybe a extra (free or not) template based on that ?
Used most tools available, but there are also to many requests.

Kind regards,

Hello,

Thank you for your feedback. Loading a site in 3 to 5 seconds is about the average for websites, anything within that range is acceptable. Anything below 3 seconds is quite fast. The template itself actually has very little to do with site speed, most of your site speed is based on four things:

1. The speed of your server. Most shared hosting plans tend to be slower. But even dedicated servers you have to consider the current load on the server.

2. The amount and size of your content. ie: large pictures, or more pictures will slow down a site. In the case of our homepage we have a lot of images, but they need to be there for aesthetics and the page speed still falls within an acceptable load speed. We can strip those things out but it really defeats the overall look of the site.

3.  Turning off features you don't need. Any template, not just Shape5 templates, comes with a lot of extra features like Font Awesome, Multibox, Lazy Load, etc. If you don't need them turn them off. Keep in mind that we're one of the few frameworks that allows to turn every feature off and truly turn off because of the css structure we've setup for each feature.

4. The CMS itself outputs A LOT of its own css, javascript, and php functions. Those are all default functions that the template can't control and add to the page load.

To see what I mean. You can compare the homepage of our latest template:

http://gtmetrix.com/reports/www.shape5.com/EBBZeQX0

To an internal page that showcases just the template itself, which loads in 2.91S:

http://gtmetrix.com/reports/www.shape5.com/zXJNldep

It's about a 1 second difference. So the difference is the images and and amount of content. Any site can maintain the images and amount of content on their own, this is just how we setup the demos to showcase its features.

One last example is our free template, which again is just showcasing the template itself and this comes in under 2s:

http://gtmetrix.com/reports/www.shape5.com/QY7sU8kQ

I also just checked the latest template demo urls of some of our competitors and they are all loading in the 4 to 5 seconds range. I didn't get any that loaded in less than 4s.

Don't get me wrong, I love your framework !
Made beautiful things with it.

Maybe spend to much time on forums where they think your site sucks when it is not rated A - A.

I hear you, got my site tweaked also, but took lots of time.

Just telling I like to see a fast template, with less code in it. Just for simple sites.

Got a good .htacces file (link) from Mike. Helped a lot.

The results in the attachment of this morning. Based on the Photobox template..took me a while but came from 6 seconds to 3.05

Tried to get the Y slow grade a bit better, the rest is fine. But is not easy for me.

I will try the free template next time, thanks for the reply.

Glad to see your scores improved.

The Free Template Design Control is definitely the most minimal product we offer and if speed is what your looking for it is probably the best bet. When you start adding extensions such as Sliders, Accordions, Images this is what slows down sites. Even with all those elements though if you have a VPN/Dedicated box it should still load fast if you have optimized everything properly.

Hey Gutshot,

Also feel free to complete our survey here for the types of Genre's you are looking for.

http://www.shape5.com/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,75/topic,37011.msg150179

Thanks,

Haha, Great idea !

Close call so far  ;D ( all 50 % now)

I miss transportion, shipping companies ( vessels/barges/trucks) and a club/pub/bar template.

I know it is hard to choose, we all have a different background and branche/business you know best and want to see.

Where I live most Corporate/Business will go to bigger professional designers, so we have to focus on the small companies or the little one man business which don't have the time or knowledge to make an own online WYSIWYG (wix etc. )website, not some fool with a hobby like me  ;D

Well, we wait and see what is demand most.

Thanks :)

Hopefully we get lots of input from the survey.