I have a site using the Zen Grid Template 1.1.5

What would be a good path to follow to update it to the most current version. The site runs very, very slow as it is now and I would like to find ways to increase performance. There are no images, just text and menus. If anyone can steer me in the right direction I would appreciate it and would be happy to share a link if needed.

Thanks Frank

Hey Frank,

You can simply install the Zen Grid Framework 2 and any compatible template (Zen Blank, Zen Default or Folio Life) and switch to one of those in the template manager with your existing content.
You can keep you existing Zen Grid 1.1.5 template and need not uninstall it.

Share a link and we can suggest ways to improve the speed there.

Cheers,
Jason.

Thank you Jason, I really appreciate your help. The link is fellowship12.com/book

Speeding the site up would make it much better for my visitors.

Thanks again,
Frank

Frank,

Your site is an (very) impressively slim 184.5Kb! There is not much fat to cut there. The only thing I could think of to cut is mootools and caption.js, which will save you another 75Kb. That would be very easy to do if you change to Zen Grid 2, otherwise it is a bit if a hack.

I am afaid the only place to blame the speed on is GoDaddy. Price and service are always a trade-off. Cheap hosts oversell capacity. It is the only way they can sell at that price. If you want load speed increased I would suggest a change of host. Like everything else in this life, you truly get what you pay for. I can highly recommend Rochen myself. I honestly don't think it is possible to get better shared hosting. The downside? They are certainly not the cheapest.

Seth,
I was reading this discussion because I also want to learn about "slimming" my site as much as possible. But your other comments got me thinking about my Web host.

Currently, I use BlueHost, which I think may fall under the same description as GoDaddy. I took a look at Rochen, and yes their prices are higher than BlueHost. However, Rochen's prices are still reasonable on an annual basis, especially for their "Multiple Domain Hosting" option (I am currently building five domains.)

Thanks for the information!

Matt

Joomla! is hosted at Rochen as is the JED and Joomla! forums. Personally I see that as a good recomendation.

I honestly can't fault their service either. I have only ever made two support requests with them, one was resolved in 3mins, the other 6mins (it was the weekend!). To say I was blown away by that is an understatement.

I develop sites using one of the "Unlimited everything!!" hosts and then move them to Rochen when they go live. The speed difference between the two is phenomenal.

The other thing I really love with them is that there are no contractual tie-ins. You pay monthly and if you change your mind you are free to just walk away.

My own, bloated (566Kb), site is on Rochen's London servers (they offer a choice!). Caching is currently off, but it loads (from here) in 760ms. I am happy.

p.s. I don't have Rochen shares or even get a referal fee, I just like them!

This is great information. I appreciate your help. -- Frank

No problem Frank.

I just this afternoon downloaded and installed Zen Grid quickstart and it installed Zen Grid 1.1.5
I see in the forum here talk of Zen Grid2 - I am not able to find that in the Downloads area. In fact, where to find updates for any of the templates is a little unclear to me. Even if I search the website for Zen Grid 2 I get no result.

Hi Stanton,

The terminology is a little confusing but in essence:

The Zen Grid templates released in November and it is a precursor to the Zen Grid Framework released in May.

There isnt a quickstart for the framework as yet but you will find it in the Avanti, Foliolife, Shopfront, Zen Simpleshop quickstarts.

I hope that helps.

Thanks Anthony