Bob,
 
I have not forgotten about our conversation nor your generous offer to
review the new site - which I am very excited about.  I hope to have
something to you by the end of this week which I, in turn, hope will
work out well for the students return from break.
 
I finally had an opportunity to review both student papers that you
provided me.  They were a pleasure to read.  Please extend my thanks to
Nick and Amy for allowing me to review them.
 
I found Nick Milot's comments especially interesting where he talked
about timing issues of initial and refresh loads based on the total size
of the page and the random image size.
 
When I provide you the new home page - in addition to whatever analysis
you are willing to provide I would be very interested in receiving
answers to the following:
 
The new home page will, I believe, have three "script" elements on it
(one for the date, one for a drop down box, and one for the picture
rotation) As part of your analysis, can you provide suggestions to
modify the page without substantially changing the design elements which
would help reduce the page size?  - in particular recommendations on
simplification (better alternatives) or elimination of scripting
elements, image sizes, and other features.
 
The current model would have between 5-15 images in rotation.  I would
be interested in knowing what the impact would be to not having
constantly rotating pictures on the home page, but instead having a
static image which was manually changed periodically.  When I say
impact, the ideal would be an analysis which addresses the following:
 
1.      load speed with a static picture vs. rotating pictures over a
56.6 modem under the existing structure
2.      load speed with rotating pictures but with a different delivery
system for the rotation
3.      refresh implications based on number of pictures in rotation
4.      load speed implications based on various sizes of the pictures
5.      load speed implications if other page elements were reduced
(size) but rotation was kept
6.      impact (if any) on quality of user experience or perception of
page quality with or without rotation.  In other words, there is
currently an assumption that if we have a rotating picture (in addition
to changing news items) it gives the perception of a fresh, current page
when a user visits multiple times.  Realizing that the new model allows
for pictures within the news items, is a rotating picture necessary to
gain a positive response/impression from the end user - will they be
disappointed say if the picture only changes monthly (or bi-monthly, or
weekly???? - what is the right frequency) or will they not care.
Obviously your previous analysis showed that their impression is
negative if they have to wait longer than a few seconds, so now the
question is what is the right balance between waiting and "fresh"
content - is 7 seconds as good as 5 seconds if we can have some rotation
at 7 seconds and none at 5 seconds or is 5 seconds with no rotation more
advantageous or is 3 seconds or under with a stripped down homepage
better - what is the right balance between as Nick puts it in his paper,
"presentation" and "performance" - If you feel it could be in the scope
of your class, I would love to have you/your students provide some solid
recommendations on the balancing of presentation and performance - I
know that your course focus is performance, but the real value of course
lies in maximum performance with minimum impact on presentation.
 
Talk to you soon.
 
Tom Flynn