Sluggish and Incomplete Photo Uploads for Slideshow

[HK99Realty]

Hi Weebly,

Love the ease-of-use of your product. Using it to maintain a real estate agency website for a couple years.

I'm having issue uploading multiple photos to a slideshow.

When I try uploading, let's say, 20 pictures, maybe half will make the upload/show in the slideshow. The upload also takes a very long time. In order to complete uploads to the slideshow, I have to upload them in smaller batches of like 5. The uploads still take a long time and it's common that photos that were previously uploaded somehow disappear during the 'next batches' upload.

I've been having this issue for a few months and have tried a few troubleshooting methods. I've resized photos to the smaller size, I've done the uploads in smaller batches, I've have deleted the cookies and the cache.

I have tested on both Chrome and Firefox with the same issue.

I use the AdBlock add-on, but have both allowed Weebly and disabled the add-on with the same result. No other add-ons or extensions are used.

It feels like my only recourse at the moment is uploading photos 1 at a time. If I have to do that, my workflow will be even more crippled than it is now.

My current routine is uploading 5 pictures at a time (under 100kb per) and hoping for the best.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Best,

-Steve

[Erin6]

Hey, Steve.

Sorry to hear that you're having trouble with image uploads. Could it perhaps have to do with internet speed? Have you tried uploading images using different wifi in a separate location?

It sounds like you've already taken a few troubleshooting steps, and we definitely thank you for that! Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this soon.

Thanks,

Erin

Weebly Community Manager

[HK99Realty]

I'll give it a try, but I don't have speed issues doing anything else, even when multitasking with music playing. But when I upload these tiny photos, I close all other browsers and programs. It's the only thing I can do and it's like watching paint dry.

Tonight I'll take home some photos and see how it operates on a different computer on a different connection. I'll report back.

Thanks.

[Erin6]

Please do! Thank you.

[HK99Realty]

On a different computer (similar spec) and a different wifi connection (faster up/down speeds).

Slightly less of a laggy feel, but same issues. Sluggish uploads and missing pictures.

Uploading in batches is still seeing earlier batches losing photos.

Question: are there recommended specs for using Weebly?

[Adam7]

How old is the Gallery element that you're uploading to, @HK99Realty?

If you add a brand new element and upload photos to that do you see the same thing?

[HK99Realty]

Any time I work in a slideshow, it is a new element.

When I delete a property listing, I wipe out its entire entry. When I add a new entry, everything is new.

If I may link the listing page for your perusal: www.hk99realty.com/residential.html

You'll see that most listings will have a little slideshow. These picture files are miniscule (under 100kb). The Maps are also pictures--to keep the page load time reasonable, I just clip the map and replace it. I also deactivate the autoplay. We have a lot of turn-over, so I don't sit on older elements.

Part of the disconnect for me is that I can upload (1-2MB) photos to our MLS system in a fraction of the time it takes me to upload tiny versions to Weebly.

[Adam7]

Thanks for the additional info.  I've been doing a little more testing (after I realized you're talking about slideshows and not galleries - I read your other posts a little too quickly...), but haven't been able to get it to do this.

What happens if you try less photos at a time, like 2 as an example, then save that before adding more?

[HK99Realty]

I'll give it a try when I have some time and report back.

[HK99Realty]

I had a block of time to run some tests. Get ready for some data. It would have probably been more helpful if I were able to run multiple sets per test, but this is what I could squeeze in at the moment. What I experienced during the tests were on the lighter side of my normal activity, but present.

For the tests, I erased the slideshow for one of the properties (634 Reed). I used this property for each test to keep it consistent. It has 16 photos totalling in at 1.01 MB. Doing the tests on Chrome v. 52.0.2+ (most current). Speed test is 19Mbps up/3.6Mbps down.

I tested time and total pictures being uploaded in a batch. I also did a comparison between not saving and saving between batches.

Each test also represents a new slideshow element.

Here we go:

Test 1: Single Mass Upload (of 16)
6/16 Photos Uploaded; 3 minutes 6 seconds. Waited 2 more minutes, no further pictures uploaded

Test 2: Single Mass Upload Re-try (of 16)

10/16 Photos Uploaded; 3:10. Waited 2 more minutes, no further pictures uploaded.

Test 3: Batches of 5 (no save between)

B1- 5/5; 53 seconds

B2- 5/5; 1:03 (one of the previous 5 disappeared during this upload)

B3- 5/5; 44 seconds

B4- 1/1; 12 seconds

Test 4: Batches of 5 (save between)

B1- 5/5; 1:02

B2- 5/5; 1:09

B3- 5/5; 59 seconds

B4- 1/1; 15 seconds

Test 5: Batches of 2 (no save between)

B1- 2/2; 23s

B2- 2/2; 22s

B3- 2/2; 21s

B4- 2/2; 25s

B5- 2/2; 22s

B6- 2/2; 29s

B7- 2/2; 45s (1 previous picture disappeared)

B8- 2/2; 30s (1 previous picture disappeared)

Test 6: Batches of 2 (save between)

B1- 2/2; 25s

B2- 2/2; 31s

B3- 2/2; 27s

B4- 2/2; 29s

B5- 2/2; 27s

B6- 2/2; 33s

B7- 2/2; 25s

B8- 2/2; 25s

From this data, it looks like saving between smaller batches may fix the 'disappearing' photos. The time spent having to save between each batch and get back into the photo manager would be about the same as trying to hunt down which photos disappeared and uploading them separately. The disappearing photos on the 5-Batch (no save) were fairly well behaved this time around- I usually experience 2 or more of those.

Any thoughts on the batch upload times? I can upload about 25 MB worth of pictures to 3rd party marketing sites and MLS sites in about 30-40 seconds. Here, it's taking me at least 3 minutes to uploaded 1MB worth.

[HK99Realty]

And to explain tests 1 and 2. The progress bar during upload said 16/16 uploaded and then completed. That's when I waited another 2 minutes per test with no additional photos showing up in the manager (or in the slideshow).

[HK99Realty]

Just checking back in. It's been a week since I supplied the data.

[Adam7]

Thanks for the thorough testing.  This was all in Chrome, right? Do you have any Chrome extensions installed?

[HK99Realty]

I currently have AdBlock installed. But all of Weebly is allowed.

My previous testing before the data sets found the same thing happening regardless of the browser or extensions.

The same issues are also present on a different computer on different wifi.

[Adam7]

Ok.  Have you used Web Inspector in Chrome before?  If so, try doing one of your tests where it wasn't working, but keep the Web Inspector open and showing the Console tab.  Are there any red javascript errors?

[HK99Realty]

Using the Dev Tool console for Chrome, I did 3 tests. To differing results. Each test was the upload of the same 21 pictures into a slideshow. The element was new each test. All done on the same browser (Chrome--up to date).

Test 1: ~5 minutes, 8/21 pictures uploaded
Console notes: 
-Uncaught ReferenceError: wi is not defined (program):1

-Uncaught ReferenceError: wi is not defined / (anonymous function) VM2981:1

Test 2: ~5 minutes, 6/21 pictures uploaded

Console notes:

-Uncaught ReferenceError: wi is not defined (program):1

Test 3: ~5 minutes, what I thought was going to be 8 shrunk to 6 then to 5 pictures of 21 uploaded. 3 pictures disappeared as I watched it.

Console notes:

None

[HK99Realty]

Web Inspector is a Safari-based tool, so I used Chrome's own dev tool. I hope this was the right move. (Web Inspector for Chrome is an extension to find out what font people are using on their websites and their photo/link sources.)

Is there any other data I can supply?

[Adam7]

Both Inspector Tools are fine - can you submit what you found to our support team so they can investigate further? Thanks!

http://hc.weebly.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

[HK99Realty]

Sounds good. Just put in the ticket. Thanks for your help!

[fignewtonpie]

Just to piggyback off this thread, I'm also having this issue. At this point I have to upload them one at a time to avoid having most of them vanish....it takes foreeeever.

[Brodie]

fignewtonpie, are you using the drag and drop, or hitting the button to select files to upload? Do you have the same issue either method?