php/static html speed question

[dragonb]

hey all,

Was wondering on speed of a site...
making a site that has categories, then subcategories and items under them.

Categories will be updated off and on, but not often. The rest of the site will pull all sub cats and items from a db with php. I was going to have it also do the main page of categories too, but want it to load up as quick as possible. I believe it would load a lot faster if done in static html, then do the other pages in php. (correct if wrong) also, the main page would be cached by the browser for the most part and be very fast.

So, either update the main page by hand, or have php just update it when a category is added.
Is it a good idea to have php update a static html file? pros and cons?

another question on same topic, does php have anything to help the browser cache pages that haven't changed. I think asp.net has something like that now, saving server processing of the page again, and increasing speed.

thanks dragonb

[qball]

I believe it would load a lot faster if done in static html, then do the other pages in php. (correct if wrong) also, the main page would be cached by the browser for the most part and be very fast.

can I ask what is stopping you from trying and seeing the results? make a benchmark, reuse or sell?

to answer your ?:

basically a static HTML page will load faster than a dynamically server generated page. Why?

the webserver just serves static page.

the dynamically server generated page need to go through webserver to app to DB (maybe?) to, more apps, etc. This takes time and resources.

a static HTML page can load slower than a dynamically server generated page. Why?

the static page is large, or large enough that the above described webserver/app/db interaction is faster...

[dragonb]

hehe qball,
Was planning on trying it, just wanted to get some input before writing the whole thing.

It woul go to app to DB, so definitely faster for a static page, that won't be that large. Also, it won't be running on the beefiest server either, so static is good.
thx

[qball]

still try it anyway, just to see.

just remember, having webserver serve static page, don't expect to have much dynamic behavior for static page.

As in:

www.qball.com/daily_specials.html

will need to be manually or programtically written each day to be daily specials.

btw, have seen more than 1 instance of ws-app-db faster than ws-staticfile, due to ws config, load sharing/balancing, ISP restrictions...