I believe this was asked about before, but I did not find any reflector posts on this subject.
Whilst I can and do use Webmon from time to time to monitor the Spots page, it occurs to me that this is putting some extra load on the server. Each person using Webmon effective access the spots page twice, once when Webmon checks the page and again when you open it in your browser to view the changes (perhaps more if you then leave the page open in the browser as webmon is still checking the page in the background at whatever interval you have configured).
Would it not reduce the load on the server by having a RSS/XML Feed (another PHP script on the site that presents its output in RSS format) that is only updated by real changes in spots (not by the reflector summary displayed on alongside the spots).
The RSS Reader that I’ve used (actually a Plug-in for Miranda-IM) downloads the RSS page and displays it to you when it has changed, so only requires a single page download from the server at each checking interval.
You are right. The page refresh will cause a page request every 1 - 5 minutes per user and probably every minute in addition per webmon user.
I think for most people one of these two methods represents the most convenient way of accessing SW and if that causes high server load then hopefully we can cope with that.
Regarding an RSS feed; this was on the task list for while and I can’t remember the reasons behind removing it. I think that after discussion and consideration it was thought that an RSS feed was inappropriate for something as frequent as SOTA spots.
I could see more of a case for a feed for alerts and the reflector, but that wouldn’t significant reduce the server load.
Happy to consider this again if there are factors I haven’t considered here. Also, I would need to be convinced that the service would be used by enough people to warrant the time invested in implimenting it.
An RSS Feed, Yes that would be just the ticket for most sota chasers IE 6 has this option has it built in, most modern browsers can make use of RSS feeds I even have my mobile phone set up for some of them.
If this is an option, could you please put it back on task list as it would make sota chasersing so much easier than visting the site every 5 minutes.
Thanks Nick M0RAR
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