Hi there
does anybody know how to add assets into a RW file?
Also, if can be done, will this increase the speed in which the pdf will open compared to having it linked to a file on the server?
Any advice will be much appreciated.
Thanks
As far as I know you can add PDF assets. I don’t know the specifics as I always directly upload PDFs or zipped PDFs to my server.
Should make no difference in speed because in both cases they are being opened by the hosting area you rent … just in different folders.
Hi Mathew,
thanks for your advice, much appreciated. I now found the way to add the pdf files to the resources. It makes it actually a lot faster from when I had the files uploaded onto my server and then linked…… I now just wonder if it will still get even faster than this if I would use the PDF Embed Stack??? I have an old version of this stack and will need to upgrade if I want to use it. Does anybody know if this would increase the speed even further than the embedding in resources?
Hi @hucky,
Adding large assets (PDF, video etc) to your RW project makes the project file explode in size. Be careful of that, as it can lead to problems down the road.
A couple of PDFs is fine of course, but I’d advice against adding large numbers of them to the project file. It’s best to store them separately on your hosting platform and then link to the file or embed it into your page.
Cheers,
Erwin
Thank you very much, Erwin, I already started experiencing some troubles so I am most happy to follow your advice. Would PDF Embed Stack be the right thing to use for embedding or can you recommend any other i.e. better solutions?
Thanks again and cheers
Hucky
Thank you very much, Erwin, I already started experiencing some troubles so I am most happy to follow your advice. Would PDF Embed Stack be the right thing to use for embedding or would you recommend any other i.e. better solutions?
Thanks again and cheers
Hucky
Any embed stack for PDFs would work, as would embedding them in a frame. I recollect discussing this with you before in one of your previous threads.
Whether you should embed them or not (as opposed to offering them for download that is), is an entirely different discussion (again one we had before), as it’s not very visitor-friendly. Adding the files as a download workds much better, as most browsers will then open them full screen and the visitor can scroll thorugh the document much easier.
Cheers,
Erwin
Thank you very much, Erwin.
Wow, You got an incredible memory! I remember that we discussed similar issues quite some time ago…. but the problem seems that offering PDF files for either viewing or downloading is still an unsatisfactory and very slow affair as anything with plenty of photos or anything above 500KB simply takes ages… I was hoping that there are any developments towards this matter. If I understand correctly, neither an embedding stack nor the simple download i.e. opening link will help in any way with the speed of making the pdf available to the visitor? is that correct?
When you say ‘A couple of PDFs is fine’ what does that actually mean? 10, 50, 100 files? … of which approximate size?
Cheers
Short answer: PDFs should not be a problem to download. For example, I have lots of PDFs to download for my students … a few of which are 1 Gb, 500 Mb and the such. Anything at 100 Mb (or less) takes less than a minute … typically much less.
So you either have a very different sense of what “takes ages” or you definitely have a problem … but it’s hard to believe it’s anything related to PDF size. My first guesses would be related to your personal internet connection (is this problem also true for customers) or how your hosting company handles things. I suppose your hosting company could be very slow in how it handles downloads, or somewhat “throttles” speed for sites that have lots of downloads. This is just a guess on my part. But, bottom line, if your PDFs are 1, 2 Mb (or smaller) and take more than a few seconds then something odd is going on.
… and if you are using the dreaded Go Daddy as a host and server … well that’s your answer right there.
Hi Mathew,
this was a very helpful answer, indeed. Thank you. And I know what I need to check from now on which is my German server…… I am far below the file size you mention…… a 1-2 MB file takes up to a minute to download….. If you like to try with your server, here s the URL:
Cheerio
I downloaded the PDF titled: bkk-post.pdf. It is 1 Mb in size. Downloaded in less than 5 seconds. So it seems there’s nothing wrong with your server. My guess is your personal internet connection is slow, but the host’s server and downloads work just fine for me. BTW I do not have a super fast internet connection (it’s not slow, but about “average” for the U.S.).
Thank you very much, indeed, Mathew. Your practical and hands-on tips really helped me a lot understanding this issue better.
Kind regards
Hucky