A question about Framework Builder

Dear WebAssist,

I purchased Framework Builder without being really sure what I was going to use it for. Only that it seemed really useful and would make me think outside of how I normally solved problems. I did not realise how amazing it really is. I have not used it for plugin's yet but I have looked at using it for themes as dreamweaver themes cause me no end of problems with adding "include" statements into the template and having it then delete code or not update at all on pages based on that template.

I have applied framework builder themes to a test template and had it ripple down all the other pages based on that template with the greatest ease. I can not tell you how much of a god sent this is as it will cut down the number of pages I need to create as well as any changes that I need to make to the template. I was also concerned that framework builder would remove my editable regions from what I had read on the support page, but it leaves them as is so that I can still change the header image and content as I did before. So cool.

I have never used ADDT and only heard of it from these forums although I do use "include" on almost all the web pages I build.

My question is just a concern about if using the framework themes slows down the speed that the pages load or does it make no difference? I am working on a testing server so can not tell if there is a difference, But any input you have for me would be very helpful as my site used a lot of images and I do not want to impact the speed the pages load any more than necessary. Also are there any disadvantages to using frameworks in terms of performance for the user. The benefits to the developer are wonderful but I do not want to make the experience for the user slower or more likely to cause problems.

But again Congratulations, I am just blown away at how cool this is as my first introduction to the framework concept.

.. just to remind you not to confuse WA's Framework as PHP Framework (CodeIgniter, CakePHP, yii).. i'm pretty sure Web Assist will confuse some of web visitor with this term.

It isn't a framework, it is a concept that would allow you to build a framework of your own design.

Just like plugins only allow you to build plugins and themes really allows you to build themes. Really there are not any plugins or themes that come with it, which is what a completed framewould would generally include.

You can think of these extensions as organizational tools and concepts that are meant to help you organize, and modularize your code for easier re-use, manipulation, and long term maintinance by the nature of the improved organization.

My question is just a concern about if using the WA framework themes slows down the speed that the pages load or does it make no difference? I am working on a testing server so can not tell if there is a difference, But any input you have for me would be very helpful as my site used a lot of images and I do not want to impact the speed the pages load any more than necessary. Also are there any disadvantages to using WA frameworks builder in terms of performance for the user. The benefits to the developer are wonderful but I do not want to make the experience for the user slower or more likely to cause problems.

Any input you have regarding this I would be very grateful.

I suppose that in the same way you would not use the framework to just switch templates (as per Russell's great pdf) as it would involve adding somewhat more weight (and wait) than a simple css style-switcher.

The uselulness of the framework template method would be in the variety of triggers that can be used to invoke the change.

The page load difference should be minimal and not noticeable. The only extra processing is to find and replace the editable regions. All the extra processing is done on the server. The page that is sent to the client is the same size, so it won't effect client load time.

You'd have to test to see the exact difference on a given page or template, but I doubt you would find any noticeable difference at all.