Hi, I’m Frank from Germany. This is my first post.
I created a website with 5 pages, nothing special, just some text and graphic. On one webpage I offer 3 zip files for download. The file sizes are 100 MB, 150 MB and 600 MB. After all work is done I transfer with the internal publish function the files and content to the web server.
And here comes the problem. My internet connection has 2 Mbit /sec upload speed. In the beginning of upload I see the full upload speed of 2 Mbit /sec. All small files are transferred in maximum speed to the web server. After all small files are already transferred and only the large download files remains, the transfer speed drops extremely down. If then only the large 600 MB file is left, the download speed is less that 20 kbit. So, I need more than a day to finish the complete transfer.
I have tried all setting under “Publish” in Connections and Protocol without any improvements. The last biggest file needs unacceptable long time.
Does anyone have an idea what could be wrong in my case? Thanks for any help.
Ideally, files of this size should be uploaded through an separate FTP application to ensure correct and complete transfer. Very often, such applications can resume uploads that are not successful on the first attempt. You may also like to check that your web host hasn’t imposed restrictions on individual file sizes when uploading.
francbrowne, I had the same idea. I transferred the big download files with FileZilla to the web server. But how can I prevent Sparkle from transferring the files anyway? The file download is triggered by a button.
Instead of creating a link to download a file, just create a link that goes to an external link and then put in the full URL of your file. For example, if you uploaded your files to a folder on your web server named downloads. Your URL will be something like https://yourdomain/downloads/yourFile.pdf. Have the link open in new page. Typically, if the file type is something that can open in a web browser, the file will display in the new window when the link is clicked. IF it’s a file type that cannot be displayed, it will download to the user’s computer. So, things like PDF’s or image files will most likely open in the browser. If you want to avoid the possibility of that happening at all (force download) just zip each file before uploading. Not only could this make the files smaller but it will ensure the file is downloaded rather than displayed. Creating the zip is simple enough, just right-click on the file on your computer and select the Compress option. This will create a zip file ready for uploading.
If you work this way, there will be no need to have the files included as part of the Sparkle upload. In fact, if there is no reference to the download files, they shouldn’t be included in the Sparkle upload at all. The good thing about working this way is you don’t have to open Sparkle if you change the download files in the future. You simply upload the revised file via FTP and it will overwrite the old file on the server.
francbrowne, I followed your instructions and it works much faster. With FileZilla, the large zip files are transferred with full bandwidth. Thanks for your help. But why doesn’t that work with Sparkle?
If Duncan reads this, I would appreciate a comment from him.
Dedicated FTP apps are more feature-rich and can overcome many of the issues revolving around file transfers. FTP facilities within apps are usually scaled down versions that can cope very well with normal uploads, but may lack some of the problem-resolution abilities of dedicated apps. I think it’s nice to have an FTP facility within an app like Sparkle, but it cannot really be expected to cope with every FTP issue that may present itself.
Just to chip in, Sparkle creates a default folder on the server called “downloads” whenever a file is attached to the Sparkle document. So if you prefer to overwrite an already uploaded file then you can FTP it to the “download” folder.
But I think all in all it defeats the purpose, for example I purchase a new iMac… With the pdf (for example) within my Sparkle file I have it all in one place instead of searching where those pdf files are on my local server. The Sparkle file becomes portable with all the files making up my website contained.