Good news! YWS is now using Akamai, a content delivery network, to serve static files (like images) as close to you as possible. As a result, many of you who live outside North America will see a huge boost in speed; in New Zealand for instance, loading times have been reduced from 10 sec to 7 sec.
Even if you live in North America, you might still notice a boost in speed; it depends on how far away you are from Chicago, which is where the YWS server is now located.
Moreover, I managed to optimize the pages such that the header ad now always loads last. This doesn't really speed up the site, but in doing so, the site should seem a second or two faster no matter where you are accessing YWS from.
So between Akamai and the new server, load times have collectively gone down anywhere from 50% to 70%. Of course, the site has been experiencing some downtime during this transition, but the end result is a much faster YWS. From now on, downtime should be minimal.
In a couple more weeks, I'll also be adding a second YWS server in London, which should further boost loading times for everyone in the UK and Europe. Then hopefully by the end of the year, a third YWS server will be added in Tokyo, which will make the site faster for everyone in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
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