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bkennedy
bkennedy
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Just a question about how Inquisit works online - I can't find it in the documentation or other forum topics but might be missing it.  My program works great on my computer, but online the load times are extremely long (about 5 minutes on Internet Explorer, or time out entirely).  The problem is likely the number of images in my program.  I have 5 versions of "target" image sets (63 images per set, and am using the "include" function so that every 5 participants will get a different set), plus filler images (252 - each participant will get the same fillers).  My question is that when Inquisit loads, does it load ALL images (252+63+63+63+63+63) or does it load only images called in the script (252+63).  I'm just wondering the best way to cut the load times down (e.g., cut down on the number of filler images, or maybe use the "batch" function instead).

Thanks heaps!
Dave
Dave
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Inquisit Web downloads all files required by the script to the participant's computer prior to executing the script. Whether that means all sets of images in your case or not depends on how exactly you've set up the script. If you've used <include> correctly, only one set (63 images) plus the fillers (252 images) should be downloaded. Depending on the size of the images (in terms of storage, not resolution), that may still be a substantial amount of data that has to be transferred and thus take some time. Regardless of overall data transfer volume, the number of files you transfer also affects load times (as Inquisit e.g. tries to verify that each file has been downloaded properly -- transferring a single 2MB file will be faster than transferring 10 200KB files).

Countermeasures would be to (a) reduce the file sizes as much as possible, and (b) possibly reduce the number of filler images. I don't see how switching to <batch> could help, as that would not reduce the amount of data / number of files that have to be transferred in and of itself.

Hope this helps.

bkennedy
bkennedy
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Posts: 7, Visits: 83
Great - thanks!  That's very helpful.
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