Hi !
I want to develop a new push-content system on ZenTracker, allowing a realtime interaction (shoutbox, notifications...) with minimal network usage.
Currently, clients are asking every time the server if there is new content for them. It's not very clean because it causes a lot of network overhead. Now with websockets, the server is telling clients and send them the new content.
I've done some oversea tests : it's extremly fast and I hope to share it with you soon :D
But to do that, i've to use an HTML5 feature : WebSockets. But it needs some requirements for admins : use a VPS/dedicated server (because you've to run a daemon on a specific port) and for people, use lastest versions of browsers (like Firefox 8).
People who can't handle Websockets are not loosing any feature : shoutbox will still auto-refresh, but in AJAX. People who can are switching to WebSockets (faster than AJAX).
WebSockets are an http-like protocol. But it needs an other listening port for 2 reasons :
- it's very very lighter than passing through a real webserver
- it can bypass firewalls & NAT : you are sure that people receive content
I've some questions :
- Can you post the test results ? http://websocketstest.com/
- Do you run your tracker on a VPS/dedicated server or on a shared hosting ?
Thanks guys ;)
VIDEO TEST :
ZenTracker CMS - WebSockets RealTime Test - YouTube