[thelist] PHP help wanted & fonts tip

Jay Blanchard jay.blanchard at niicommunications.com
Mon Oct 28 07:09:15 CST 2002


[snip]
under pressure seeking shortcuts (aren't we all), has anyone got a PHP
method for calculating estimated download time for files?

I've got a load of images and I want to warn about possible lengthy
downloads in a friendly way.

Failing a ready made script, can anyone point me to a resource that
gives a good estimate of download times per kb for a range of common
connection methods?

It strikes me as weird that I can easily find the obscure information by
a quick google search, but find it impossible to uncover what ought to
be simple stuff...
[/snip]

If you want to code in PHP then you can get the file size and divide it by
known connection speeds. So if you have a file that is 86Kb;

28Kbps connection - 3.07 seconds
33Kbps connection - 2.61 seconds

etc.

So really there is just some quick math involved, along with the knowledge
that connection speed is not absolute. A 28K connection may not really be
28K at all.

HTH!

Jay





More information about the thelist mailing list