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WebWarper / Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.) / Usage of WebWarper

Does WebWarper really compress my traffic?

WebWarper service provides traffic saving mainly because of implementing special standard for delivering compressed web pages that is known as gzip (or, to be more precise, "Content-Encoding: gzip"). There are several situations, when this technique does not work.

1. The most simple reason — you did not disable WebWarper ads.

By default, WebWarper adds advertising (banners, pop-ups, etc.) to all pages you view. Of course, advertisement consumes traffic.

In order to save traffic it is necessary to disable WebWarper ads. It is very simple. Please see the question "WebWarper adds to viewed pages a lot of advertisement. Is it possible to remove it?".

2. Source server itself supports gzip compression of the pages. For example, all pages generated by Google search engine are compressed. Of course, WebWarper will not compress such pages (if "super-dense" mode is not used).

Regretfully, the majority of sites do not compress pages (see the question "The sites themselves support gzip — why do I need WebWarper?"). Even if the site itself is compressed (like Google), the sites you get to following the links on this site (for example, Google search results) are quite possible to be uncompressed. Thus, it makes sense to view through WebWarper even the sites like Google, for surfing to other sites you still continue using the economy mode.

3. All modern browsers support gzip, but this support is not always enabled. Besides that, there are proxy servers and firewalls that forbid translating compressed pages.

It is easy to recognize this situation. The main page of the service should demonstrate bright message (red letters on yellow background) stating, that gzip is not supported.

Due to some reason, Internet Explorer that is included in Microsoft Windows, by default is usually customized in a way that gzip support is disabled. Standard of transmitting gzip is a part of a so-called HTTP 1.1 protocol. However, Microsoft company by defaults offers the settings of Internet Explorer that correspond with HTTP 1.0 protocol, which became obsolete in 1990-s.

From the theoretical point of view, this way is more reliable. On the other hand, all sites that use gzip, for example, Yahoo!, Google or WebWarper service, have to send to browser the uncompressed pages.

To customize Internet Explorer correctly, open "Tools / Internet Options..." in the main menu of the browser, select the "Advanced" tab, find "HTTP 1.1 settings" and set flags "Use HTTP 1.1" and "Use HTTP 1.1 through proxy connections". After that, it is necessary to restart browser (close all browser windows and start it again).

The problem can be connected not only with browser settings, but also with a proxy server or firewall. In this case it can be recommended to contact your administrator, or search for the combination of your firewall name and "gzip" in Google.

4. There is one moment that can confuse when measuring traffic use with and without WebWarper. WebWarper requires installation of several JavaScript files to client computer. Installation is performed invisibly, either in course of the WebWarper first use, or when the service is renewed. Some traffic is used (usually — something close to 100 KB).

Downloaded JavaScript files are cashed by browser in course of the first addressing of any site through WebWarper. When viewing the following sites and pages the scripts do not consume traffic until the service renewal (that usually does not occurs more often than once a day). It you would like to measure traffic saving, do not do it at the first use of the service. View some site via WebWarper first, and measure and compare traffic in course of the following requests.

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