I just checked the site and I've noticed improvement! (about 5 seconds)

The javascript that I'm referring too on your site is loading the left navigation menu, however, this might not be an issue considering the current load time. Here's the javascript code that you are using in your home column 1 copied directly from your source:

<script type="text/javascript">


var xmlHttp = false;
try {
xmlHttp = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
} catch (e) {
try {
xmlHttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
} catch (e2) {
xmlHttp=false;
}
}


if (!xmlHttp && typeof XMLHttpRequest != 'undefined') {
xmlHttp = new XMLHttpRequest();

}


function callCat(url) {


// Build the URL to connect to
//var url = "../BVmodules/CategoryTemplates/NS%20Detailed%20List/fillcat.aspx?categoryId=" + catid;

// open a connection to the server

//alert(url);
xmlHttp.open("GET", url, true);

// Setup a function for the server to run when it's done
xmlHttp.onreadystatechange = updatePage;

// Send the request
xmlHttp.send(null);


}


function updatePage() {
if (xmlHttp.readyState < 4 )
{

document.getElementById("preloading").style.visibility = "visible";
document.onmousemove = getMouseXY;


}
if (xmlHttp.readyState == 4 ||
xmlHttp.readyState == 'complete'){
var response = xmlHttp.responseText;

document.close;
// alert(response);
document.getElementById("preloading").style.visibility = 'hidden';

document.getElementById("categorylist").style.display = 'block';
document.getElementById("categorylist").innerHTML = response;
}

}

var IE = document.all?true:false;

function getMouseXY(e) {
if (IE) { // grab the x-y pos.s if browser is IE
tempX = event.clientX + document.body.scrollLeft
tempY = event.clientY + document.body.scrollTop
} else { // grab the x-y pos.s if browser is NS
tempX = e.pageX
tempY = e.pageY
}
// catch possible negative values in NS4
if (tempX < 0){tempX = 0}
if (tempY < 0){tempY = 0}
// show the position values in the form named Show
// in the text fields named MouseX and MouseY
document.getElementById("preloading").style.left = tempX;
document.getElementById("preloading").style.top = tempY
return true
}


</script>

We have been able to implement some changes to the website and improved the speed somewhat.

One of the remaining issues is the initial load times. From going through various BVC sites, I find that their initial load times (click to first byte) is around 0.5-1.5 sec. However, we are still facing 5 - 9 sec in comparison. After first byte, the loading is completed promptly, around 1 - 1.5 sec afterwards. Even the generic pages, such as About Us or Terms page, are facing a similar issue.

Can I please get some insight as to what is causing the initial delays. Our developers have looked at the HTML and they feel that it is not causing the delay. Other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

chewie999,
If you have delays on the initial hit it can't be the HTML. The Html is generated very late in the execution of your ASP.Net page.
Enable ASP.Net Tracing (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms972204.aspx) and see where you page is spending it's time.
My take would be that you added some stuff in the constructor of your base pages, or in the page_load, page_init handlers.
Contact me at corneliu at bestgames com au and I'll try to help you debug and fix your problem.
Regards,
Corneliu.

So we are also expieriencing this slowness on 2 sites developed for our clients. Part of the customization for the client involved creating a custom catagory list/product list control and putting on the catagory template instead of the one used by bv5 by default.
This sped things up quite a bit, however the product detail page, checkout, etc are all still incredibly slow. Our custome controls are using the BV objects and object collections, and run fine, it's only the pages using the defult BV web controls that are running so slow.

Has there been any resoultion to this?

To look over one of our sites having this problem go to www.falcontech.com

I found the problem (at elast in our case).


Custom Workflow steps.



There was an error but BV in all their wisdom catch the error and hide it rather than letting you know anything went wrong.



This results in an exception time lag on every page that uses the workflow, in our case every page that showed a price.

i would think some kind of alert on the admin dashboard page to lets someone know an error had occured would be highly practicle... considering your application, while robust is VERY large with error logs nestled pretty far in.

i wasn't thinking for every event, just one nessage that showed there were new errors.

How do we decide who get the notification and who doesn't? If there is more than one admin who should be notified of errors? When do we remove the error notification? When they view the error? When all people view the error?

I was thinking it would appear on the dashboard in the left column. Something like,



Errors have occurred.



But only if at least one error (not info and not warnings) had occurred since the last time the flag was cleared. The message should be a link. When you click on the link, you are taken to the error log and the flag is cleared. If you were to go back to the dashboard and refresh, the message would be gone.



The message would appear to any Admin authorized to see the Event Log.



The first Admin to click the link would clear the message and the next admin would not see it unless a new error had occurred in the mean time.

I wouldn't mind a method for marking the error for follow-up, the way an email is flagged after it been read. Some errors deserve second looks and marking these make it easier to find, resolve, and then mark 'resolved' or 'ignor'.

Attaching a note to the error for later reference might be useful too.