Home Management System from Website,, HTTP request vs web sockets??

Other Hardware Home Automation
1

Hello Guys,, I have made a Home Management System project where you control your home from a website using Arduino and 1Sheeld.

I use 1Sheeld to do HTTP requests in order to send and receive data using an API on a "web server" I created and uploaded on Heroku.

The problem is that HTTP requests are a bit slow, so there is some delay between the time the user clicks on the website, and the time the data is received by the Arduino and change the signals.
Can someone please suggest another solution instead of HTTP request? I have heard about things called Web Sockets", what are those?

This is my project:
https://www.hackster.io/ahmedel-hinidy2014/home-management-system-control-your-home-from-a-website

Thanks for you time.

2

Perhaps you can consider a more lightweight protocol such as MQTT, CoAP or ZeroMQ?

MQTT seems quite solid and well-supported under arduino.

3

Http is a protocol that runs over tcp/ip. Websockets are the simplest messages you can send over tcp/ip. Look for tcp sockets.

4

The problem is that HTTP requests are a bit slow, so there is some delay between the time the user clicks on the website, and the time the data is received by the Arduino and change the signals.

What do you consider slow? An arduino simple web server setup can handle simple HTTP request at ~10/sec.