Chapter 1. Understanding web performance
This chapter covers
- Why web performance matters
- How web browsers talk to web servers
- How poorly performing websites can be detrimental to the user experience
- How to use basic web optimization techniques
You’ve probably heard about performance as it relates to websites, but what is it and why should you and I care about it? Web performance refers primarily to the speed at which a website loads. This is important because shorter load times improve the user experience for your site on all internet connections. Because this improves the user experience, the user is more likely to see what your website has to offer. This helps you achieve goals as simple as getting more users to visit and read your website’s content, or as lofty as getting users to take action. Slow websites test users’ patience and might result in them abandoning your website before they ever see what it has to offer.
If your website is a major source of revenue, it literally pays to take stock of your site’s performance. If you have an e-commerce site or a content portal that depends on advertising revenue, a slow site affects your bottom line.
In this chapter, you’ll learn the importance of web performance, basic performance-boosting techniques, and ways to apply them in order to optimize a client’s single-page website.