A friend recently asked me to check out his website. The homepage was loading slow, and they didn’t know why. I looked and found the culprit right away—a sucky-slideshow with 7 HUGE images. I couldn’t talk them out of using the slideshow. But I did show them how to make their website faster. One of Read More…
I need speed, well, speedy websites anyway. My goal is to build super-fast website themes that I can base my future work on, so here’s my first attempt. It’s a lightweight, responsive static website theme. The entire website CSS is only 1.67 KB, and the JavaScript is only 485 bytes gZipped! I’ve set up a Read More…
I’ve worked on a couple of projects now that use Bootstrap. I like Bootstrap for prototyping; it’s quick and easy. However, I don’t care for the weight, especially in public-facing projects. Analyzing one Bootstrap project that I’m putting on a diet has a final stylesheet of 150k and over 3,000 unused classes (ouch). Mobile users Read More…
In my quest to build the fastest website possible, I stay busier than a Colorado Taco Bell employee working the late shift. I have several methods of testing website speed; one of the automated tests I like to use is Google PageSpeed Insights. In following their recommended techniques, websites will get a lower grade for Read More…
When it comes to designing fast websites, I guess I’m a dinosaur. I remember the distinct sound of my 56k modem firing up and the challenges of trying to develop a website that would look good and load fast on slow connection. To me, a big part of user-centered design is fast loading pages and Read More…