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How Design Affects Performance

by Princeton 18 Oct 2007

The first few seconds when visiting a site is important. You need to grab the reader's attention immediately. So, if your site is slow to load - you have a problem.
Success is based on
how the reader
perceives your site.

Complaint I
Members complain that your site takes forever to load.

Complaint II
Members complain that some parts of your site takes forever to load. For example, the body will load but the column navigation is slow (delayed).

If you heard any of the above complaints and you wondered why - then continue reading.

Introduction

This 6 part series will focus on a few key areas that affect performance on the client-side. Our focus is specifically on first-time visitors as their experience determines if they become a member.

Let me clarify a few terms before we continue:

Performance - the reader's overall experience when visiting your site
Design - the generated page (everything - not just the eye-candy)

What Affects Performance

The following affects performance:

Progressive Rendering
HTTP Requests
Style sheets / Javascript Files
Size of Page / Objects
Other

Progressive Rendering

Progressive rendering is the act of displaying each object as it is downloaded.

There are 2 popular browsers right now: Internet Explorer and Firefox.
Both support progressive rendering but they differ on how they render tables. Hence, your choice of design and the reader's choice of browser can affect performance.

HTTP Requests

An HTTP Request is a request from a browser to a server. A request can be made for an HTML page or any object included within the page. Too many requests can affect performance.

Style sheets / Javascript

Style sheets describes how an object on a Web page are presented. It's a means of adding style such as font, color, position, etc to objects on a Web page. There are 3 methods you can use when styling an object: inline, internal, or external. The method that you use, it's location, size, and number can affect performance.
JavaScript is a client-side scripting language. It enables Web authors to create interactive sites. Size, location where JavaScript is embedded, and the number of files (external) can affect performance.

Size of Page / Objects

The size of an object can affect performance.
Location of an object can affect performance.

By understanding what affects performance, you can create a better user experience. Visitors who have a good experience will spend more time on the site. The longer a visitor stays on your site the more revenue you can earn and the more members you will have.

Next Article in this 6 part series:
How Design Affects Performance : Progressive Rendering

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