subject: What's Your Web Page Speed? [print this page] What's Your Web Page Speed? What's Your Web Page Speed?
A web page speed is also referred to as the "page-load time". It is simply the amount of time that it takes for the pages of your website to load or become visible, once a user requests them.
If you are new to website development, you might not understand all of the factors that affect page-load time or even why it is important. You can learn about those things here.
First, let's look at why it is important. In the days of dial-up, pages loaded slowly because of the connection. Webmasters were careful not to use too many images or graphics, because it would make their pages even slower to load.
People with a slow connection are accustomed to waiting. Many of today's internet users have high speed internet. DSL, cable and FIOS are responsible for that. They are not accustomed to waiting.
So, whether your users have fast or slow connections, you could lose their interest if your pages take too long to load.
The factors that affect how fast your pages load include graphics and photos, otherwise known as "objects", according to Google. Executing scripts, resolving DNS names, transmitting HTTP requests and setting up the connections are other factors known as front-end code.
Google page speed is one of the resources that webmasters can use to evaluate how quickly their pages load. The program also provides advice about how to improve them.
The program is a Firefox/Firebug add-on. It may not be supported by other browsers. It can be downloaded over the internet. Installation takes a few minutes. The step-by-step installation wizard makes it easy.
One you install the program, you can analyze any of your pages. The program will look for things like redirects, oversized cookies and anything else that could affect your page's performance.
The analysis provided by Google page speed can help you make your site faster and keep your users engaged. The company says that it can reduce your bandwidth usage, which could lower your hosting costs.
The program is one of many tools available for website publishers. Whether you have been publishing websites for years or are just planning to publish one in the near future, it makes sense to use all of the analytical tools available.
Google provides a number of tools, as well as information and advice. Before you download the program, you can read about the best practices for web page speed performance. It's valuable information.
