The document is a whitepaper on Magento performance optimization. It discusses how websites can slow down over time as new features are added. It emphasizes the importance of performance, noting various studies that show slow page loads negatively impact key metrics like conversion rates. The whitepaper then outlines an approach to performance optimization called a "performance budget" that focuses on loading critical content first before non-essential elements to provide the best user experience. Specific techniques are provided for optimizing content, CSS, JavaScript, servers and caches to achieve faster load times.
This document provides 10 tips to speed up a WordPress website. It recommends optimizing code by removing unnecessary elements, compressing files, reducing server calls by combining files, caching content, using content delivery networks (CDNs) to distribute content efficiently, upgrading servers, improving databases, optimizing .htaccess files, and using plugins to block spam. Images and other media should also be optimized, and unnecessary queries reduced. Implementing these tips can help speed up page loading and improve the user experience on WordPress sites.
In this presentation, I have shown how a webpage is loaded on your viewport after you request for the same. The process is simple. Once you click on the URL, the browser makes a request to the webserver. The request is processed by the webserver.
Web server files the response to the request and sends it to the browser. The requested page is sent to the web browser. The browser then loads and renders the page content. The requested page is then shown on the viewport.
A presentation from SEO Campixx Barcamp 2011 in Berlin. Web Performance Optimization is about making websites faster. Here i discussed different measures and show the impact on competitive advantage and possibly rankings on Google. Undeniably you can say that better performance leads to more sales and better usability in terms of bouncing rates. View image slides here: http://b0i.de/wpopresentation
How I learned to stop worrying and love UX metrics
This talk at the 2018 performance.now() conference (Amsterdam) walks through a brief history of UX and web performance research, highlighting landmark studies that helped connect the dots between performance and user experience. I also demystify the current state of performance metrics and help you understand what you need to focus on for your site and your users.
The document discusses various front-end issues that can affect website performance, such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, and third-party content. It provides examples of common problems like slow loading times, missing links, incompatible code, and outdated files. The document then recommends using a website monitoring tool like SolarWinds Web Performance Monitor to identify and address such issues. The tool allows monitoring page load speeds and individual transaction steps from multiple locations, setting alerts, and using image matching to check image loading.
HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) codes indicate a URL’s status and include various 3-digit error messages which describe the issues that are being encountered by the visitors.
The document discusses various tools and techniques for measuring and improving web performance. It covers topics like understanding how performance affects user experience and business metrics, tools for measuring performance like YSlow and PageSpeed, waterfall charts, browser behaviors, optimization techniques like minification and compression, and monitoring solutions like WebPageTest and dynaTrace. Key tools mentioned include YSlow, PageSpeed, WebPageTest, dynaTrace, Fiddler and HttpWatch. Optimization areas discussed are page size, number of requests, caching, rendering structure, and asynchronous loading.
The document summarizes strategies for optimizing local search engine results. It discusses using structured data to provide location and contact information, gathering reviews and testimonials, creating geo-sitemap files, and mobilizing websites. Plugins and tools are recommended for implementing structured data, collecting testimonials, and creating responsive mobile designs. The presentation provides specific techniques for local businesses to improve their search engine visibility and customer interactions.
Deciding upon the type of content management system required for your website is a crucial task, however it is upto the user to choose between the top CMS i.e. WordPress, Joomla or Drupal. It also allows you to create, manage and modifies the content of your website without having to know about coding skills.
Once upon a time early modems were slow. The broadband came along and web page byte count and code skyrocketed. Now? Now we have slowness even at broadband speeds due to page bloat. And if you're on mobile, you've got slowness and the added annoyance of possibly higher battery drain.
It's time to start thinking about web site performance as a feature in and of itself. Because if you're too slow, none of your other features will matter. Your visitor will be gone before the page renders.
Presentation excerpt from Udemy course "Digital Product Management" http://udemy.com/digital-product-management
AJAX allows web pages to be updated asynchronously by exchanging data with a web server behind the scenes, allowing parts of a page to change without reloading the entire page. Tuenti uses AJAX extensively to update parts of their single-page application, caching content on both client and server sides for scalability. They route requests to different server farms based on client location and cache content to improve performance. Tuenti serves billions of images per day using multiple CDNs and pre-fetches content to minimize load times.
How to Fix a Slow WordPress Site (and get A+ scores)
Full Guide - https://bitsfrombytes.com/why-is-wordpress-slow/
In this site speed optimization guide, we provide 25-Tips to get blazing fast website speeds of under 0.5s.
SearchLove San Diego 2018 | Tom Anthony | An Introduction to HTTP/2 & Service...Distilled
HTTP/2 and Service Works are becoming more established, yet the SEO community lacks awareness of what they are what they may mean for us. A lot of us know we need to know about them but we manage to keep putting it off. However, for both of these technologies, the next 12 months are going to be the turning point where we really can't avoid learning more about them. Tom will provide and accessible introduction to both, with a focus on what they are, how they work and what SEOs need to know. If you have been scared of jumping in to them until now, this session will help get you up to speed.
The document provides tips for optimizing web page performance based on Yahoo's YSlow guidelines. It discusses 12 tips, including making fewer HTTP requests, using a content delivery network, adding expires headers, gzipping components, putting CSS at the top, moving scripts to the bottom, avoiding CSS expressions, making JavaScript and CSS external, reducing DNS lookups, minifying JavaScript, avoiding redirects, and removing duplicate scripts. It also discusses optimizing JavaScript performance through choosing optimal algorithms and data structures, refactoring code, minimizing DOM interactions, and using local optimizations. Measurement of performance is recommended at each stage of the optimization process.
Today, a web page can be delivered to desktop computers, televisions, or handheld devices like tablets or phones. While a technique like responsive design helps ensure that our web sites look good across that spectrum of devices we may forget that we need to make sure that our web sites also perform well across that same spectrum. More and more of our users are shifting their Internet usage to these more varied platforms and connection speeds with some moving entirely to mobile Internet.
In this session we’ll look at the tools that can help you understand, measure and improve the web performance of your web sites and applications. The talk will also discuss how new server-side techniques might help us optimize our front-end performance. Finally, since the best way to test is to have devices in your hand, we’ll discuss some tips for getting your hands on them cheaply.
This presentation builds upon Dave’s “Optimization for Mobile” chapter in Smashing Magazine’s “The Mobile Book.”
This talk was given at the Responsive Web Design Summit hosted by Environments for Humans.
This document provides 10 tips to speed up a WordPress website. It recommends optimizing code by removing unnecessary elements, compressing files, reducing server calls by combining files, caching content, using content delivery networks (CDNs) to distribute content efficiently, upgrading servers, improving databases, optimizing .htaccess files, and using plugins to block spam. Images and other media should also be optimized, and unnecessary queries reduced. Implementing these tips can help speed up page loading and improve the user experience on WordPress sites.
In this presentation, I have shown how a webpage is loaded on your viewport after you request for the same. The process is simple. Once you click on the URL, the browser makes a request to the webserver. The request is processed by the webserver.
Web server files the response to the request and sends it to the browser. The requested page is sent to the web browser. The browser then loads and renders the page content. The requested page is then shown on the viewport.
A presentation from SEO Campixx Barcamp 2011 in Berlin. Web Performance Optimization is about making websites faster. Here i discussed different measures and show the impact on competitive advantage and possibly rankings on Google. Undeniably you can say that better performance leads to more sales and better usability in terms of bouncing rates. View image slides here: http://b0i.de/wpopresentation
How I learned to stop worrying and love UX metricsTammy Everts
This talk at the 2018 performance.now() conference (Amsterdam) walks through a brief history of UX and web performance research, highlighting landmark studies that helped connect the dots between performance and user experience. I also demystify the current state of performance metrics and help you understand what you need to focus on for your site and your users.
The document discusses various front-end issues that can affect website performance, such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, and third-party content. It provides examples of common problems like slow loading times, missing links, incompatible code, and outdated files. The document then recommends using a website monitoring tool like SolarWinds Web Performance Monitor to identify and address such issues. The tool allows monitoring page load speeds and individual transaction steps from multiple locations, setting alerts, and using image matching to check image loading.
Information on Various HTTP Error CodesHTS Hosting
HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) codes indicate a URL’s status and include various 3-digit error messages which describe the issues that are being encountered by the visitors.
The document discusses various tools and techniques for measuring and improving web performance. It covers topics like understanding how performance affects user experience and business metrics, tools for measuring performance like YSlow and PageSpeed, waterfall charts, browser behaviors, optimization techniques like minification and compression, and monitoring solutions like WebPageTest and dynaTrace. Key tools mentioned include YSlow, PageSpeed, WebPageTest, dynaTrace, Fiddler and HttpWatch. Optimization areas discussed are page size, number of requests, caching, rendering structure, and asynchronous loading.
The document summarizes strategies for optimizing local search engine results. It discusses using structured data to provide location and contact information, gathering reviews and testimonials, creating geo-sitemap files, and mobilizing websites. Plugins and tools are recommended for implementing structured data, collecting testimonials, and creating responsive mobile designs. The presentation provides specific techniques for local businesses to improve their search engine visibility and customer interactions.
WordPress vs Other Content Management SystemHTS Hosting
Deciding upon the type of content management system required for your website is a crucial task, however it is upto the user to choose between the top CMS i.e. WordPress, Joomla or Drupal. It also allows you to create, manage and modifies the content of your website without having to know about coding skills.
Once upon a time early modems were slow. The broadband came along and web page byte count and code skyrocketed. Now? Now we have slowness even at broadband speeds due to page bloat. And if you're on mobile, you've got slowness and the added annoyance of possibly higher battery drain.
It's time to start thinking about web site performance as a feature in and of itself. Because if you're too slow, none of your other features will matter. Your visitor will be gone before the page renders.
Presentation excerpt from Udemy course "Digital Product Management" http://udemy.com/digital-product-management
AJAX allows web pages to be updated asynchronously by exchanging data with a web server behind the scenes, allowing parts of a page to change without reloading the entire page. Tuenti uses AJAX extensively to update parts of their single-page application, caching content on both client and server sides for scalability. They route requests to different server farms based on client location and cache content to improve performance. Tuenti serves billions of images per day using multiple CDNs and pre-fetches content to minimize load times.
How to Fix a Slow WordPress Site (and get A+ scores)Lewis Ogden
Full Guide - https://bitsfrombytes.com/why-is-wordpress-slow/
In this site speed optimization guide, we provide 25-Tips to get blazing fast website speeds of under 0.5s.
Web performance optimization can be done at three levels - general, server-side, and technology. At the general level, techniques include minimizing HTTP requests, optimizing images, minifying files, avoiding redirects and empty sources. Server-side optimizations involve techniques like content delivery networks, cookie-free domains, caching, and gzip compression. At the technology level for dynamic sites like Joomla, optimizations include flushing buffers early and optimizing database queries. Performance can be measured using various online tools.
hether you run a high traffic WordPress installation or a small blog on a low cost shared host, you should optimize WordPress and your server to run as efficiently as possible. This article provides a broad overview of WordPress optimization with specific recommended approaches. However, it's not a detailed technical explanation of each aspect.
Wondering what Google’s Core Web Vitals update is about? In this blog, we explain what the metrics are, why they are important, and how you can improve them. https://www.webguru-india.com/blog/core-web-vitals/
Website Loading Time Statistics Crucial Data for Optimal Performance.pdfChristopher Jan Benitez
How fast does your website load? Website loading time is one of the most crucial factors in delivering an excellent user experience, boosting search rankings, and driving conversions. But what is considered a good page load time in 2023?
This in-depth blog post dives into the latest website loading time statistics and benchmarks you need to know to optimize your site's performance. Discover fascinating insights such as:
The average website load time in 2023 is 2.5 seconds on desktop and 8.6 seconds on mobile, but top performing sites aim for under 2 seconds
As page load time goes from 1 second to 3 seconds, the probability of bounce increases by 32%
A 100-millisecond delay in website load time can hurt conversion rates by 7%
The top 10 ecommerce websites have an average page load time of just 1.96 seconds
47% of online shoppers expect web pages to load in 2 seconds or less
Learn what factors impact website loading times, how speed affects critical metrics like bounce rate, conversions and revenue, and best practices to achieve sub-second load times. If you want to boost your search engine rankings, user engagement, and online sales, optimizing your page load time is essential. Discover the data you need to benchmark your site against competitors and exceed customer expectations in this statistics-packed post.
Is Poor Performance Dragging You Down? Here are Five Strategies to Maximize P...Nirvana Canada
Whoever said patience is a virtue certainly never had to contend with modern-day websites. In this digital era, speed is everything, and failing to meet the critical 2-second load time could cost you big in terms of ranking and web traffic. If you made it your mission to boost your website performance this year, here is why you should start at the source.
load speed problems of web resources on the client side classification and ...INFOGAIN PUBLICATION
This article is concerned about client side issues of web resources load process related to user agents (browsers) behavior. a lot of modern problems such as improving global availability and reducing bandwidth, the main problem they address is latency: the amount of time it takes for the host server to receive, process, and deliver on a request for a page resource (images, css files, etc.). latency depends largely on how far away the user is from the server, and it’s compounded by the number of resources a web page contains; current load algorithms are investigated and all known solutions with their area or efficiency are explained. We have described four main optimization methods.
Speed kills. Did you know that consumers expect a site to load in 3 seconds or less? Learn why & how how to audit and optimize your site's speed with this quick guide. Plus, our own mini case studies on the impact site speed has for conversions!
Checkout the full blog at https://www.vendasta.com/blog/speed-kills-websites-speed-and-performance
8 Tips to maintain your Magento website.pptxAgento Support
Website owners need to maintain their Magento 2 website timely to ensure smooth and seamless user experience and backend ecommerce operations. A well-maintained Magento website serves an optimal experience for your customers that as a result generate leads and increases sales.
Technical SEO has to do with the functionality of a website. The first precondition for a good ranking in search engine result pages is that the site works properly.
Technical SEO has to do with the functionality of a website. The first precondition for a good ranking in search engine result pages is that the site works properly.
How to prepare for Google's page experience updateBuiltvisible
Google will be launching a page experience update in May 2021 that will favor pages providing a good user experience based on metrics like Core Web Vitals. The document provides guidance on conducting a page experience audit to identify optimization opportunities across largest contentful paint, first input delay, cumulative layout shift, mobile friendliness, security, HTTPS, and interstitials. Key recommendations include preloading resources, image compression, lazy loading, and reserving space for embeds. The audit results can be used to future-proof websites ahead of the upcoming algorithm update.
The Science of Website Performance What You Need to KnowPixlogix Infotech
Explore the intricacies of website performance with Pixlogix's insightful blog. Uncover the science behind optimizing your website for speed, user experience, and search engine rankings. Gain valuable insights into the latest techniques and tools that can elevate your website's performance, ensuring a seamless and engaging online experience for your audience. Stay ahead in the digital landscape with Pixlogix's expertise in the science of website performance.
Web App Performance Optimization services in UAEasiyahanif9977
https://nexusbeez.com/
Web App Performance Optimization has become more critical than ever before. Slow-loading websites or laggy applications can result in frustrated users, increased bounce rates, and ultimately, negative impacts on your business’s bottom line.
Best practices to increase the performance of web-based applicationsMouhamad Kawas
In today’s world, technology development aspects are growing rapidly in a way that makes the development of these aspects unacceptable to slowdown.
Perhaps the most distinguishing aspect is the World Wide Web which is considered as the main container for these prospects, despite of the challenges and the difficulties which have faced it since the beginning especially in term of performance.
This paper states current performance difficulties that face web-based applications, grouping these difficulties into categories based on the web technology used. It also proposes a number of recommendations and enhancements that increase and optimize the web performance> These recommendations are implemented in a real case which is “Mofadalah” web-based application at the Syrian ministry of health.
The document discusses optimizing website performance for designers. It begins by explaining how front-end assets like HTML, CSS, JavaScript and images account for 80-90% of page load time. It then discusses common causes of poor performance like too many requests, large file sizes, and too many assets. The rest of the document provides strategies for optimizing assets, such as combining files, minifying code, using CSS sprites for images, and optimizing loading order. The overall goal is reducing page size and number of requests to improve load times.
The document discusses key reasons for poor web performance and how designers can improve it. It identifies that the front-end assets created by designers, such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript and images, account for 80-90% of page load time. Reducing the number of requests by combining files and reducing file sizes are the most impactful ways for designers to optimize performance. Large numbers of assets and large file sizes are the primary culprits of slow load times.
The document discusses key reasons for poor web performance and how designers can improve it. It identifies that the front-end assets created by designers, such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript and images, account for 80-90% of page load time. Reducing the number of requests by combining files and reducing file sizes are the most impactful ways for designers to optimize performance. Large numbers of assets and large file sizes are the primary culprits of slow load times.
This document discusses the business case for speed in digital marketing. It notes that customers expect content immediately and every delay results in lost conversions, revenue, and satisfaction. Research shows that even small increases in load time, like 100ms, can decrease traffic and sales. Faster sites have lower bounce rates and more page views per visit. The document recommends various techniques to optimize website speed like reducing file sizes, using content delivery networks, compression, and browser caching. It highlights how slow sites negatively impact search engine rankings and can result in millions in lost annual revenue.
Core Web Vitals will roll out in 2021, we are going to explain the specifics of Core Web Vitals and help you understand how your search rankings will be affected. Here are some actions to take right away!
o2script(UK) - Top Site Execution_ Compelling Devices and Systems.pdfO2scriptWebSolutions
Partnering with a website development company in UK to consistently evaluate, monitor, and optimize website performance is essential for an optimal user experience and online success.
Accenture: big bang disruption strategy in the age of devastating innovationVladyslav Solodovnyk
Marketing in the digital world can be devastating. It is also explosive and short-lived. Find out how to survive the compressed strategy, marketing, product cycles.
We initiate coverage of EPAM Systems with a target price of $20 per share and a HOLD rating. Although EPAM has strong fundamentals related to its exposure to growing IT outsourcing markets in Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS region, the stock has gained 70% since its IPO in February 2012 and now trades at a small discount to its peers, implying it is fairly priced. While we like the company's growth prospects, personnel quality, and stable profitability, substantial share overhang risk exists after the lock-up period expires in August 2012 which could pressure the stock price.
Deloitte predicts that global consumer demand for technology will grow in 2012 despite economic headwinds. Smartphones and tablets are expected to see record sales, while computer and TV sales may see modest growth overall. Emerging markets are likely to see robust growth, while developed markets may see weaker growth but continued spending on smaller tech items. Consumer technology provides good value due to falling prices from Moore's Law and new form factors that increase usage per dollar spent.
The document discusses the changing global services offshoring landscape amid economic turbulence. While offshoring growth has slowed due to economic issues, the potential remains untapped. The A.T. Kearney Global Services Location Index ranks India as the top location for offshoring, followed by China, Malaysia, Egypt and Indonesia, based on factors like financial attractiveness, availability of skills, and business environment. While offshoring is a natural part of business now, economic recovery remains fragile globally.
The report analyzes the stock market performance of 126 technology, media, and telecommunications companies from 2005-2009. It finds:
1) The average 5-year annual returns for the sectors were 6.2% for technology, 5.3% for telecom, and 2.5% for media, below the overall market average of 6.6%.
2) Companies from emerging economies dominated the top performers, holding 7 of the top 10 spots in telecom, 5 in media, and 4 in technology.
3) While the sectors as a whole lagged, the top 10 companies in each achieved much higher average annual returns of 23.3% in technology, 26.2% in media
New York City's digital presence reaches over 25 million people annually through channels like nyc.gov, 311 online, and over 200 social media accounts, making it a leader in digital engagement among municipalities. NYC's Open Data initiative has unlocked over 350 datasets fueling $6 million in private investment. This document outlines the current state of NYC's digital initiatives and channels, highlighting metrics and popular applications on nyc.gov that streamline services for residents.
Global consumer electronics sales reached $739 billion in 2008, with strong growth in portable devices and in-car electronics. The Asia-Pacific region dominated sales volumes while regions like Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific contributed strongly to rising values. Looking forward, the financial crisis creates uncertainty around pricing and demand.
internet publishing and broadcasting in the us industry reportVladyslav Solodovnyk
This report from IBISWorld analyzes the internet publishing and broadcasting industry in the US. It finds that revenue in the industry will surge ahead in the coming years, aided by strong advertising spending and demand. The report provides an overview of the industry, including its definition, activities, markets, major companies, and operating conditions. It finds that the industry's largest companies by revenue are Google, Amazon, Yahoo, Apple, and Facebook. The report also examines key trends, drivers of growth, and the competitive landscape of the industry.
The document provides an overview and analysis of digital trends in Europe in 2010 based on data from comScore. Some key findings include:
- Social networking grew significantly across Europe, with over 84% of Europeans now using social networks monthly.
- Europeans spent more time on Facebook than any other site. Women spent more time on social networks than men.
- Younger consumers shifted to social networks, while older users embraced traditional email more.
- Growth in social networking was highest in Russia, Germany, and Austria. Women led in social networking engagement.
This document provides guidelines for marketers on using Facebook for marketing in spring 2011. It discusses opportunities like the Facebook Like button, Open Graph, Facebook Places, Facebook Deals, Facebook Connect, and advertising on Facebook. It encourages marketers to look beyond Facebook.com and consider how to engage customers through their own websites using these Facebook tools and APIs.
1) During major global events like the Egypt protests in 2011, brands like Al Jazeera and Lonely Planet saw increased traffic to their websites by establishing themselves as authorities on social media.
2) Al Jazeera's traffic increased 140% and Lonely Planet's traffic doubled as they provided real-time updates on Facebook and forums.
3) British Airways increased positive sentiment and website visits by 12% through regular Twitter updates on flight delays during a snowstorm in December 2010.
This document analyzes who produces information and who consumes it on the social media platform Twitter. It finds:
1) Elite users, such as celebrities, bloggers, and media organizations, produce around 50% of shared URLs despite being only 20,000 users out of millions. Media produces the most information but celebrities are the most followed.
2) Users tend to follow and listen to others in their same category - celebrities follow celebrities and bloggers follow bloggers. However, bloggers rebroadcast more information than other categories.
3) The "two-step flow" theory of information spreading from media to opinion leaders to the public is supported on Twitter, with elite users playing the role of opinion leaders.
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The document discusses how the BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China) contributed over a third of global GDP growth in the past decade and grew their share of the global economy to almost a quarter. It predicts that in the coming decade, the BRICs will contribute nearly half of global GDP growth and surpass the US and European economies in size. A key trend will be the dramatic expansion of the middle class population in the BRICs, which is expected to grow by hundreds of millions of people and far surpass the middle class size of the G7 nations.
The document provides an overview and analysis of digital trends in Europe in 2010 based on data from comScore. Some key findings include:
- Social networking grew significantly across Europe, with over 84% of Europeans now using social networks monthly.
- Europeans spent more time on Facebook than any other site. Women spent more time on social networks than men.
- Younger consumers shifted to social networks, while older users embraced traditional email more.
- Growth in social networking was highest in Russia, Germany, and Austria. Women led in social networking engagement.
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Websites Decay Fast
Even one year is a long time on the web, as Magento platform is changing, evolving as it takes on new e-commerce challenges one at a time in
steady, ongoing iteration. When you created your store your main goal was most likely to create an easy to use and trustworthy resource that
would reflect your focus on customer service and convenience. You probably did that by crafting a delightful user experience, subsequently
adding many useful new features over time.
However, this constant addition of ever-new features tends to slow down the websites to the point where they are not meeting even the most
basic user expectations in terms of performance:
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How old is your Magento store?
In the world of e-commerce, the average web page has grown 151% over the past three years, with over half that bulk coming from images.
No wonder retailers around the world find the industry’s 3-second page load benchmark so elusive! Moreover, over 92% of retailers are failing
to hit this mark and running as high as eight seconds or more.
With the rise of Mobile those very assets that helped you to cater to your users are now likely becoming a major performance bottleneck.
Every new feature slowed down your site, with style sheets, markup and JavaScript not making it any leaner. Redesigns to make your store
responsive, to embrace flat design and to use retina-grade images might have included quick fixes and compromises. Your site grew,
accumulating inconsistencies layout issues. Combined, these decisions have made your website slow, with a loading sequence that didn’t
prioritize the user experience.
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Why Performance Matters
When asked about how fast your website should be, the short answer is: “As fast as possible!”
We tend to assume that users have great Internet connectivity. However, this is not always the case - especially when it comes to mobile
device users - as customers may be browsing your website on-the-go over slow 3G Internet connection. How long does it take for the most
important page content to load on slow connections? Since no one likes waiting, optimizing the store loading speed makes business sense.
Consider this loading speed perception study conducted on the web users:
Whether your website is unavailable or slow makes no difference for the average user - the effect on the bottom line is devastating in both
cases. This is why:
• Websites loading longer than 1.5 seconds are ranked as “slow”, have poor SEO and low AdWords Page Quality (Google)
• Every additional 0.5 second load time decreases traffic by 5-20% (Yahoo and Google)
• Page load time decrease from 7 to 2 seconds alone raises revenue by 10% (Shopzilla)
• Every additional 1/10th of a second page load time decreases sales by 1% (Amazon)
• A page that takes 5 seconds or more to load loses 20% of visitors (Forrester)
• 80% of visitors won’t come back if the site is slow (75% in 2013, 64% in 2006)
• 70% of revenue comes from the fastest visits
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Defining Performance
The most important technical performance data metrics for your web page are:
1. Time to First Byte
2. domContentLoaded
3. Document Complete
The first, Time to First Byte, is often used as a measure of the web server and network efficiency. If this metric is within 0.2-0.8 seconds for
the target user geography and connectivity speed, chances are further server optimization is unlikely to yield noticeable improvements. Time
to First Byte metric over 1 second requires investigation of your server or your hosting provider.
The second metric called domContentLoaded measures how well your web page components are optimized for displaying in the visitor’s
browser window. This metric should be lower than 2.5 - 3 seconds, and ideally should be as close as possible to the 0.9 - 1 second range. This is
the single metric that defines whether your visitors will consider your website fast.
Why the 0.9 - 1 second range? As mentioned on the user perception table on the previous page, web page visitors must see something appear
in less than one second for the experience to feel instant. When something takes more than one second, most people notice they are waiting.
After 2.5 seconds, attention switches to a different task and websites lose users. This second metric, domContentLoaded, determines when
user’s browser responds and begins showing content that is visible to the user. No matter the web page size, domContentLoaded time will
determine the user’s perception of how fast the web page is loading!
Last metric called Document Complete marks the point at which all text and images appear and the page is considered to be loaded.
Until recently, the most commonly used performance metric used to be the average page loading (Document Complete) time. But given that
the average time to fully load a page doesn’t measure when a user can start seeing usable content makes that measurement not very reliable.
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Good Performance Example
Let’s examine performance metrics using Amazon as a case study:
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Here are the metrics for Amazon, based on WebPageTest results:
1. Time to First Byte: 0.27 seconds - excellent
2. domContentLoaded: 2.44 seconds - good
3. Document Complete: 6.04 seconds – average
Showing Visible Content Fast
The metric that shows optimized performance is not how long it takes to show content of entire page faster (the Document Complete metric),
but to load visible page content as soon as possible. The main metric for this event is called domContentLoaded.
WebPageTest estimates that on both First and Repeat view Amazon barely manages to load the visible part of the page (domContentLoaded)
under 2.5 seconds. Compare that with almost 8.8 seconds on the First View and 7.9 seconds on the Repeat View for the Full Load time of the
page and it will become evident that the average page load speed is not that useful as a metric in measuring performance. Considering that
Amazon is a heavily trafficked marketplace with lots of features (hence the hefty 3.66 Mb web page size), the three performance metrics are
quite impressive.
First View versus Repeat View
There are two metrics that measure how efficient is the website in terms of speeding up the page on the second view and after called Repeat
View. The first time a visitor enters a web address the browser has to load every component from the page - a First View. If the user closes the
browser session and then enters the web address, some of the components would be already available in the browser memory (cached) and
that user’s webpage will load faster - this is called a Repeat View.
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The Performance Budget Approach to Magento Optimization
How can you achieve performance improvements? Want to figure out how fast your website could be? One way to do so is to implement
some concepts from the performance budget approach for your Magento store.
Optimizing website loading speed does not involve magic, but does require a specific approach to web page components. First, audit your
website for legacy components that are installed, but are no longer in use - and remove them. Second, re-structure content loading to deliver
usable content as fast as possible.
Performance budget concepts focus on rewriting the HTTP loading sequence, pushing back all content that isn’t required to start rendering
the page. The result is a site that loads as fast as possible in all settings and on all connections, both unreliable and stable, slow and fast. The
entire philosophy can be described in the following three steps:
1. Visible content is loaded first
Page speed can be improved by delaying loading and rendering any content that appears below the area that is visible to the user. Placeholder
tags can also inserted to specify the correct height and width for components that are still loading to avoid the page content from jumping
(reflowing) as the remainder of the page is being loaded.
2. Interactive features are deferred
Carousels (or sliders) are often not optimized and are not among the first elements to load. When these elements cannot be optimized a
better idea might be to defer or to remove them to improve the user experience.
3. Non-essential scripts loaded last
Many script libraries aren’t needed until after a page has finished rendering. Downloading and parsing these scripts can safely be deferred
until after the onload event. For example, scripts that support interactivity, such as drag and drop, can’t even be used before the user has even
seen the page. Deferring supporting files helps the users to see the usable content quicker.
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The approach is best performed by assigning every piece of content to one of three groups based on their importance to the user:
• Core content: essential HTML, critical CSS, usable non-JS enhanced experience
• Enhancement (after all core is loaded): JS, geolocation, touch, enhanced CSS, Web fonts, widgets
• Leftovers (everything not sought by users): analytics, advertising, third-party content
Optimized content categories strictly separate the loading process throughout these three phases, so that the loading of the Core content is
never blocked by any resources grouped in Enhancement or Leftovers. In other words, the critical rendering path required for the content to
start displaying is shortened by razor-sharp focus on the content seen by the user and by deferring supporting and meta files to the back of
the loading queue.
What is Actually Optimized When Improving Performance?
A Magento performance optimization roadmap involves making performance improvements in the following areas:
• Content / Images
• CSS
• JavaScript (JS)
• Server
• Cache
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The initial process should optimize the critical rendering path for content delivery, and defers all components not needed for the user. Most
important information should be placed in the first 14 KB. Content should be loaded by modules, core JavaScript can be loaded
asynchronously (while JS is being loaded, browser still can parse the page and show content), and server-side device detection can render
content based on browser classification. CSS, HTML and JavaScript components should be inspected: unused ones should be removed, the
remaining ones combined. Here are detailed guidelines of the optimization process:
Content / Images
Optimization requires taking a closer look at each page component and asking what's absolutely required in order to render the page initially.
Those components need to be re-loaded, and rest slated for post-loading. Candidates for post-loading include hidden content (content that
appears after a user action) and images below the part of the page initially seen by the user.
Implement a lossless image compression solution
Most images can be reduced in size without compromising on quality. Compress the images and implement a solution that automatically
decreases page size without affecting user experience. Also, use PNG or GIF format rather than Jpeg and don’t use transparency.
Combine images with CSS image sprites
An image sprite is a collection of images combined into a single file. A web page with many images can take a long time to load and generates
multiple server requests. Using image sprites will reduce the number of server requests and save bandwidth.
Serve scaled images
Resizing images to exact standardized dimensions decreases file size while making responsive web design possible.
Use data URIs
Using data URIs for smaller images cuts the number of requests by inlining images into HTML or CSS files, making the images immediately
available as the document is being downloaded.
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Specify image dimensions
Specifying image dimensions in the HTML or CSS prevents the browser reflows by proactively providing the image dimensions on the fly.
Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Leveraging a CDN to cache static assets in data centers around the world deliver a website faster.
Specify a character set
Making the fonts and characters used by the website explicit in the HTML response headers allow browsers to begin parsing HTML more
efficiently and to execute scripts immediately.
Reduce and front-load fonts
Removing unused custom fonts and styles decreases the initial load time. In any case fonts can be further condensed and front-loaded with
AJAX.
Remove bad requests
Removing broken links, missing pages or other asset requests that result in 404 errors reduces the number of requests for non-existent or
disabled resources, speeding up the page load time.
Use domain sharding for parallel processing
Serve resources from two different hostnames to increase parallel processing, facilitating more simultaneous downloads that the browser
would previously allow.
Serve assets from a single URL
Serving all assets and files from a single URL eliminates any extra overhead with duplicate downloads and extra round trips by the server.
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Serve static content from a cookie-free domain
Serving static resources from a cookieless domain reduces the total size of requests made for a page.
Minimize DNS lookups
Reducing the number of unique hostnames from which assets are served cuts down on the number of DNS resolutions and round trips by the
browser.
Minify HTML
Compress the HTML to remove comments, empty space between tags, unnecessary closing tags to reduce the overall HTML file size and
speed up the parsing and execution of a webpage
CSS
Dramatic performance improvement may require a departure from the default HTTP loading path to deliver content quickly. Loading critical
CSS (defined as the top portion of the page) within one single HTTP request, followed by the rest of the CSS once the page has rendered
makes content appear to render more quickly.
Combine CSS Files
Combining (or “concatenating”) the CSS files together decreases the number of round trips the browser has to make to the server, decreasing
the page load time. Custom functionality plugins in the <head> part need to be manually reviewed and removed/turned-off before files are
combined.
Minify CSS
Compressing, or “minifying” the CSS files for best practices, such as removing all the unused spaces and superfluous punctuation reduces the
overall file size, decreasing page load times
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Put “critical” CSS in <head>
Putting the CSS in the <head> of an HTML document while removing inline style blocks and using <link> CSS files in the <head> section
improves browser execution and display load times
Load CSS before JavaScript
Loading external CSS files first (before external and inline JavaScript files) in the <head> enables browser execution without delays and makes
pages appear to be loading faster by loading the page progressively; that is, the browser will display content as soon as possible - an especially
important change for pages with a lot of content and for users on slower Internet connections
Remove unused CSS
Cleaning code and removing any unused CSS to decrease the overall file size improves browser execution and page load times
Enable gzip compression
Compress CSS files with gzip to reduce asset count and file size
Avoid CSS @import
Avoiding the use of CSS @import decreases the number of requests and allows the browser to download CSS files in parallel. Use of the
traditional <link> tag ensures parallelized downloads
Avoid CSS expressions
CSS expressions slow down browser execution. The use of standard CSS properties or core JavaScript improves rendering for the non-modern
browser and IE users.
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JavaScript
The problem caused by scripts is that they block parallel downloads. If a script can be deferred, it can also be moved to the bottom of the
page. Because the optimization process requires the removal of all unnecessary assets from the critical rendering path, JavaScript
optimization often involves replacing jQuery with lightweight modular JavaScript components. We investigate the prospect of removing
jQuery altogether by decoupling the jQuery dependencies from the library, the possibility of replacing it with a PHP solution and look into the
impact of writing custom scripts. We defer the loading of all JavaScripts identified and clear a path in the header for HTML and CSS.
Combine JavaScript Files
Combining (or “concatenating”) JavaScript files together decreases the number of requests and round trips between the browser and the
server, lowering the page load time
Minify JavaScript
Compressing, or “minifying” the JavaScript files is done by eliminating unnecessary breaks, extra spaces and indentation. This reduces the
overall size of the JavaScript files and increase page load speed.
Load 3-rd Part assets asynchronously
Loading third party assets asynchronously will not block important resources from loading. These are mainly social sharing widgets
(Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and analytics tracking (Google Analytics, etc.)
Load JavaScript after CSS
Loading external and inline JavaScript after the CSS files in the <head> will not block browser download and execution of critical assets.
Defer loading of JavaScript
Deferring loading JavaScript reduces the initial download size and allows downloading of other resources, speeding up execution and
rendering.
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Enable gzip compression
Compress JavaScript file with gzip to reduce size.
Use intelligent script loading for parallel processing
Using intelligent script loaders downloads page assets asynchronously, bypassing the problem of blocked scripts common with parallel
processing.
Avoid using document.write()
Avoiding the document.write() to load external resources (especially early in the document) prevents slow display and long load times
Include <noscript>
Faster page rendering is possible when pages that do not work with JavaScript are specifically marked.
Remove unused and duplicate components
Removing legacy jQuery files that no longer serve a useful purpose (such as Prototype-JS files like scriptaculos) declutters the page. Scripts
and components that are native to the theme, but are not in use (like sliders that are not used) need to be turned off. It hurts performance to
include the same JavaScript file twice in one page, duplicates need to be removed.
Update jQuery plugins
If the use of jQuery cannot be avoided or replaced, it needs to be updated along with all the plugins using it.
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Server
Flush the Buffer Early
Consider flushing right after the HEAD because the HTML for the head is usually easier to produce and it allows to include any CSS and
JavaScript files for the browser to start fetching in parallel while the backend is still processing.
Use efficient web servers
NGINX is a high performance, high concurrency edge web server with the key features to build modern, efficient, accelerated web
infrastructure.
Enable Load Balancing
Setting up load balancing when using multiple servers offers better user experience for all users and faster performance.
Configure the PHP Server
Maintained PHP accelerators (Zend Opcache, XCache, Nusphere PhpExpress) decrease page load time by reducing parsing, especially after
the first page load and will optimize the number of concurrent users by using the same server capacity more efficiently.
Split the database and the webserver (if possible)
A webserver and a database server have different requirements. A database server needs fast hard disks (e.g. SSD), much memory and not
that much CPU. A webserver needs more CPU and less memory.
Uninstall xdebug or zend debugger on production server
Great tools for a development or testing environment are not a good fit with the live, production server. In some projects xdebug can have a
performance impact of 10-15%, especially with high traffic load.
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Cache
Caching refers to a component that transparently stores data so that when users visit the same page again it loads faster. The greater the
number of requests that can be served from the cache, the faster the overall system performance becomes.
Use browser caching
Setting an expiry date or a maximum age in the HTTP headers for static resources directs the browser to load previously downloaded
resources from the local storage rather than over the network, increasing loading speed.
Make redirects cacheable
Caching redirects by a user’s browser when possible decreases page load times for repeat visitors.
Use proxy caching
Enabling public caching in the HTTP headers for static assets allows the browser to download resources from a nearby proxy server rather
than from a remote origin server, speeding up load times.
Slider content caching
Identifying HTML-inline sliders that do not use cache and replacing them with a modern slider not only improves makes pages more
responsive, but also improves loading performance.
Set up a specialized cache solution
Setting up Varnish (an HTTP accelerator), Memecached (general-purpose distributed memory caching system) can reduce the number of
times an external data source (such as a database or API) must be read.
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A Real Life Example
Fun and Function, a Developmental Toys E-Commerce Magento Store
Prior to optimization in the early part of 2015, the Fun and Function website suffered from several deficiencies, some of which were of high
priority: JavaScript, CSS, Images and Server areas all needed work.
Before Optimization: After Optimization:
In terms of performance that matters to the user, defined by loading the visible part of page content (the domContentLoaded metric), it
took over 5.5 seconds - far over the 2.5 second limit when most people notice inactivity and start to lose interest.
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Before Optimization:
After Optimization:
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What Was Optimized
MavenEcommerce had audited the HTTP loading sequence, identified and optimized the following areas for improvement:
1. Content: font library was cleaned of unused fonts and loading speed improved with Ajax; image loading was optimized with image
sprites; unused image slider was turned off.
2. CSS: several user interface components were previously being loaded, but were not used – they were turned off.
3. JavaScript (JS): the 63 original JavaScript HTTP requests were concatenated and several were merged.
4. Server: database was converted into flat tables, which sped up loading; database requests were optimized, too.
5. Cache: the caching approach was simple – to cache everything that was cacheable! Results are clearly visible in the repeat view
statistics.
One way to optimize a website is by minimizing the number of components. But even when simplifying the page's design is not an option, the
number of HTTP requests can be drastically reduced by combining scripts, keeping richer content while also achieving fast response times. We
were able to reduce the number of HTTP requests from 153 to 97 and halved the time it took for the user to see useful page content: the
domContentLoaded decreased from 5.56 seconds to 2.23 seconds!
For the users, this translated into much less waiting.
The results were achieved without removing any functionality or content form the optimized website. Beyond displaying useful visible
content twice as fast (under 2.5 seconds on the first visit to the site, under 1.8 seconds thereafter) the following improvements were achieved:
• reduction of waiting time before website content begins to load (First Byte Time) to 0.83 seconds from 1.71 seconds before
• page load gain on the first visit of almost one and a half seconds: 7.30 seconds compared with 8.67 seconds previously
• halved the time to load the page on the second visit: 1.77 seconds to load the page again versus 2.92 seconds before
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MavenEcommerce Can Help
Digging into HTTP request sequence and cleaning up web page file components isn’t the first
idea of a good time, for most. But not for us!
In fact we pride ourselves on our ability to delight our customers’ visitors with online stores that
are both functional and fast.
Whether you need help estimating how much faster your Magento store could be without
cutting down on functionality, or even if you’re more ambitious and want to make your store
radically fast – we’ll find a cost-efficient way to help you out.
For additional information contact:
Andrey Korolyov, CEO
MavenEcommerce Inc.
20 West 47th St.
Suite 402
New York, NY 10036
(302) 409-0927
contacts@mavenecommerce.com
www.mavenecommerce.com
MavenEcommerce is a team of Certified
Magento Software Developers who are
passionate about creating amazing web
storefronts (and optimizing them, too!) for
customers of all sizes everywhere.