You’ve probably heard that websites are slow and clunky. You might have even tried to speed up your site, but it’s not working. And why should it? Most web developers aren’t aware that there are simple things they can do to improve performance. In this post we’ll take a look at how you can make your website run faster without having to code any special tricks or coding languages.
Reduce the number of HTTP request on a web page.
- Reduce the number of HTTP requests.
- Use image sprites.
- Use CSS sprites.
- Use CSS background images.
Minify CSS and JavaScript files.
Minification is the process of reducing the size of your CSS, JavaScript and HTML files by removing comments, whitespace and semicolons. This results in smaller file sizes that load faster on web browsers.
Minifying your CSS can improve page performance because it reduces HTTP requests from the browser to the server by removing unneeded code from each request. Minified JavaScript files are smaller than normal JavaScript files (which are not minified). This means fewer bytes being sent over the wire; thus improving page performance even more!
Compress images and optimise for the web.
You can choose to compress images using the format that will produce the best image quality.
- For photos, use lossless formats such as JPG or PNG; these are all compatible with most modern browsers and devices.
- Use a lossy format (such as GIF) for screenshots because they don’t need to be 100% accurate in terms of colour reproduction and other small details that may not be visible on screen but do affect performance.
- Vector graphics line drawings made up of paths rather than pixels are particularly well suited to compression since they’re usually created by hand rather than being generated automatically from an algorithm like Photoshop does with bitmap images (which means there’s more room for error). However, it’s important not just any vector format will do: you need one that can handle anti-aliasing if you want smooth edges without blurring around corners or edges where two lines meet up at right angles; otherwise these jagged lines will appear blotchy when displayed online! The best option here is SVG ( Scalable Vector Graphics ), which supports all kinds of fancy effects like transparency effects; plus it has built-in support for alpha channels , so if your logo needs something different from its background color then this might just be what you need.”
Use a content distribution network (CDN).
A content distribution network (CDN) is a network of servers that can be used to deliver static content, such as images and scripts. CDNs are often used to reduce load times for static assets such as images and scripts on your website, but they can also improve performance by caching them locally so that when you request them from the CDN instead of directly from your site’s server, it doesn’t have to go through all those hops again.
Cloudflare provides a Free CDN service, which we use for this blog.
Leverage browser caching.
Browser caching is a way for your website to store parts of its content on the user’s computer, rather than sending that data over the network. This results in faster loading times and increased performance as you don’t have to wait for all of your pages to load before they can be accessed.
How does browser caching work?
When a visitor comes to your site, their browser looks up its own settings (like proxy settings) and then sends certain information about itself—such as what type of device it is, where it’s located, etc.—to Google’s servers so that Google knows which pages need loading next. When these requests come back from Google’s servers with responses containing cached data instead of fresh ones from the server itself (because those responses were already stored), then those pages will load faster because they’ve already been downloaded ahead-of-time!
Make fewer HTTP requests by combining multiple files into one file.
Combining your JavaScript files into one file will help you reduce the number of HTTP requests.
Combine all your CSS files into one file, and if you can’t do that then at least put all of the style information in one place so that it’s easier for search engines to find.
If you have multiple images on your site, use a minifier tool such as UglifyJS or Brotli (which is new) to combine them into one image instead of sending multiple requests for each image individually. This will also reduce bandwidth usage and improve performance because there are fewer requests made by the browser when requesting different versions of an image from different servers across the internet!
You can improve website performance by following a few simple steps
You can improve website performance by following a few simple steps.
- Use a content management system (CMS) or web publishing platform, such as WordPress or Joomla!, to manage your site. A CMS allows you to update and expand your site quickly without spending time building new pages manually.
- If you haven’t already set up an SSL certificate for your site, do so now: It’s important that visitors who encounter errors on your website see error messages when they attempt to access it from an HTTPS address instead of HTTP.
Conclusion
We’re sure that the tips we’ve discussed today will help you in your quest to improve website performance. To recap, reduce the number of HTTP requests on a web page, minify CSS and JavaScript files, compress images, use a content distribution network (CDN), make fewer HTTP requests by combining multiple files into one file, and leverage browser caching.