Web Design '09 Conference Session Descriptions

In the early days of the Internet, when almost all home users were on dial-up access, smart web site design said don't load up pages with unnecessary images or other content because they only slowed down page loading times. The spread of broadband Internet access to the home would seem to make that rule less stringent, but in fact, just the opposite is the case. As broadband has made sites load faster, consumers' expectations have only gone up. Adding to the urgent need for faster loading pages is Google's rule last summer that will take home page load times into account when measuring an ad's Quality Score. And so the rule about making sites lighter is truer now than ever before. Every byte counts and if shoppers have to wait more than a few seconds for a page to download, they'll be out of there and possibly on to a competitor. This session will examine how to determine the weight of every page and how to balance the need for quality images and other buying information with the need for fast downloading.