Let’s Make The Web Faster

Published on Jun 24, 2009 (updated Sep 17, 2024), filed under development, html, css, performance. (Share this post, e.g., on Mastodon.)

This and 133 other posts are also available as a well-behaved ebook: On Web Development.

This post is partially outdated.

Two weeks after my last outcry regarding slowness on the Web there’s a more proactive response: Google launched code.google.com/speed, subtitled “let’s make the Web faster,” because every millisecond counts.

Dennis Hwang, the head of the Webmaster Team (my team), wasn’t alone in pushing this initiative. I’m happy to add that Google webmasters made several contributions to code.google.com/speed, including the following articles and videos:

• CSS: Using every declaration just once (Jens Meiert)
• How gzip compression works (Kevin Khaw, Eric Higgins)
• PHP performance tips (Eric Higgins)
• Reducing the file size of HTML documents (Jens Meiert, Kevin Khaw)

There’s even a video in which you can see Kevin “Lord of the Scripts” Khaw and me in action: Optional HTML tags.

For more information go to: code.google.com/speed 😊

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m an engineering lead, guerrilla philosopher, and indie publisher. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager at various companies (e.g., Google); I’m an active web and tool developer (code optimization, digital defense), a contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and a book author (O’Reilly, Frontend Dogma).

I love trying things—in web development and engineering management, but also in politics and philosophy, where I hold to one idea in particular: that we can only be well if we take good care of everyone. Here on meiert.com I talk about some of my perspectives and experiences. (Please share feedback: Interpret charitably, keep it friendly, but do be critical.)