Let’s Make The Web Faster

Published on Jun 24, 2009 (updated Sep 17, 2024), filed under development, html, css, performance (feed). (Share this on Mastodon or Bluesky?)

This and many other posts are also available as a pretty, 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This post is partially outdated.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 a web developer, manager, and author. I’ve been working as a technical lead and engineering manager for companies you’ve never heard of and companies you use every day, I’m an occasional contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my experiences and views. (I value you being critical, interpreting charitably, and giving feedback.)