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The Client/Server Rendering Spectrum
6.3.2019
I've definitely been guilty of thinking about rendering on the web as a two-horse race. There is Server-Side Rendering (SSR, like this WordPress site is doing) and Client-Side Rendering (CSR, like a typical React app). Both are full of advantages and disadvantages. But, of course, the conversation...
The Bottleneck of the Web
5.3.2019
Steve Souders, "JavaScript Dominates Browser CPU":
Ten years ago the network was the main bottleneck. Today, the main bottleneck is JavaScript. The amount of JavaScript on pages is growing rapidly (nearly 5x in the last 7 years). In order to keep pages rendering and feeling fast, we need to focus...
instant.page
18.2.2019
instant.page is a pretty cool project from Alexandre Dieulot. Alexandre has been at this idea for half a decade now, as InstantClick is his and is essentially the same exact idea.
The idea is that there is a significant delay between hovering over a link and clicking that link. Say it takes...
“the closest thing web standards have to a golden rule”
14.2.2019
The internet's own Mat Marquis plucks this choice quote from the HTML Design Principals spec:
In case of conflict, consider users over authors over implementors over specifiers over theoretical purity.
And then he applies the idea to putting images on websites in 2019.
Direct Link to Article...
Bandwidth or Latency: When to Optimise for Which
5.2.2019
Harry Roberts:
A good rule of thumb to remember is that, for regular web browsing, improvements in latency would be more beneficial than improvements in bandwidth, and that improvements in bandwidth are noticed more when dealing with larger files.
Direct Link to Article — Permalink…...
The Ethics of Web Performance
14.1.2019
Tim Kadlec on the issues surrounding poor web performance and why it’s so important for us to care about making our sites as fast as possible:
Poor performance can, and does, lead to exclusion. This point is extremely well documented by now, but warrants repeating. Sites that use an excess...
Fighting FOIT and FOUT Together
19.12.2018
Lots from Divya with the setup:
There are 2 kinds of problems that can arise when using webfonts; Flash of invisible text (FOIT) and Flash of Unstyled Text (FOUT) ... If we were to compare them, FOUT is of course the lesser of the two evils
If you wanna fight FOIT, the easiest tool is...
How to Worry About npm Package Weight
18.12.2018
It's all too easy to go crazy with the imports and end up with megabytes upon megabytes of JavaScript. It can be a problem as that weight burdens each and every visitor from our site, very possibly delaying or stopping them from doing what they came to do on the site. Bad for them, worse for you....
Delivering WordPress in 7KB
10.7.2018
Over the past six months, I've become increasingly interested in the topic of web sustainability. The carbon footprint of the Internet was not something I used to give much thought to, which is surprising considering my interest in environmental issues and the fact that my profession...
Using Custom Fonts With SVG in an Image Tag
21.6.2018
When we produce a PNG image, we use an <img> tag or a CSS background, and that's about it. It is dead simple and guaranteed to work.
PNG is way simpler to use in HTML than SVG
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for SVG, despite its many advantages. Although you're spoiled for choices...
The web can be anything we want it to be
6.6.2018
I really enjoyed this chat between Bruce Lawson and Mustafa Kurtuldu where they talked about browser support and the health of the web. Bruce expands upon a lot of the thoughts in a post he wrote last year called World Wide Web, Not Wealthy Western Web where he writes:
...across the world...