Why Web optimization is NOT the complete solution to making the Web go faster!
by Peter
Everyday now we hear about someone offering to “speed” up the Web. They tout all manner of “measurement tools”. They say “if you measure it, you can manage it”. And if you can manage it then you can make things go faster.
Nonsense!
Let’s take this hypothetical case. You’ve called in all the worlds foremost experts in Web optimization and they’ve spent millions of your dollars measuring your infrastructure and then helping you install the very latest hardware to speed things up. They’ve also optimized every Web page that you transmit to be the very best it can be. They then pronounce that the job is done and that you now have the fastest Web site with the best optimized content on the planet.
Imagine then your shock when you get a call from a customer complaining about how slow your Web site is. How can that be? You’ve spent millions, you’ve hired the best and your Web pages are perfect.
Well you forgot one tiny little item. The Internet is a CLIENT – SERVER environment. You’ve only optimized 50% of the equation. (Think of it as two cans and a piece of string, the game you played back in the day before mobile phones).
Until you optimize the other 50% your destined to never improve the speed of the Web. (Ignore the piece in the middle (the string) no one is going to pay to optimize that.
Next blog post – The complete solution to making the Web go faster.
Posted in: #webperf, Context, Performance, User Experience