If there is one thing we have all suffered through is waiting for a
site to download online. It seems like it is the worse thing in the
world and will never end. We actually either click off of the site or
after the initial download of the frontpage completes, we then click
off of the site because the subpages take too long to load. We have
all been here and this article is to help make sure your visitors
don't go through it as well.
The reason why a websites speed of download is important is actually
very simple and we have broken it down into two parts:
-The first part is that people want to get to where they are going
quickly. This is pretty straight forward and now a days no one seems
to have the time to wait for a site to download(no matter how
important it is).
-The second part is to deliver the content to the user as quick as
possible so that we can keep them interested and entertained. The
quicker they can get to the information the more they will click
around your site and the more they will interact with your website.
This is extremely important if your website has it's own estore, as
the more products your visitors are able to view then the more time
they spend in your store and the better the chance you have of them
purchasing something off of you. Pretty simple and straight forward.
Now you may be wondering how you can take your current design or your
re-design and improve the performance of your website so it doesn't
take forever for it to download. The truth is that it isn't too
complex and actually anyone can follow these steps. Here are some tips
on how to get your website to load faster and why these factors may
cause long load times:
1. Tip one is to use regular html text instead of graphic text(such as
exporting text from a program like fireworks or photoshop). The reason
for this is that html text carries alot smaller kbs size when added to
website design. So anywhere that you use regular text instead of
"graphical text" will really help decrease your page size making the
download time quicker for each user.
2. Tip two is to limit other graphics uses on your website where you
can. Some things such as using a graphic for your logo can not be
avoided but try to make an effort to limit the amount of graphics on
each page. The more graphics you use the higher your page size will be
and the more time it takes to download it. Really graphic intensive
websites can have users waiting a while for everything to download.
Some occasions where it might be ok to use graphics is if they will
also be used on subpages. These graphics will already be cached on
your visitors computers and will not have to be downloaded again when
a person visits your subpages.
3. Tip three is to limit the use of flash. It can make your page take
even longer to load as the kbs size of each file are usually quite
larger then any graphics on your website. This can really increase
download times and in alot of cases is not necessary.
4. The final tip is to try not to nest tables inside of each other.
Try to break down your design and use multiple tables. This way each
table will load separately giving your visitors something to view
while the rest of your site loads. If you load everything into one
table then they will have to wait for the whole main table to load.
Remember the key is to get your users to the information as fast as
possible. If you follow this advice and apply these rules to your
site, then there is nothing saying you can't have a quick loading and
great looking website as well.
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Anthony Jewell has over 6 Years experience in the Web & Graphics
World. You can visit my business and join in conversation at
http://www.logo2d.com & http://www.logo2d.com/forum
(c)Copyright 2005 Logo2D.com : Feel free to use this article freely
but please keep in the copyright
