Speed Up Your Website. Tips for Better Web Performance

Speed Up Your Website: Simple Tips for Better Performance

In this post, we’ll break down four key areas to improve your site’s speed: Core Web Vitals, lazy loading, code splitting, rendering strategies. Let’s dive in with simple explanations.

Core Web Vitals metrics

Core Web Vitals are metrics that measure how fast a webpage loads, how quickly users can interact with it, and how visually stable it is. Optimizing these metrics will lead for better search rankings and a great user experience.

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): How Fast Your Page Loads

LCP measures how long it takes for the main content (like a big image or text block) to appear on the screen. A good LCP is under 1.2 seconds for desktop and 2.5 seconds for mobile.

How to Improve LCP

• Optimize images: Compress images to reduce file size. Tools like Squoosh can shrink images without losing quality.

• Use a fast server: Choose a reliable hosting provider with quick response times.

• Reduce server delays: Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to serve content from servers closer to your users.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Keeping Your Page Stable

CLS measures how much your page’s layout shifts unexpectedly, like when an image loads up and moves content. A good CLS score is under 0.1.

First Input Delay (FID)

FID checks how long it takes for your site to respond when a user clicks a button or link. A good FID is under 100 milliseconds

How to Improve CLS and FID

• Set image sizes: Always define width and height for images so the browser reserves space for them.

• Avoid sudden content changes: Don’t insert ads or pop-ups that shift the page after it loads.

• Use event delegation: Instead of adding event listeners to many elements, use a single listener on a parent element to handle interactions efficiently.

Interaction to Next Paint (INP): How Fast Your Site Responds to Actions

INP measures how quickly your site responds to user interactions, (clicking, tapping, typing). It looks at the time from when a user interacts to when the page visually updates. A good INP is under 200 milliseconds.

How to Improve FID and INP

• Minimize JavaScript: Remove unused scripts or break them into smaller pieces.

• Use browser optimizations: Techniques like defer or async (link) for JavaScript files. Let the browser load them without blocking user actions.

Lazy Loading and Code Splitting: Load Only What You Need

Lazy Loading

Load only the content users need right away. Two great techniques for this are lazy loading and code splitting.

Lazy loading delays loading images, videos, or other heavy content until they’re needed (like when a user scrolls down).

How to Do It

• Use priority hints: Add fetchpriority attribute to tell the browser which resources to load first.

• HTML attribute: Add loading="lazy" to images in your HTML. Most modern browsers support this.

Code Splitting

Code splitting breaks your JavaScript into smaller pieces so the browser only loads what’s needed for the current page.

How to Do It

• Dynamic imports: Use tools like Vite or Webpack to split code. For example, load a heavy charting library only when a user visits a data-heavy page. Frameworks like React or Vue have built-in code-splitting features.

Rendering Strategies: Picking the Right Approach

Loading contents right affects page speed. Here is common strategies, explained simply, with examples from real projects.

Client-Side Rendering (CSR)

In CSR, the browser loads a basic page and uses JavaScript to fetch and display content (in client side). It’s great for dynamic apps but can be slow initially.

Server-Side Rendering (SSR)

SSR sends a fully built page from the server, making the first load faster. It’s good for SEO and speed but this can put a load on the servers.

Static Site Generation (SSG)

SSG creates pre-built pages at build time, making them super fast to load. It’s perfect for blogs or marketing sites.

Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR)

ISR combines SSG’s speed with the ability to update pages without rebuilding the whole site. It’s great for sites with frequent updates.

Summary

• Focus on Core Web Vitals (LCP, FID, CLS, INP) to make your site fast, responsive, and stable.

• Use lazy loading, priority hints, and code splitting to load only what’s needed.

• Pick the right rendering strategy (CSR, SSR, SSG, or ISR) for your project.