Top 5 Tricks to Reduce Web Page Load Times
Fast loading websites hook users. On the other hand, slow websites repel visitors. Hence, to grab your web page visitors, reducing web page loading time is a must! Moreover, minimalist web design techniques that allow websites that load quickly are also ranked better on the search engines.
Here are 5 ways you can lessen web page loading time:
- Existing Website Speed Analysis
To decrease your web page loading time the first prior step is to check the current time taken by your web page to load. After you find out the loading time of your website, you will be able to estimate the improvement is required. You will also know whether the tricks applied are working to lessen your web page loading time.
Three free tools that can be used to analyse web page loading time are-Pingdom, Web Page Test and Page Speed.
- Optimize Your Images
It is essential to identify when you need to format your images and which file is ideal for the image formatting process. Certain file formats reduce the image size radically so being aware and knowing the details is necessary.
Three options most popularly used are JPEG, GIF and PNG.
- JPEG is to be selected for those images which contain lots of colours and elaborate detailing such as in case of photographs.
- GIF is best suited for the images that consist of a few colours such as logos.
- PNG is the right alternative when you require transparent images with high quality.
- Do not Scale down Images
Avoid the usage of large image if you do not need it. To go into detail, suppose you have an image which is 800×800 px. On the other hand, your web page requires a 200×200 px image. At such situations, it is a superb idea to use an image editor that can assist you to resize images conveniently in just a few simple steps as per your required dimensions. Photoshop is one such well-liked image editor. Resizing works to lessen the size of the image file which further assists in reducing the page loading times.
- Optimize and Compress Your Content
To cut down on the web page loading time, an excellent way is to compress the website content. To perform the task HTTP compression is a great option. Unlike sending a request which is full of many different files, HTTP compression sends all the web page data in a single smaller file. You also have the liberty to compress and optimize your JavaScript and CSS files by merging them and minimizing the source code.
- Stylesheet References: Place them at the Top
To assist your page so that it feels as though the page is loading quickly shift your stylesheet references to the <head> of your HTML document. This when done, lets the pages deliver the styles gradually. In totality, being of W3C standard does not matter.
If you are inclined on offering your users premium quality experience then Web page speed is a metric that you shouldn’t overlook.