This is a brilliant post from Scott Jehl about optimizing page render by getting particular about how (and when) certain assets load. He uses the real-world site Wired as a test bed for putting the ideas into practice, cutting perceived load time by a full 8.5 seconds!
Dispatches From The Internets
More Weight Doesn’t Mean More Wait
The DOM Is NOT Slow, Your Abstraction Is
Abstraction can be helpful, but it also complicates things and leads to slower performance. Andrea Giammarchi provides lots of details here in examining a complex app scenario with the good old fashioned DOM vs. a handful of frameworks. Bonus points for the fact that most of the video evidence tests are being run on non-iOS devices!
No, the DOM is not your problem, the fact you brought an over-engineered abstraction on top of a deadly simple task, like a table that needs some quick update, is the real problem you don’t want to see.
If you dig Andrea’s post, you should also check out this post from the Filament Group.
Tips for Surviving Google’s “Mobilegeddon”
Today is the day Google updates it algorithm to take into account mobile-friendliness. Here are a few tips that will help you embrace mobile without tearing your hair out.
What nobody tells you about will-change
Interesting insights from Thierry Koblentz on the unintended consequences of using will-change to identify elements likely to change in the interface.
Becoming Design-Infused: 2 Necessary Mutations to Organizational DNA
A beautifully insightful piece from Jared Spool. Lots of gold in here.
It’s one thing to say design is important and to put phrases like “delivering best-of-class customer experiences” into the corporate mission statement. It’s another thing to change a corporation to truly make design a competitive advantage.
How to write cleaner CSS and smarter SASS
A few thoughts on cleaner Sass output from Anthony Dispezio. He secret? Using generic mixins in concert with @extend.
Locking the Web Open: Rethinking the World Wide Web
Hmm… distribute the Web for endurance and longevity and make it private through blockchain-esque encryption. It’s an interesting idea, but I don’t know that Marketing will go for it.
The Failed Promise of Deep Links
A beautiful piece on what it means to be a link and what they mean to us.
In the ‘90s, we got tired of systems like Compuserve, AOL and Prodigy that wouldn’t play together nicely and only let us play in pre-approved ways. We might similarly grow disenchanted with apps that don’t connect easily, or only connect in ways that we can’t shape.
#HonoringWebFolk
A lot of folks have helped me on the way to becoming the web professional that I am. When Molly declared today “Unsung Leaders of the Web Day”, I had to join in.
15 Years of Dao
So many nice words about such an important piece about the Web. My humble contribution:
John’s piece came three years before Steve Champeon coined the term “progressive enhancement,” but it clearly and succinctly outlined its philosophy: “Make pages which are accessible, regardless of the browser, platform or screen that your reader chooses or must use to access your pages.” His insights—published a mere decade after the invention of the medium—still influence the work I do to this day.