Today I will share my experience on how and why to optimize web applications.
In the competitive world of online services, performance has become a key success factor – users expect instant access to information and ease of interaction.
It’s not enough to attract users, it’s important to create a positive first impression so that you don’t lose customer interest and retain them after the first interaction.
In this battle for attention, every second, even milliseconds, counts. Your online services must be responsive and pleasant to use. Otherwise, you run the risk of experiencing high bounce rates and, as a result, lost revenue.
Let’s summarize the impact of optimization on business:
- User experience
A fast and responsive website contributes to a positive impression. When pages load instantly and without lag, it increases the likelihood that users will remain interested and willing to explore your content.
- Traffic
Search engines consider page load speed as one of the factors when ranking search results. Websites that are fast and efficient tend to rank higher in search results, which in turn attracts more traffic.
- Conversion
Optimizing website performance is often accompanied by an increase in conversion rates. The likelihood of a successful action (purchase, link click, etc.) is much higher on a fast website.
- Advantage
Users are more likely to prefer your site over a less fast competitor.
Any application optimization focuses on the speed of content being delivered to the user, namely delivery from the server and display on the device.
Let’s take a closer look at such optimization techniques.
JavaScript Load Priority Control
You can influence the priority of loading scripts in your project, thus loading important content at once and putting the minor ones at the end of the queue.
Prioritize loading
When a user visits your website, it is important to prioritize the loading of critical content. Prioritizing ensures that users see relevant content as quickly as possible, even if other non-essential items are still loading in the background.
Lazy loading
Defer loading secondary content, such as images and videos, until the user scrolls to the part of the page where the content is visible. By delaying the loading of these resources, you can reduce the initial page load time.
Server-Side Rendering (SSR)
This method allows the server to generate HTML code on the server and send it to the client device ready to be rendered. This reduces the load on the user’s browser and improves the speed of the first page load. SSR is especially useful for dynamic web applications where content changes frequently. It also helps in providing SEO rendering.
Static Site Generation (SSG)
SSG allows static HTML pages to be pre-generated at the site build stage, rather than on the server with each request. This reduces the load on the server and increases the loading speed, as users get ready-made HTML files. SSG is ideal for static or nearly static websites.
