Comments on: Speed as a Feature, Part 1

By: Carl Hjerpe

Carl Hjerpe — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 10:25:12 +0000

True, im NEVER using the facebook app for iphone because of it’s hilarous speed

By: Angela Nolan

Angela Nolan — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 08:23:34 +0000

Thanks for this article it raises lots of questions. Speed does matter and the website design definitely has an effect on this. For example look at website coding which use div containers, for content and for navigation bars and optimised css style layouts, fit for your purpose, and those which do not. See how the download speed is actually affected by your design. Also by optimising your design for all browsers, and mobile apps, including ie9, ipad and iphone, your content will display correctly which is just as important as download speed. Really important to check your website regularly and in all browsers.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 11:25:25 +0000

Great article. We wholeheartedly agree. Particularly relevant to the app world (which happens to be our world..)

By: Ken E Baker

Ken E Baker — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 09:01:03 +0000

Can’t agree more! Just thinking of the comparison between the Facebook android app and the Google+ Android app. The former’s loading times are exceptionally long – so much so that I will close the app in frustration and do something else. I don’t have time to sit and wait for someone else’s poorly designed app to steal my precious seconds and minutes. Thanks for a great article.

By: louise lalande

louise lalande — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 19:56:37 +0000

By: Andrea

Andrea — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 05:53:06 +0000

I think the question is not how fast is in absolute…the question is how the user perceive the load time.

By: eric

eric — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 23:16:17 +0000

Hi Chris, thanks for the reply. Any advice on how improve the performance client side? Also network is still high, but I’m not sure I can do a lot with that (already running on a cdn). And I’m also using pjax to avoid the reparsing of the page every time. Next I’m thinking about going with the http streaming too

By: Chris Kelly

Chris Kelly — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 20:14:46 +0000

@eric That is a good question, and one that comes with a "that depends" answer. A good load time, and how willing a user is to wait, is a complex problem. While your 4 second load is just about average for the sites monitored by New Relic (3.8s), it really depends on what your application does. If you have an ecommerce application, then you are right on average with other ecommerce sites but if you have a SaaS app then you're running a bit behind. Check out our App Speed Index to see how where your app fits in. Then you'll have some definitive goals to work towards.

By: eric

eric — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 19:36:10 +0000

how much fast should a page load? is 4 seconds too much? my app does 150-200ms server side (is that a lot?), but it slows down because of the network (1-1.5 sec), dom processing and rendering