Web Developers - Size Still Matter?

G

GreasyBoy

Veteran XX
It's been a while since a developed a website and I'm curious as to the considerations given to size of graphics these days and loading times. Are dialup/ISDN even a consideration these days, or do we assume most hitting your site at least have 1.5/1.5.

Is there a load time for the main page you shoot for? Are people plunking 1Mb gifs on their sites or is it all Flash or some other streamlined animation software?

Any good freeware tools or is HTMLKit and MS Express tools still about it?
 
Here's an idea.

Smaller site = more hits for the same bandwidth

Bet you haven't thought of that.
 
$10 / hr

Load time matters when it comes to cell phones. If a site takes for ever to load, I don't go back to it.
 
Whenever I design a website, I make sure all my button image sizes are 2048 x 1152. I also have a bunch of animated gifs.
 
you know, you could go look at a few mainstream sites and see for yourself. i know, crazy suggestion.
 
While it's true most Internet users are sitting on fat pipes these days (that sounds dirty, now that I read it...oh well...) developers should still make the same considerations when it comes to graphics sizing. Most hosting companies are going to bill you based on bandwidth consumption, so keeping page/image sizes as low as possible is only going to help your bottom line.
 
[MoM] Gort said:
While it's true most Internet users are sitting on fat pipes these days (that sounds dirty, now that I read it...oh well...) developers should still make the same considerations when it comes to graphics sizing. Most hosting companies are going to bill you based on bandwidth consumption, so keeping page/image sizes as low as possible is only going to help your bottom line.
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I've looked at quite a few sites along the lines of what I'm working on, (bands) and a great deal appear to actually be scaling back. The cool intros and flashy animations are being replaced with 1999 style menus and graphics. I'm guesiing their streaming media is killing their bandwidth and they no longer have the luxury of neato thingies that flash.

It seems to me that the size of the user's pipe has become irrrelevant except for very specific uses, and that size matters more now than it did 7/8 years ago when broadband actually started to become more commonplace. I like easy to navigate websites more than most, but I also like innovation and it just doesn't seem that the smooth, slick internet it looked like we would have around 2010 actually took a step backwards.
 
GreasyBoy said:
I've looked at quite a few sites along the lines of what I'm working on, (bands) and a great deal appear to actually be scaling back. The cool intros and flashy animations are being replaced with 1999 style menus and graphics. I'm guesiing their streaming media is killing their bandwidth and they no longer have the luxury of neato thingies that flash.

It seems to me that the size of the user's pipe has become irrrelevant except for very specific uses, and that size matters more now than it did 7/8 years ago when broadband actually started to become more commonplace. I like easy to navigate websites more than most, but I also like innovation and it just doesn't seem that the smooth, slick internet it looked like we would have around 2010 actually took a step backwards.
Click to expand...
You have to consider the fact the platforms are changing, too. 10 years ago you'd have been ridiculed for suggesting that people would one day be using their phones more than their laptops for web browsing. ;)
 
GreasyBoy said:
I like easy to navigate websites more than most, but I also like innovation and it just doesn't seem that the smooth, slick internet it looked like we would have around 2010 actually took a step backwards.
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Simple menus, fast loading pages, that's what's always been most appreciated by actual users. Enormous, chunky, slow interfaces just hurt usability. Interfaces that aren't resolution independent are useless for phones.
 
I tend to use as much CSS as I can and only rely on images when I absolutely have to. When I do use images I make sure to output and optimize them as much as possible. Photoshop does a pretty good job with this if you use Save As for Web not just normal saving.

Really it just depends on what this website is for and how much traffic you are expecting. There are ways to speed up delivery for image intensive websites that are expecting a fair amount of traffic.
 
[MoM] Gort said:
You have to consider the fact the platforms are changing, too. 10 years ago you'd have been ridiculed for suggesting that people would one day be using their phones more than their laptops for web browsing. ;)
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When I see my wife standing in the kitchen squinting to see a site on her phone instead of walking 10 feet to her computer with a 21" screen, I have to think to myself that The Clapper™ won the battle of gadget induced sloth. But really, it's just personal preference and the small screen and keypad are minor inconviniences. That said, do we see a future where the desktop is replaced? Some sort of docking station down the road where you plug your cell or netbook in for a larger screen or even television and input device(s)? Or are full sized input devices/peripheral going away as well? The landfills are going to tell someone down the road a really wasteful story about progress and social whims.
 
Yes, image size matters. The number of requests you make for individual javascript files and stylesheets matters. Do more with less.
 
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CosmicBlend said:
I tend to use as much CSS as I can and only rely on images when I absolutely have to. When I do use images I make sure to output and optimize them as much as possible. Photoshop does a pretty good job with this if you use Save As for Web not just normal saving.

Really it just depends on what this website is for and how much traffic you are expecting. There are ways to speed up delivery for image intensive websites that are expecting a fair amount of traffic.
Click to expand...

this and i get better optimization from fireworks which is kinda funny

at least for .pngs
 
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