Compress your website…..
I’ve just been talking to a client and I thought I should remind everyone that you all should be using httpd compression on your websites!
HTTPD Compression
What is it ?
HTTPD compression is used to compress delivery of web content from the server to the browser. Typically httpd compression delivers compressed HTML, CSS and XML files. There are compression modules for all the major webservers.
Why compress?
If everyone is shifting to broadband, whats the point. The reality is the most people are still on modems or on crappy ISDN connections. By compressing your site, you make sure the site is fast and snappy for all your customers. Customers are accessing your site from all over the world.
How fast is it?
It depends on the file hit ratio of your site. On the auction site that I used to run, about 80% of the hits were images and remaining 20% were HTML, CCS and Javascript files. But suprisingly in terms of Kilobytes size transferred the Images only made up 48% and the text a whopping 52% . So 20% of the hits translates into 50% of the data being transmitted to the browsers.
Compression savings is anything from 300-500% depending on the size of the file. That represents a lot of time saved for your users.
What are the benefits ?
- Bandwidth saved: You would save at least 15-30% of your bandwidth usage. Bandwidth costs are expensive, so any saving is a boon!
- Speed up HTML rendering: The HTML page loads first, but compressing the page you can speed up rendering by 2-3 times. Snappy delivery is absolutely important in improving the user experience.
- Its easy: There are many modules that are easy to add.
- Its Free: There are plenty of free modules for Apache and IIS.
- It works with all browsers: IE4 and above, NS4 and above, Any Mozilla , Opera !
Who’s using it?
Finally, a number of the big sites are starting to use it. Yahoo, Ebay, Amazon, Trade Me. . You can check out pipeboost to see how much they are saving.
Resources
- Pipeboost – An easy way to when the effectiveness of compressing your pages. Paste in your links and see how much you can save.
- Andrew King’s Site – The book “Speed up your site” started it all for me. When I read this book I felt sick that I had never implemented this before! That was 18 months ago, and I still surprised that EVERY website isn’t compressing their content!. Make sure you don’t make the same mistake!
BONUS TIP:
You can use the websiteoptimization tools to check how big all of the components are.