Google has a tool called Page Speed that helps web developers check the download speed of their web pages and also get information on how to improve the performance of their web pages. Page Speed is a Firefox/Firebug add-on which means you can use it from within Firefox (no, you can-not use it from within Google Chrome as of now) and you need to have Firebug already installed. Page Speed is the same tool that Google uses internally to optimise its web pages.

Yahoo has a similar tool called YSlow which is also a Firefox/Firebug add-on.

YSlow was released in April 09 while Google PageSpeed was open-sourced in June this year. We have since then begun to build these tools into our web design and development practices. We now use these tools to analyse the performance of web pages we design and develop. Tools like PageSpeed and YSlow factor in all possible reasons for a poor page performance.

PageSpeed, for example, analyses the web server’s configuration as well as the client side code and returns a Page Scrore based on its performance against certain “rules”.  It also gives suggestions based on the best practices, that is practices that Google and other prominent sites follow.

YSlow also analyses web pages based on a set of rules for high performance pages and provides its own recommendations. Following these recommendations helps us improve the download speeds of the websites we create for our clients.

YSlow

Page Speed

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Here is a quick ready-reckoner to remind yourself of do’s and don’ts from a visitor’s perspective, when designing a website.

- Know your audience, and keep them in mind when you write.

- Keep your pages small.

- Apply tables of contents.

- Keep images small.

- Apply Web colors.

- Avoid lots of text.

- Make sure spellings are correct.

- Keep links current.

- Annotate your links.

- Put contact information on your pages.

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