Webpage Design and the Long Load Time Problem
Numerous studies have show that, while most web designers use fast internet connections, the majority of their audience still use comparatively slower connections. Because of this, many designers create web pages that may load quickly enough on their own computers, but take excessively long to load on their audiences' computers. Many web designers have not dealt with this issue on their websites, resulting in the loss of a valuable audience, even though numerous ways of dealing with the long load time problem exist.
The largest cause of long page load times is the graphical content of the webpage. While text generally does not take too long to load over most connections, images can adversely affect even the fastest connection speeds when used incorrectly. Because websites use images more than almost any other media, this problem affects web designing decisions for practically every website created. Many web designers use large, full-quality graphics on their websites, which often take up much of the page. These images, while very attractive, do not justify the long time they require to load. In addition, many designers use full screen graphical interfaces for their sites. Even when text is the main component of these pages, the graphical interface slows the load time to a crawl. This forces viewers interested only in the text to wait unjustifiably long for the graphical interface to load first. For websites created for image viewing, there are often numerous, large, high-quality images placed on a single page in a giant column. Even if a viewer wants to observe just one of these images, they must wait for the other unwanted images to load as well. All of these problems cause viewers to become frustrated with websites, oftentimes causing them to give up on a site altogether.
If proper design techniques are used, however, they can prove beneficial to the effectiveness of a webpage. While it is impractical to stop using images altogether for websites, managing images appropriately can enhance a website's impact on intended audiences. An obvious and simple solution to slow load time problems is to use smaller pages. Since most websites use links heavily anyway, this solution does not reduce the content of sites, but breaks the content into more manageable pieces. This is especially useful for pages that primarily have text for content but use images to add interest, since these images justifiably should not slow down the load time.
Another solution that has been developed is image compression. Although compressing images decreases their quality, even using a small amount of compression can lead to dramatically improved image load times. In addition to compression, splitting images into separate pieces and putting them into tables can speed up page load time. Parts of the image can be highly compressed without losing too much detail, while others can be compressed less to maintain quality. Putting images into tables is especially useful for websites that have graphical interfaces, where designers can split side- and header-bars, link icons, and other web interface-related images that appear on every page into different parts to optimize page load time.
Yet another solution is to use thumbnails. This is particularly valuable for pages in which images are the primary content. These sites require many large, high-quality images, and so cannot afford to use image compression or, for practicality of navigation, cannot put every image onto a different page. Many thumbnails can be placed on a single page, and their small size and high compression do not lengthen load times significantly. A thumbnail also gives viewers a preview of what the larger, full-quality image will look like if they click on a thumbnail, allowing them to decide beforehand if it is worth their time.
In summary, too many webpage designers are misusing images in ways that cause websites to load far too slowly. They should instead take advantage the many solutions available for solving this problem when designing and implementing their sites. By not doing so, designers frustrate viewers and lose a valuable audience. Utilizing techniques for decreasing webpage load time will help web designers to expand their audiences and viewers to enjoy websites more fully, proving beneficial to those on both sides of the long load time problem.