8 Apr 2022
In this tech-savvy generation, having a web application for your business is a necessity. More and More people are moving towards e solutions for their real-world problems. Like booking a cab, buying groceries, online shopping for clothes, and many more. So, If you want to reach a huge target audience for your business, having a website is a must.
However, only having a web app will not suffice, you need to have a marvelous web application to come into the eye of your target audience. Business owners who are considering developing new web applications or who are responsible for maintaining current ones must recognize the importance of application speed. Think of all the times you browsed a website on your laptop or mobile and it didn’t open or work properly in the first two minutes. As soon as something like that happens, you either start refreshing the page or close the website and move to another one. Remember the time, when you downloaded an app and it wasn’t working properly and in the first five minutes you uninstalled it from your device. So, we can say that the first few minutes when a user visits your web applications are very crucial. Those few minutes can make or break your brand’s image in the eye of the user. Keeping this in mind, we can understand the fact that the speed of our web application is an influential factor for your web app.
In this blog, we’ll learn about 10 ways by which we can increase the speed of our web app. Let’s get started.
1. Use Caching
Defining caching mechanisms for users’ browsers can help the app run faster. Don’t forget to specify the caching techniques for the user’s browser to improve the performance of your web app. Although browsers make every effort to regulate caching, they believe it is usually wiser to prevent caching by default rather than caching by request.
2. Remove Render-blocking JavaScript and CSS
CSS and JavaScript that block rendering should be limited — this enhances the user experience. Accessibility, maintainability, customization, consistency, portability, and performance are all dependent on the Stylesheet. You can improve the user experience by using non-blocking assets and allowing users to fetch and render HTML markup before the CSS is loaded and parsed. JavaScripts follow the same rule. Aside from that, you may expect the CSS and JS files to be compressed for use. This will minimize the file size and increase the speed with which your web app loads.
3. Images
PNGs should only be used when absolutely necessary; otherwise, JPEGs should be used. For logos and other images, JPEGs are always preferable over PNGs. This is because PNG images are large and take longer to load, slowing down the application’s performance. Second, you must examine the image resolution required and design images accordingly.
At the backend of every image, there is some redundant data that can slow down the pace of your app. Therefore, you must remove metadata from your photos, minimize their size, and speed up your web app. SVG pictures could be used for graphics visuals since they are vector-based, display high-quality at all resolutions, and are yet small. As a result, you might consider using these for icons or logos.
4. Server-side Rendering
As not every JavaScript solution for single-page apps has increased server-side rendering, it’s best to stick with more developed options like React and Angular2.
5. Mobile First CSS
If your customers have older devices, switching to non-bloated CSS would be a wise decision. It will assist in reaching a 10x increase in app speed. This is because non-bloated CSS makes extensive use of classes, limiting the lines of code read by the browser. Aside from that, the finest application development companies also recommend using mobile-first CSS. It’s built on the premise that app developers should wrap all desktop CSS in media queries and use mobile as the default. Because mobile device browsers don’t read the code in media queries, your app will execute faster, resulting in more efficient web app development.
6. CDNs
The CDN (Material Delivery Network) is a worldwide distributed system of proxy servers that works to provide high-availability and high-performance content to users. It can considerably improve the time it takes for clients all across the world to respond to your assets. As a result, you should pay attention to them. The implementation of a content delivery network can enhance user response times to files.
7. HTTP Requests
MORE HTTP REQUESTS = MORE LOAD TIME
A long load time can be a disruptive and frustrating experience for your users. Mobile users will have a particularly bad experience, as most of them will have to wait until every asset on a webpage is downloaded before the page even begins to appear in their mobile browser. So, we must try to minimize HTTP requests.
8. HTTP compression
Web performance can be improved by using HTTP compression. HTTP compression reduces the size of data transmitted. We recommend allowing compression for all files, with the exception of those that have already been compressed, because it improves web performance significantly. To compress data, all major browsers support gzip with the Content-Encoding header. This enables the transmission of fewer bytes to browsers, resulting in speedier content delivery. Incompatible browsers, you can also employ a more efficient brotli compression technique.
9. Lazy loading
One of the most important performance gains for first page loads with several images is to load the images only when they are in or near the viewport this is known as Lazy Loading. To achieve the same outcome, you may either utilise the IntersectionObserver functionality incompatible browsers or alternative tools such as react-lazyload.
10. HTTP/2 Protocol
The HTTP network protocol has been updated to HTTP/2 (h2 in DevConsole). Because of the following differences between HTTP/1.x and HTTP/2, switching to HTTP/2 may increase performance:
The web is being taken over by mobile apps. The speed of the web app has a significant impact on its success. The capacity to launch programs at breakneck speed ensures that your company stands out in a crowded market! With the growing popularity of mobile applications over desktop websites, it’s critical that you take the necessary steps to increase the speed of your web app. the speed of your web app, which will not only improve the user experience but also help you construct a successful web app in order to stand out from the competitors. Remember that a lightning-fast application can help you carve out a special place in the customer’s mind and spirit! As a result, your application’s conversion rate may improve.
In a growing application, performance is a never-ending process that usually necessitates regular adjustments throughout the entire stack. There are a plethora of intriguing ideas to try. I hope that this information encourages you to consider performance in your application:
Startxlabs, one of India’s top digital transformation service providers. Launched in 2014, Startxlabs aims in innovating a digital future by developing technology for the web and mobile platforms. From our beginning as a technology development company, we’ve tried to stay true to our core beliefs and to deliver exceptional services to our clients. Whether it’s people we work for or people who work for us, we value honesty, passion, and the desire to explore. We have expertise in website development, android app development, iOS app development, Flutter, React Native app development, UI/UX design, and marketing strategy. With the engagement of our highly technical team, we have delivered over 110+ projects providing a positive impact on the users.
Author: Vaishnavi Mall