A short history of making websites
If using the internet was a paid service based on the volume of data transferred, frameworks would long be dead.
Deceased too would be the triumvirate that currently account for nearly half of all internet traffic.
Client side rendering and the plugin ecosystem unavoidably oblige website visitors to download multiple megabytes of data, costing shorter battery lives, inflated data plans, not to mention untold damage on the planet.
Thankfully, the tide is turning, helped in part by Google rankings now being based partially on performance. This heralds a new age where developers will have to focus on user experience instead of which framework to use and technical convenience finally gives way to the needs of the customer.
The way forward
Web pages that deliver optimal utility at minimal cost, where "cost" is measured in terms of real user performance.
As well as information value, user experience is primarily based on how quickly the content can be accessed - the single most important factor in this is how much data the server sends to the client's device.
Modern web applications should only send data to the client's device when the client specifically requests it. For example, if a website wants to offer its users an editing capability for adding comments, then the javascript and css to support that functionality should only be sent when the user clicks a button.
- transfers a ceiling of 100kb of data to first time visitors
- only sends data when user requests it
- perfectly fits all visitor devices
- provides real-time access to website analytics
- measures visitor engagement and patterns of use
- prevents hackers and disables theft
- provides separate editor and live websites
- allows content to be changed directly in the editor website
- allows changed content to be published directly in the live website
- backs up content every day
- makes all code available to download
The Web Almanac determined that the median page weight measured in 2024 was about 2.5 MB on both desktop and mobile (an increase of 120% compared to 2012).
Most of this weight is images, but javascript is not far behind and indeed, 2024 saw the first year that the total number of requests for javascript exceeded requests for images.