Any Webpage taking longer than 8 seconds to load on a 56k connection needs to be further optimised. This article lists 6 different ways you can decrease a page’s load time.

1.     Webpages that make use of JavaScript are programmed with the script at the top of the document.  The content cannot be seen until the JavaScript has fully loaded. If the JavaScript is placed at the end of the document the visual content will load first which will cut out some of the load time. The page will still be loading when it is viewable within the browser but the user will be unaware of this.

2.     Loading in external code such as style sheets or JavaScript files can also increase a page’s load time. Including them in the html file reduces the readability of the code for a developer but does lessen the load time of the page significantly. When you’ve got your website functioning correctly, take some time to copy paste external code into the main document.

3.     There are three main formats of image that are used for webpages. These comprise of: Portable Network Graphics (png), Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) and Graphics Interchange Format (gif). Different formats give a varying quality of image and more importantly vary the it’s file size. A gif type image is the smallest format so if your images only contain a few colours then this would be the best choice. JPEGs can be adjusted to vary in quality, you should target the lowest quality possible without compromising the quality of the image. PNGs are the largest type of the three and should only be used for high quality images with transparent backgrounds. Bitmaps (bmp) are another familiar image file type but take up a large quantity of memory. These should be avoided altogether for web use to ensure speedy page load times.

4.     A minimal use of images, in particular animated gifs will also lessen page load time. Animated gifs are made up of more than one image and therefore have a bigger file size. The lower the file size of the externally loaded image, the quicker the page will load. The quantity of images being loaded is also worth noting as it also effects page load time.

5.     Flash animations or swf files are used more frequently these days than animated gifs. Swfs are a considerably greater size than that of animated gifs. They should only be used on a page where absolutely necessary. It is worth taking into consideration using an animated gif in oppose to a swf if your animation is short and doesn’t require any user interaction. Nevertheless it should also be understood that if your animation uses audio a gif won’t be appropriate. The use of swfs will also require extra code to check if the user has a flash player installed. This requires further coding and is another motive to only use Flash files where necessary.

6.     It is advisable to combine separate images where possible to decrease page load time. Two separate images will have a greater overall file size than one. Also with only one graphic the page needs to make fewer http requests, which is another determining factor of page load time.