Caching media files, especially images, seems like an obvious way to improve performance, but should we? To provide a more performant UX without abusing users’s network connections or hard drives, Aaron Gustafson puts a spin on classic best practices, experiments with media caching strategies, and shares smart Cache API tricks.
Topic: The Server Side
Back-end in motion. Shaping interactivity with languages like Perl, PHP, ASP, ColdFusion, Rebol, and Ruby on Rails. Database-driven projects and processes. Interface responsiveness through better database design. Fending off hackers. Obfuscating e-mail addresses. Creating a more useful 404 page. A better image rotator. Dynamic text replacement. Keeping navigation current with PHP.
Server to Client
Kicking off the first installment in our “From URL to Interactive” series, Ali Alabbas takes us through the journey of how our code makes it to the browser. In “Server to Client”, he discusses how server connections are made, caching, and how service workers factor into the request and response process. You don’t want to miss this master class from a networking expert; grasping this aspect of how things run under the browser hood is essential to understanding performance.
Webmentions: Enabling Better Communication on the Internet
The free exchange of information and ideas is one of the great beauties of the internet, so why is so much of that communication still trapped behind the walls of individual social silos? Enter Webmentions. They’re the new kids on the block determined to disrupt the status quo, break down barriers, and free up cross-platform communication across the internet like never before. With Webmentions rapidly gathering momentum, Chris Aldrich delivers a timely outline of the basics, how Webmentions work, and where you can go to get started. The walls are coming down …
Going Offline
With all modern browsers now supporting Service Workers, it’s important to take a look at how we can use this tool to improve our users’ experiences online (and off). Jeremy Keith provides a gentle, in-depth introduction in this excerpt from Chapter 1 of his new book, Going Offline.
The Best Request Is No Request, Revisited
Now that HTTP/2 is enjoying greater ubiquity than ever, it’s especially important to challenge the once unquestionable rule of resource bundling in client side performance. Join Stefan Baumgartner as he walks you through the potential pitfalls and ill effects of bundling in HTTP/2 environments.
Ten Extras for Great API Documentation
In this follow-up to her first article on the essentials of a good API, Diana Lakatos dives deep on helpful extras that will take your API documentation to the next level. Her tips will help you make your API more usable and readable, imbue it with personality, and explore beyond the basics.
The Ten Essentials for Good API Documentation
Building an elegant API is not an end in itself; you need developers to use it. Your documentation needs to get them up to speed quickly with what your API is, what it does, and how to use it or you risk losing their attention. In this piece, Diana Lakatos offers a wealth of excellent advice on how to properly document an API.
Using HTTP/2 Responsibly: Adapting for Users
Depending on your audience’s capabilities, a site optimized for HTTP/2 may be detrimental for a segment of your users. Jeremy Wagner shows us how adaptive content delivery can improve site performance caused by incompatible browsers.
Considering How We Use HTTP/2
HTTP/2 is a rough experience on incompatible browsers. Jeremy Wagner explains the true extent of real-world performance problems, and how to adapt delivery of site assets to a user’s connection.
How Do We Get It Done, Now?
In the future that’s forever one short year away, brilliantly functional, widely implemented APIs will redeem us from our toil and trouble. We just have to get ready for their coming, while seeing to the nitty-gritty of making the web work in the present. Sadly, it’s a lot less predictable than that. Every new standard has to start small, and we’ll always need to choose which API to back and which to pass over.
