While fatter websites provide a richer user experience with higher quality images, content and personalization, they come at the cost of performance.
Responsive Design
Reason #4: Responsive Design Complexity
With over 18,700 different Android devices and the maintenance required to resize websites for different screens, it's no wonder responsive design is on the top of people's priority list. Responsive design allows for flexibility and lower operating overhead; however, it also adds page complexity and weight to your website, leading to performance problems.
Tips to get the most out of your responsive design:
- Conversions: To maximize conversions, your pages should load in two seconds or less. One tip is to optimize images and your third-party widgets (social sharing tools, analytics, etc).
- Bounce Rate: When customers see a blank screen for too long, check your start render metric. To lower your start render, make sure the code and delivery is set up to prioritize painting the screen sooner.
- SEO Rankings: Time-to-first-byte (TTFB) is one metric that can affect search rankings. Even a one-second delay in TTFB can lower your rankings by 35 positions. One tip is to cache static assets and optimize delivery of your dynamic content.