WYR Would You Rather - Webmaster Edition #8

[Cedric]

We're faced with a crucial decision in website optimization. Imagine you're at a crossroads:
When it comes to optimizing your website's performance, which path would you prefer?

🤔 The Dilemma:

Option A: Prioritize fast loading on desktop devices for a seamless experience on larger screens.​

Option B: Focus on accelerating mobile loading speed to cater to the growing mobile audience, where​

This dilemma revolves around striking the right balance in catering to different device types. Your choice can significantly impact how visitors interact with your website, and we're eager to hear your perspective on what you consider best practice.

Share your insights, experiences, and strategies:

• If you lean towards Option A, optimizing for desktop, how do you ensure a lightning-fast experience on larger screens? What design and content elements do you prioritize?
• If Option B, focusing on mobile speed, aligns with your strategy, how do you tackle the challenges of mobile optimization? What techniques do you employ to ensure your mobile audience enjoys a swift, engaging experience?

Feel free to drop your thoughts below.

Cheers!

 

[Empire]

Both? I mean both are very important and so I would consider working on user experience for all.

 

[Arantor]

Both are only important if you have no context.

The site I am currently building for example has limited to no mobile support and little is planned, because it’s designed around uploading large files (Excel ones), and then spending large (up to 6 figures) amounts of money. The sort of thing you don’t *really* want to be doing on mobile.

 

[Debashis]

For me, option B: Focus on accelerating mobile loading speed to cater to the growing mobile audience, where a majority of internet users access websites and applications. This will improve user experience and ensure that mobile users have quick and efficient access to content, increasing engagement and conversions on mobile devices. Optimizing images and videos and implementing responsive design are some of the things that we can do to ensure that our mobile audience enjoys a swift and engaging experience by reducing page load times and improving overall performance. Nowadays almost everyone browses the internet on phones more than desktops which is another reason behind me choosing this option.

 

[Arantor]

reducing page load times and improving overall performance

What would you say if I told you that reducing page load times for mobile and improving overall performance benefitted the desktop at least as equally?

What would you say if I told you that the increasing move of web developers is in fact *not reducing page load times* but increasing them at the expense of the developer's convenience?

 

[Debashis]

What would you say if I told you that reducing page load times for mobile and improving overall performance benefitted the desktop at least as equally?

Indeed it does. But since more traffic comes from phones, would always prefer working on getting things better on them first. Desktop is secondary these days when it comes to browsing.

What would you say if I told you that the increasing move of web developers is in fact *not reducing page load times* but increasing them at the expense of the developer's convenience?

Developers often prioritize convenience and ease of development, which can inadvertently impact load times and eventually lead to poor user experience.

 

[Arantor]

Desktop is secondary these days when it comes to browsing.

Depends what you're doing.

However in this case you're also wrong. If you improve load times for mobile, *you can't not improve them for desktop* unless you jam a bunch of images into desktop that you didn't on mobile. The server's still doing the same work to send you the HTML. It's still sending the same CSS, the same JavaScript. If you improve one, you *must* by definition improve the other.

which can inadvertently impact load times and eventually lead to poor user experience.

Inadvertantly? There are almost no projects written in React that wouldn't have been improved avoiding React and writing it natively.

I'm not just debating this hypothetically, this is literally my day job to do this stuff.

 

[Debashis]

Depends what you're doing.

However in this case you're also wrong. If you improve load times for mobile, *you can't not improve them for desktop* unless you jam a bunch of images into desktop that you didn't on mobile. The server's still doing the same work to send you the HTML. It's still sending the same CSS, the same JavaScript. If you improve one, you *must* by definition improve the other.


Inadvertantly? There are almost no projects written in React that wouldn't have been improved avoiding React and writing it natively.

I'm not just debating this hypothetically, this is literally my day job to do this stuff.

Well, you know better. I was just saying how I feel as a consumer/end-user.

 

[zoldos]

I prefer desktop speed and responsiveness. I've recently enabled full file based caching and it's made a huge difference. and doesn't use much CPU and memory. A significant server upgrade has also helped!