Last week, there was a thread about how Chrome now has a default favicon (the little icons on each tab in the browser.) https://twitter.com/rem/status/1123210678679085058 I chimed in with some stats on how Favicons are used (from the HTTP Archive). There is enough information to make it a post, so here goes 🙂 Every page has … Continue reading Favicons: Perhaps the Least Understood Web Feature
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The folks at Heart Internet asked me to write a few posts on how video playback on the web works. In January, I published Video Killed My Data Plan, a primer on how to best incorporate video into your website. in April, we published Best Practices for optimising video streams on the web. Both … Continue reading Video Blogs at Heart Internet
In a previous post, I showed that websites can continue making requests well after the page has been minimized when using Chrome on Android. The examples I used were chat bots and advertisers that kept pinging their servers to send information back to the mothership. But what happens if you minimize the browser mid-page load? … Continue reading Closing a Website Mid-Load on Mobile: Data Explosion
Have you ever wondered what happens when you minimize the browser on your phone? Does the website stop loading? What happens if the website has a periodic ping, for analytics, or ads, or another process? On a mobile phone, this could lead to excess data usage - which on a metered connection can be costly. … Continue reading Websites that Keep Loading, and Loading and Loading….
When we speak of “third party” content on the web, we mean it to be content created and controlled by a third party. There has been a lot written on how third parties affect performance: here is Harry Roberts’ talks on the subject.  Recently, Patrick Hulce did an incredible analysis on which 3rd party scripts … Continue reading 4th Parties: Uninvited Guests to Your Site
