When people talk about site speed, they mean how fast your website downloads and appears to the user on average. This concept relates back to the software engineering principle of perceived response time, or the amount of time between when the user initiates interaction with the application and receives feedback.
While advancements in browser technology mean more advanced features and more stunning layouts, web developers should always keep site speed in mind. For one thing, as a relatively recent poll on css-tricks.com indicates, there’s a pretty even distribution of internet speeds around the world ranging from less than 1 Mbps to 50+ Mbps. It’s important to consider that some of your audience may in fact be viewing your website over a dial-up connection.
Also remember that despite the fact that we have ever-updating feature-rich Chrome and Firefox, according to StatCounter there is still around 1.5% of the world’s population that uses Internet Explorer 6 (even a startling 0.5% using IE7… seriously people? *ahem*). While it’s important to keep your content updated and fresh, it’s also important to make sure your more “indigenous” visitors have a decent viewing experience as well.
