What’s wrong with ViewState Tokens? ViewState tokens are a common performance issue I come across while helping customers due to the size of these tokens. I’ve found some information about performance improvements, but I have not tested any them. What is a ViewState token? It is ASP.NET’s way to ensure the state of the page elements sent to a browser match what the browser sends back. It is an encoded string sent out to the user which gets sent back to your server in a POST request. The main problem with this kind of token is that it needs to […]
It’s a great week on the internet! This week in web performance the preservation of net neutrality and new announcements from Google and Apple make headlines. FCC votes to preserve net neutrality, classifying broadband as a utility Yesterday the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to approve the proposed net neutrality rules for both wireless and fixed broadband. The proposed rules will disallow paid prioritization, as well as the blocking and throttling of lawful content and services. After overwhelming public outcry, this win for advocates of net neutrality is being called “the free speech victory of our times” and “an […]
Last November, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced a new database service, named Aurora, which appears to be a real challenger to commercial database systems. AWS will offer this service at a very competitive price, which they claim is one-tenth that of leading commercial database solutions. Aurora has a few drawbacks some of which are temporary, but the many benefits far outweigh them. Benefits Using hardware specially built for Aurora, AWS has come up with a service that tightly integrates database with hardware, Aurora delivers over 500,000 SELECTS/sec and 100,000 updates/sec. That is five times higher than MySQL 5.6 running the […]
Update: Mobile-friendliness added as a ranking signal Starting April 21st, Google will add mobile-friendliness as a factor in its ranking algorithm. Test out your URL using their mobile friendliness test to see if your page meets the new requirements, and keep reading for help adjusting your site. Every year mobile traffic is growing. This year 41.2% of all cyber monday traffic came from mobile. It’s a trend that every business should start to plan, and develop for. Options for Mobile Optimized Experiences Based on figures provided by the mobile experts at Flurry, app usage is increasing while mobile web surfing is decreasing. With […] 
The FCC Proposes to End Net Neutrality This week’s web performance news hits close to home for performance engineers. The concept of “the end of net neutrality” leaked a couple weeks ago and the public response was very strong. Learn more about what net neutrality means to you from our blog post last week. Last Thursday (5/15) the FCC voted on a proposal that will allow internet “fast lanes” for companies willing and able to pay for them. The proposal was accepted by a 3-2 majority vote. The vote was divided down party lines with the 3 democratic commissioners voting […]
You probably have been wondering why I’ve posted so infrequently over the past year. We have been bombarded with emails and phone calls demanding more blogging that includes my extremely dry, obtuse humor. So, in the interest of global stability and national security, I must acquiesce to the will of the masses. Right. That’s a joke. I’m only slightly more popular than Justin Bieber. If you are a serious tech geek, you’ll need to look up that Bieber reference. Web performance is why you read our blog, and web performance is my life. I want our blog to contain the […]
There are many companies that design or re-design websites with the goal of increasing conversion rates. What do we mean by conversion rates? SiteTuners defines Conversion Rate as: “The percentage of landing page visitors who take the desired conversion action.” Included in this list are completing a purchase, filling out an information form, or donating to the cause. Almost all companies focus on the design, look, and layout of a website when attempting to increase conversion rates. However, we at LoadStorm want to draw more attention to the role that web performance plays in conversions. Many studies have conclusively shown […]
A Look Back at Healthcare.gov The period of time during which individuals are able to take part in the open enrollment end March 31, 2014. The amount of publicity Healthcare.gov received in October last year drew in numerous discussions. The situation has settled down and now we can look back with a clearer picture. Complex System Healthcare.gov was more than just a website. It’s a front-end for an entire set of systems interconnected to exchange data. The system has to make requests to a handful of other agencies checking for citizenship, financial eligibility, IRS, Homeland Security, SSA, etc. Because of […]
Does Adblock improve your load time? An essential rule is to have ad banners displayed after the main content is displayed. In terms of perception, users wont notice the banner until they find the content they’re looking for on the page. While your web page will most likely download less data, your perception of speed isn’t likely to fluctuate drastically due to the adblock extension. Perhaps testing this would be an interesting experiment! How does adblock work? Adblock takes the div of the ad and gives it a height of 0. You can test this by putting a mini ad […]
Spring is here! Historically, this time of the year is representative of growth and renewal. It’s the perfect time for cleaning up your house, your yard, and your website. Keeping a modern website running smoothly can be time consuming and resource intensive. Modernizing your website may never become effortless, but this process can definitely become more manageable, maybe even enjoyable. This list provides an overview of quick and easy to apply tricks – including information on image optimization, general code cleanup , and using Gzip – to zip through clean up and arrive at a happy site. Before you start,choose […]