Welcome to the new LoadStorm.com!
As you may have noticed, LoadStorm.com has recently undergone a makeover. While the old site was nice, we wanted to do better by utilizing web optimization! Not only does this new design offer a sleek, slim appearance, it is also easier to navigate.
We removed quite a few elements from the previous design, but we also added a few new elements into the mix. Where does that leave us performance-wise? Is our new design faster than our old one?
Well, we ran several dozen tests on the new design and compared it to the benchmark test we performed on our previous design. Here are the results, broken down by page:
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Our Home Page : By dropping the carousel that used to play across the top of the page and replacing most of the old images with smaller ones, we decreased load time pretty significantly, dropping it by 16% when the CDN was enabled.
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The Features Page : We optimized the background image of clouds that we had at the top of every page. Some of our changes seem to have balanced each other. As we can see, the load times on the page are comparable when the CDN is turned on.
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The Pricing Page : We increased the number of requests on this page by adding a multitude of buttons, as well as a couple of videos. We balanced this increase by removing several of the larger, nonessential requests. While the overall load time was increased slightly before the CDN was introduced, we feel that the ease of use and navigation we generated was worth it.
To summarize, this redesign is lighter on actual bytes, but heavier on number of requests. On average, we decreased load time by less than a tenth of a second with the CDN enabled. Our overall performance hasn’t been significantly impacted, but, if I do say so myself – we look GOOD.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our loyal customers. We would enjoy hearing your feedback on the new site, and as always, welcome any suggestions on how we can improve. We want to be the best for you!
At the same time, we would like to invite you to interact with us through our social media sites! Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and GooglePlus!