We're all tired of waiting for Web pages to download, aren't
we? To make sure that visitors to your site don't get
frustrated, we rounded up some in-house experts to
help you make your pages faster 'n greased lightning.
Pictures are worth a thousand words — especially on the Web,
where pages of text can download in the time it takes for a
single image to load. Your images may be sub-zero cool, but
if they're too plump, few people will stick around long
enough to see them. Jason Cook digs into tricks and
optimizations to speed up your GIF, JPG, and PNG downloads.
Once you've learned the basics of shrinking your images, Jason will walk you through the advantages of using CSS for your page layout. And, if you're one of those people who insists on using tables (please don't view source right now), Jason will offer you a few choice hints on how to get those tables slim and streamlined.
After you've removed the bloat from your layout code and your images, Jason will drop some knowledge about cutting needless elements from your pages. Hint: Start with all those links.
The series concludes with wise words from Paul Boutin, who has spent many a long day trying to make websites faster. He reveals how to come up with bench
marks for speed and how to test your site using nothing but a stopwatch and a pencil.
Get started: Lesson 1»
