It’s easy to forget the speed of the internet can be painfully slow for some users. I’m often reminded how bad it can be when I’m commuting to work trying to browse the web with a 2G signal.
The speed of a web page can be attributed to lots of different factors but the key one is the overall page size. Over the last three years the average size of a web page has doubled surpassing the 2 MB mark and if the rate continues in 2017 it could be over 3 MB.
Why is web page bloat a problem?
Obviously the increase in page size has a big impact on how quickly we can access information when we are out and about. But what is often overlooked is the extra cost of browsing the web.
My monthly mobile data allowance and the UK average is 500 MB. This means without taking into account WiFi access I can view just eight pages (on average) a day without incurring extra cost. This figure gets even worse when you include the data used by apps.
Block ads, browse faster
Users are finding ways to stretch their daily internet ration by installing ad blockers.
In the UK ad blocking grew by 82% to reach 12 million active users in 12 months up to June 2015.
Perhaps at first glance the rise in ad blockers may seem unrelated to the increase in the size of web pages. But, an ad blockers key function is to remove content users won’t miss. According to a study by Tech Week you could save 40% of your bandwidth using an ad blocker and increase your battery life by as much as 21%.
I’m not supporting or condoning the use of as blockers but I do think their rapid adoption should set some alarm bells ringing.
As developers we want our websites to do more but this is impacting on how accessible they are. Web accessibility isn’t just about making your website easy to use for people with disabilities. It is about making sure you remove any barriers to access including the size of your web page.
Check the size of your favourite website by going to Pingdom Website Speed Test and let us know if you could survive with your daily eight page ration.
9 June, 2016 at 9:10 pm
[…] entirely fair comparison because the site will cache some of the data but you get the idea – ad blockers mean you can view more of the web for the same […]
17 September, 2016 at 4:28 pm
[…] However the guidelines don’t cover everything. For example there are no specific guidelines to cover how quickly a page loads or the size of the page – both can be barriers to accessing a website. You can read a little more about this in my article called internet rationing. […]