When to optimize

When it comes to web optimization, most of us leave the discussion of performance to the end of the conversation, when we mention it in passing; we underplay its importance to the project. By not bringing it up throughout the process, we are saying that we don't think it is important enough to discuss further. We're saying it's something that does not have much value. If we want to start correcting the course of performance on the Web, we must have the discussion on performance from the very beginning of the process, and we must be strict about it. One of the best ways to do this is to set a performance budget.

Most of the time we hear many people say in the early stages of a project that they want their site to be fast, only to see it turn into another one of those things that would be nice to fix eventually. We can get this done by setting up a performance budget. A performance budget is exactly what it sounds like. You set a budget for your page and do not allow the page...