The Internet Really Is Getting Slower
The internet really is getting slower, but it's not what you think it is! Slower speeds are caused by all the memory heavy web pages coming through your browser.
The average site of a site is now 2.1 MB, almost twice what it was, even just three years ago! Websites are adding more videos, more pictures, plus there is more tracking software added to the sites, and more options, so that particular web sites can run on hand-held devices, as well as laptops and full screen computers. Not only that, but sites are adding more and more encryption, to make them safer, not only for the user, but for the owner!
All this makes the spinning wheel of death take a little longer to load, each time...
So, what is all this memory used for? A look at the graph below will help explain:
The component that has grown the fastest, is, surprisingly, custom fonts. Custom fonts are bulky and cumbersome, but are used more and more frequently. Three years ago, font transfer times were at only 1% of the total site loading time. Today, it's up to 5%.
There are a variety of other factors that lead to a slower browsing experience, such as network congestion, processing power, browser type, and the number of other programs and tabs you have open.
All things being equal, the Web is slowing down. It's only slowing by a matter of seconds, but literally every millisecond counts. The slower a Web page loads the more likely it is we'll leave for a competitor's site.
Thanks for coming by!
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Unfortunately, I well remember paying $5000 for a Compaq computer and dot matrix printer with a total memory of 4 MB. One web page, and that computer would be done! My previous computers wouldn't have handled even ONE web page...
Who else can remember dial ups-- were they really that much slower than some of the web pages we have today that are so memory heavy?
With dial-ups, I recall that the more local users there were the slower the computer worked. In other words, if on your street many people would log in, your computer would slow right down.
I think NT dowloading slowed down when it started to show advertising, estpecially ones with motion. Where I am, it is so inconsistent that I'm sure network congestion has a lot to do with it.
Who else can remember dial ups
We had Earthlink for our dial up for years and years. When we switched to high speed DSL, so many people knew our Earthlink email accounts, that we kept our email accounts (for a nominal fee of like $3 a month) rather then change them. We still have and use them as our main email.
Network congestion seems to affect us, too.
Or maybe it is just congestion at my house. Things are a LOT slower when all three of us are on our computers!
The advertising on NT, of late, has been trying to download viruses onto my computer. Fortunately, AVAST has caught a lot of them!
I used AOL in the early 1990s and boy, did I seem slow. Then there were long periods of time, (long time internet wise), where you couldn't get up on AOL at all. It was MOST annoying!
Thanks, John, that's a good idea!