The Secret Web Performance Metric No One Is Talking About
summary
Claims a new patience metric based on real work for apps in Nigeria and Kenya and backs it with numbers and tactics such as ~90% of Nigerian sites hosted in the US and ~75% mobile‑only users, with JS parse times 2–5× slower on cheap phones. Recommends concrete tools and changes: preconnect prefetch preload, Network Information API, lazy loading, limit third‑party scripts, and optimize for back‑forward cache plus fewer layers and repaints so slow networks actually stay usable.
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chapters (15)
- 0:00Start
- 5:32Latency
- 7:40Devices used
- 10:53Patience metric
- 12:08Visibility of system status
- 14:13Take into account digital literacy
- 15:46Render initial information ASAP
- 16:36Avoid request chaining and roundtrips
- 19:28Lazy load resources that are not critical
- 20:15Learn about network resource hints
- 21:25Limit third party resources
- 22:12Test for back/forward cache
- 23:40Avoid creating too many layers
- 24:58Minimise website repaints
- 25:42Summary
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