Speed Up Your Site: Web Site Optimization

There's a time bomb on the web: user patience. It starts ticking each time someone opens one of your pages. You only have a few seconds to get compelling content onto the screen. Fail, and you can kiss your customers and profits goodbye.

You can't count on fast connections either. Most of your customers are still sucking content through a 56K straw. You have to serve up greased lightning or they'll bail. That's why you picked up this book. In it you'll learn how to cut file sizes in half. You'll trim (X)HTML, CSS, graphics, JavaScript, multimedia, and bandwidth costs. Real-world examples illustrate techniques with before and after code and percentage savings. After reading this book, you'll know how to make your pages literally "pop" onto the screen.

Andrew B. King (Andy) is the founder of WebReference and JavaScript, both award-winning web developer sites. Created in 1995 and subsequently acquired by Mecklermedia (now Jupitermedia) in 1997, WebReference has grown into one of the most popular developer sites on the Internet. WebReference has won more than 100 awards, including PC Magazine's Top 100 Web Sites (nine-time winner).

As Managing Editor of WebReference and JavaScript, Andy became the "Usability Czar" at internet, optimizing the speed and usability of their sites. He continues to write the three weekly newsletters he started for WebReference and JavaScript.

Andy has been studying, practicing, and teaching optimization techniques for more than 20 years. For his BSME and MSME from the University of Michigan, he specialized in design optimization. Recruited by NASA, he chose instead to join the fast-paced world of engineering consulting at ETA, Inc., a structural engineering firm. He worked for Ford and GM, optimizing entire automotive structures and suspensions with finite element analysis.

In 1993, he discovered the web. Volunteer work with a local Free-net in 1993 led to a position as one of the first employees of Internet Connect, Inc., a web design firm. He's been working the web ever since.

In addition to his work with WebReference, Andy has also written for MacWeek and Web Techniques (now New Architect), and contributed to Jim Heid's HTML & Web Publishing Secrets. When he's not optimizing web sites or writing newsletters, you'll find Andy out taking pictures, sailing, or bicycling. Contact Andy through the companion site to this book at WebSiteOptimization.