![\"website](\"https:\/\/www.qd-design.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/speed-matters-1024x557.jpg\")
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There is more to web design than arranging content on the page. \u00a0 Unfortunately, there are many web designers (and I use that phrase loosely), that rely upon tools such as WordPress or other web-builder platforms for every site they create. \u00a0Ask them to create a site from scratch in html, CSS and JavaScript and they wouldn’t have the faintest idea where to start.<\/p>\n
Web-builder platforms are the “Swiss army knives” of web design. They come with a multitude of features and functions; of which many are rarely, if ever, used. However, because they are in place, the browser must<\/strong><\/span> download the resources associated with this feature even if it doesn’t get used in a site. Additional JavaScript files, extra CSS files etc all increase the number of requests the browser has to make to the server, slows down render time and ultimately delays the point at which the user can see and interact with a website.<\/p>\n Even in these days of super-fast broadband (for those lucky enough to have it), 4g mobile networks, wifi hotspots in almost every cafe and coffee shop, site speed is still a vital metric for any web designer.<\/p>\n If your site is identical in content to another site (unlikely I know) but the other site loads more quickly, it is almost a given they will appear above you in Google search results. No one wants to wait and that includes the search engines themselves!<\/p>\n AliExpress reduced load times by 36%…, helping to increase orders by 10.5% and conversion rates by 27%<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Sites that load quickly tend to get more traffic, retain people on the site and, as in the case of Aliexpress above, do more business. \u00a0For every additional second your site takes to load you could be losing significant numbers of potential visitors to your site.<\/p>\n Slower sites can be attributed to poor or outdated coding, bloated or un-required files being called by the browser, unoptimised images as well as whole host of factors associated with the server. Taking advantage of server side (GZIP) compression, browser caching or setting a character set for a page can all be done via the .htaccess file that sits in the root of the web server.<\/p>\n This is the sort of knowledge and expertise that only a true web developer will have. If you want \/ crave a fast loading site, then you need to speak with someone that really knows what they are doing behind<\/strong><\/em> the page and not just manipulating text and pictures in a drag and drop page builder.<\/p>\n QD Design consistently make fast loading html based sites that help businesses reach their audience as quickly as possible. \u00a0If your site is lacking that “va va voom”, then get in touch<\/a>, we can analyse what is holding it back, and help you get off the brake pedal and onto the throttle!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is more to web design than arranging content on the page. \u00a0 Unfortunately, there are many web designers (and I use that phrase loosely), that rely upon tools such as WordPress or other web-builder platforms for every site they create. \u00a0Ask them to create a site from scratch in html, CSS and JavaScript and … Continue reading Page Speed Matters<\/span> ![\"95](\"https:\/\/www.qd-design.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/2017-06-23-12_06_12-PageSpeed-Insights-1024x619.png\")
Following some adjustments to the QD Design site, we now score 95 on the Google Developers Page Speed Checker<\/a>. Whilst no doubt we could improve upon this further, it puts us in the top few % for page loading speed.<\/p>\n