Understanding the Internet
Every time you load a web page, a lot happens in a few seconds. Here's the short version of what's going on, and why it matters for your site's speed.
And it happens in seconds
If you've ever been frustrated waiting for a website to load, this short video from the World Science Festival is worth a few minutes. It explains what happens each time you load a page. (Thanks to Lucy at Ashland Farm for sharing it with us.) Here's the plain-English version.
From click to page
- Find the address. Your browser asks DNS to translate a name like 3by400.com into the address of a server.
- Connect securely. The browser and the server set up an encrypted (https) connection.
- Ask for the page. The server builds the page, often by having the CMS pull content from a database, and sends it back.
- Fetch everything else. Stylesheets, scripts, fonts and images each take another request.
- Draw the page. The browser puts it all together on your screen.
A slowdown at any step slows the whole thing down.
Where sites usually lose time
- Oversized images
- Too many scripts and Joomla extensions or WordPress plugins loading on every page
- Files sent without compression or caching
- A server that isn't tuned for the CMS it runs
Our guide Is My Website Slow? Common Causes and Fixes covers each of these.
The hosting part
The server step is where hosting matters. Our boutique hosting includes server tuning for Joomla and WordPress, along with proactive security and monitoring, nightly backups kept for one week, a 99% uptime guarantee, 24/7 outage monitoring and core CMS updates. The DNS step is explained in Domain, DNS, and Business Email Basics.
Is your site slower than it should be? Talk to us about hosting, call 678-379-9321 or email