Overview
Hogan (O’Reilly, 2014) — Practical guide to web performance from the Senior Engineering Manager of Performance at Etsy. Core thesis: great performance IS good design — aesthetics and speed are not opposing forces but complementary when approached systematically.
Topics
- Page load time impact — Effect on site metrics, brand perception, and user experience
- Browser rendering — How browsers retrieve and render content (the performance fundamentals)
- Image optimization — Best practices for optimizing and loading images (often the largest performance win)
- HTML/CSS cleanup — Techniques for cleaner, faster markup and stylesheets
- Web font optimization — Loading strategies for custom fonts
- Mobile-first design — Performance goals by breakpoint, mobile as the primary constraint
- Measurement tools — Using tools to measure and track performance as the site evolves
- Performance culture — Methods for shaping an organization’s performance awareness
Key Principle
Performance is not a one-time optimization — it’s a culture. The book’s final chapters focus on building organizational habits and awareness so that performance considerations become part of every design and development decision.
Related
- frontend-architecture-design-systems — Godbolt’s architectural companion — this book handles performance, that one handles system design
- laws-of-ux — Yablonski’s psychology-based UX principles that complement performance-based design decisions