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Web Performance 101: 4 Recommendations to Improve Web Performance

Web Performance and the impact of SPDY, HTTP/2 and QUIC
Jean Tunis

As websites continue to advance, the underlying protocols that they run on top of must change in order to meet the demands of user expected page load times. This blog is the second in a series on APMdigest where I will discuss web application performance and how new protocols like SPDY, HTTP/2, and QUIC will hopefully improve it so we can have happy website users.

Start with Web Performance 101: The Bandwidth Myth

Here are some common recommendations to optimize the steps of a web page request. Having looked at a number of web applications over the years, there have been numerous recommendations I have made over and over. Each web app is different, so these recommendations don't apply to every one of them, but should offer some guidance.

1. Reduce latency between user and server

I talked about this one in my last blog. It's not the bandwidth that matters most; it's latency. You need to reduce time it takes for a packet to go from your user or visitor to your server.

Whether the users are coming from the Internet or within the Intranet, the goal is to make the latency is short as possible. You can't get around the physics around distance, but there are some things you can do.

Externally, you have CDN providers that can help caching. Internally, you can deploy WAN optimization devices to do the same, and more.

If you have more control, you can simply ensure that your application is used by those who are closer to the server.

Closer distance between user and server can mask a lot of issues with an efficient application.

2. Increase number of connections, but up to a point

You want to maximize the number of connections you are making to the server to get as much data back to the visitor as possible. With HTTP/1.1, you don't want just one connection.

But you don't want too many connections either. Too many will start to impact the resources on both the server and the visitor's PC. And that would be bad for web performance.

Opening up these connections takes time as well. The TCP 3-way handshake needs to occur. It would occur every time, and if latency is not low enough, site visitors are impacted by this for every new connection that gets opened.

3. Compress all data

You want to minimize the amount of data that gets sent to the visitor's browser for it to download or render on the computer screen. So file sizes should only be as big as they need to be. If they cannot get any smaller, they should be compressed if that's possible.

This is something that doesn't happen enough. Nearly every modern browser supports gzip compression, yet some servers out there still do not have it implemented.

4. Increase server resources

Like bandwidth, server resources have become less of a constraint over the years. We now have multi-core, GHz processors, TB storage, GB RAM, etc. But there are still times when a website is using up these resources, and the immediate way to reduce response time may be to increase server resources. Due to the availability of such resources, it's usually not a big issue upgrading.

There are many other recommendations. This is just a sample of the things that can be done to improve web performance.

In upcoming blogs on APMdigest, I will explore the impact of SPDY, HTTP/2 and QUIC on web performance.

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Web Performance 101: 4 Recommendations to Improve Web Performance

Web Performance and the impact of SPDY, HTTP/2 and QUIC
Jean Tunis

As websites continue to advance, the underlying protocols that they run on top of must change in order to meet the demands of user expected page load times. This blog is the second in a series on APMdigest where I will discuss web application performance and how new protocols like SPDY, HTTP/2, and QUIC will hopefully improve it so we can have happy website users.

Start with Web Performance 101: The Bandwidth Myth

Here are some common recommendations to optimize the steps of a web page request. Having looked at a number of web applications over the years, there have been numerous recommendations I have made over and over. Each web app is different, so these recommendations don't apply to every one of them, but should offer some guidance.

1. Reduce latency between user and server

I talked about this one in my last blog. It's not the bandwidth that matters most; it's latency. You need to reduce time it takes for a packet to go from your user or visitor to your server.

Whether the users are coming from the Internet or within the Intranet, the goal is to make the latency is short as possible. You can't get around the physics around distance, but there are some things you can do.

Externally, you have CDN providers that can help caching. Internally, you can deploy WAN optimization devices to do the same, and more.

If you have more control, you can simply ensure that your application is used by those who are closer to the server.

Closer distance between user and server can mask a lot of issues with an efficient application.

2. Increase number of connections, but up to a point

You want to maximize the number of connections you are making to the server to get as much data back to the visitor as possible. With HTTP/1.1, you don't want just one connection.

But you don't want too many connections either. Too many will start to impact the resources on both the server and the visitor's PC. And that would be bad for web performance.

Opening up these connections takes time as well. The TCP 3-way handshake needs to occur. It would occur every time, and if latency is not low enough, site visitors are impacted by this for every new connection that gets opened.

3. Compress all data

You want to minimize the amount of data that gets sent to the visitor's browser for it to download or render on the computer screen. So file sizes should only be as big as they need to be. If they cannot get any smaller, they should be compressed if that's possible.

This is something that doesn't happen enough. Nearly every modern browser supports gzip compression, yet some servers out there still do not have it implemented.

4. Increase server resources

Like bandwidth, server resources have become less of a constraint over the years. We now have multi-core, GHz processors, TB storage, GB RAM, etc. But there are still times when a website is using up these resources, and the immediate way to reduce response time may be to increase server resources. Due to the availability of such resources, it's usually not a big issue upgrading.

There are many other recommendations. This is just a sample of the things that can be done to improve web performance.

In upcoming blogs on APMdigest, I will explore the impact of SPDY, HTTP/2 and QUIC on web performance.

Hot Topics

The Latest

The enterprises that will define the next decade are not the ones that deployed the most technology. They are the ones who understood what their technology was actually doing. That distinction is not a philosophical point. It is the central operational challenge facing every organization that has spent the last five years modernizing at speed ...

AI is becoming the operating system of the enterprise. It acts as an invisible coordination layer that understands intent, connects systems, and executes work across complex SaaS environments. Previously, employees had to click through multiple systems — CRM, ERP, support tools, collaboration platforms — to complete a single task. Now, instead of navigating each application manually, they can simply state what they need to accomplish ...

In 2026, the cost of downtime or an outage is no longer just a technical inconvenience; it's a $600 billion wake up call for global businesses. As our digital ecosystems become  more interconnected, each touchpoint introduces new risks and multiplies the consequences when things go wrong. And the data is clear: aggregate downtime costs  for Global 2,000 companies have surged 50% since 2024, reaching a staggering $600 billion ...

Deloitte found that 74% of enterprises expect to deploy agentic AI solutions in the next 24 months. However, the rush to deployment is outpacing foundational work, though. Only 21% of enterprises have fully formed agent governance models in place. The result? AI agents deployed without guidance or governance begin to function as fragmented islands of complexity ...

Cloud spending is no longer viewed as a passthrough IT expense, but as a strategic financial lever that directly impacts innovation capacity, profitability and enterprise resilience, according to the CFO Cloud Cost Optimization Report from Azul ...

As AI moves from generating responses to performing actions, the need for trust increases exponentially. And as organizations enlist AI agents for increasingly sophisticated business processes, trust is going to be the single most important theme for spurring adoption. What can organizations do to build trustworthy AI agents? ...

I've spent a lot of time in the channel, and one thing I keep coming back to is this: a partner program is only as good as what it looks like in the field. Many programs look great on paper, but when a partner is in front of a customer navigating a complex hybrid environment or trying to make the case for AI-powered observability, the gap between what a vendor promises and what it actually delivers becomes very clear, very fast ...

Enterprises today operate in a real-time environment where uninterrupted access to trusted data has become a baseline expectation for users, applications and automated systems. Traditional DataOps models, built on manual effort and human triage, cannot keep pace with this always active demand. AI agents are emerging as the operational backbone, ensuring consistent data availability, reinforcing trustworthiness and enabling a level of scale that manual processes cannot achieve ...

For decades, trust in the digital workplace rested on familiar signals. We trusted faces on video calls, voices on the phone, and emails that appeared to come from people we knew. These cues felt human and intuitive. They anchored how decisions were made, approvals were granted, and access was authorized. AI-powered deepfakes have quietly broken that model ...

Cloud migration was supposed to be a one-way door. For most enterprises, it turns out it isn't. Cloud data repatriation is a real and growing trend. A new survey ... finds that 89% of organizations plan to expand their on-premises infrastructure footprint over the next two years — and 75% have already moved at least some workloads back from public cloud in the past 24 months. The findings point to a broad rethinking of where data belongs ...