Deep dives into making the web faster, one byte at a time. 12 in-depth guides on images, Core Web Vitals, and front-end performance.
We stopped quoting the "25-34% smaller" averages and ran our own test: 15 real photos, screenshots, and logos through WebP at quality 80. The median file shrank 63%, the set went from 6.1MB to 1.5MB, and one image got bigger. Here are all the numbers.
WebP is no longer the only modern image format worth your attention. We break down how AVIF, WebP, and JPEG XL compare on compression, browser support, and encoding speed so you can pick the right one.
Serving one giant image to every device wastes bandwidth on phones and looks blurry on retina displays. Learn how srcset, sizes, and the picture element let the browser pick the perfect file for every screen.
LCP is the Core Web Vital that most often fails. This practical, step-by-step checklist walks through every common cause of slow LCP and exactly how to fix each one.
Native loading="lazy" covers most cases without any JavaScript. For the rest, the Intersection Observer API handles lazy loading in a few lines — no jQuery, no scroll listeners.
Optimized images do more than load fast — they can drive traffic from Google Images. Learn how descriptive alt text, smart file names, captions, and schema markup make your images discoverable.
Why does a photo shrink beautifully as a JPEG while a logo turns to mush? Understand the difference between lossy and lossless compression and how to choose the right approach for every image.
Optimizing the file is only half the battle — how you deliver it matters just as much. Learn how CDNs, cache headers, and immutable assets get your images to users in milliseconds.
Google places a heavy emphasis on page speed. Learn how optimizing your Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) and avoiding Layout Shifts (CLS) can increase your organic traffic and search visibility.
Instead of relying on heavy plugins, you can use the PHP GD library to intercept image requests, convert them to WebP, and cache them locally. This reduces payload sizes by over 60%.
Lazy loading is easy to switch on and easy to get wrong. Here is when native loading="lazy" is enough, why you should never defer your hero image, and how to avoid the layout jump.
Stripping whitespace is just the start. The bigger wins come from tree shaking out dead code, deferring scripts so they do not block rendering, and inlining the critical CSS.