These two techniques are not mutually exclusive. It reduces file size by compacting the file before serving it to the browser when it is requested Compression: This does not necessarily alter the content of code - unless we consider binary files like images, which we are not covering in this exploration.It may further optimize the code by safely renaming variables to use even fewer characters It reduces code file size by stripping out unwanted spaces, characters, and formatting - resulting in fewer characters in the code. Minification: Alters the content of code.compress - any difference?Ĭode minification and compression are often used interchangeably because they both address performance optimizations that lead to size reductions. Unnecessarily large CSS files, due to shipping unminified or unused CSS, help to deliver this undesirable experience to users. But, the point to establish here is that until CSS is ready, the user sees nothing. Later in this article, we will explore the concept of critical CSS and the best practices around it. This results in faster page rendering times and an enhanced UX. This is particularly important for users on slow connections or mobile devices, where every byte counts.įurthermore, the process of minifying CSS helps improve a website’s overall performance by reducing the CPU and memory resources required to render webpages. The process of downloading and parsing has an important role in the UX and engagement of any website because smaller files can be downloaded more quickly over the internet. This means the user will potentially be unable to see any content on a webpage until the browser has built the CSSOM (the DOM but with CSS information), which only happens after it has downloaded and parsed all style sheets referenced by the document. However, what is critically important about minifying CSS is that CSS is a render-blocking resource on the web. Why minify CSS?Īcross the board, source code minification reduces file size and can speed up how long it takes for the browser to download and execute such code. CSS minification allows us to strip out these extras and apply a number of optimizations so that we are shipping just what the computer needs to execute on the target device. As such, we add spacing, indentation, comments, naming conventions, and instrumentation hacks to boost our productivity and the maintainability of the CSS code - none of which the browser or target platform needs to actually run it. Like other forms of code, CSS is primarily formatted for human consumption. Ultimately, code is meant to be executed by computers, but this is after or alongside its consumption by humans who need to co-author, review, maintain, document, test, debug, and deploy it. Minification helps to cut out unnecessary portions of our code and reduce its file size. Inline CSS meant for critical render - preload the rest!.WordPress plugins and software build tools.We have now begun to pay attention to issues emanating from poorly optimized CSS.ĬSS minification is an optimization best practice that can deliver a significant performance boost - even if it turns out to be mostly perceived - to web app users. Thus, there has been a lot of focus on reducing JavaScript payload sizes, including how to split them into reasonable chunks and minify them. More code could mean more complexity, poor performance, and low maintainability. The less code we ship through the web, the less friction we create for our applications and users. Given the need to build web-enabled apps that match or outdo their native counterparts in behavior and performance (thanks to SPAs and PWAs), we are now shipping more functionality and more code through the web to app users.Ĭonsidering the ubiquity of the web, we will continue to see more people come online for the first time and join millions of other existing users engaging on the web apps we are building today. The web would either be broken entirely or utterly boring without CSS. It’s responsible for the intuitive visual cues that communicate application state, such as a network outage, a task completion, an invalid credit card number entry, or a game character disappearing into white smoke after dying. The beautiful layouts, fluidity of responsive designs, colors that stimulate our senses, fonts that help us read text expressed in creative ways, images, UI elements, and other content displayed in a myriad of shapes and sizes. ĬSS is what makes the web look and feel the way it does. To learn more about optimizing your CSS performance, check out our guide to the best practices for improving CSS performance. Editor’s note: This guide to the best practices for minifying CSS was last updated on 15 March 2023 to include new sections on using CDNs, WordPress plugins, software build tools, Gulp, and css-clean.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |