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The Performance Inequality Gap, 2023 - Infrequently Noted

infrequently.org · 2,650 words · saved by 1 readers

To serve users at the global P75 of devices and networks, we can now afford ~150KiB of HTML/CSS/fonts and ~300-350KiB of JavaScript (gzipped). This is a slight upgrade on last year's budgets, thanks to device and network improvements. Meanwhile, web developers continue to send more script than is reasonable for 80+% of the world's users, widening the gap between the haves and the have-nots. This is an ethical crisis for frontend. Meanwhile, the most popular tools and frameworks remain in stubborn denial, but reality is not moved by ignoring it: when digital is the default, slow is exclusionary.

TL;DR : To serve users at the 75 th percentile ( P75 ) of devices and networks, we can now afford ~150KiB of HTML / CSS /fonts and ~300-350KiB of JavaScript (gzipped). This is a slight improvement on last year's budgets , thanks to device and network improvements. Meanwhile, sites continue to send more script than is reasonable for 80+% of the world's users , widening the gap between the haves and the have-nots. This is an ethical crisis for frontend. Last month, I had the honour of joining what seemed like the entire web performance community at performance.now() in Amsterdam . The talks are

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