What Effect Does Connection Speed Have On Web Design?

The day will come when everyone in the world has access to the best possible internet connection speed but, until then, many people in even the most developed countries of the world (such as the United States) are forced to deal with dial-up speeds and outdated technology – both of which should have been made obsolete years ago. Failing to take into account these varying internet speeds, however, can lead to a number of bad web design decisions.

Ask anyone who uses the internet on a regular basis what their biggest pet peeve to do with the technology is. Most of them will probably tell you that speed is the biggest problem that they come across, and being forced to wait for websites to load can cause a world of frustration for users. What adds to this frustration is the presence of adverts that load much faster than everything else in the web design, forcing users to wait even longer for the information they’re after.

But how can the frustration of users be subsided and the speed of web design loading increased? It is said that, to accomplish both these goals, one must ensure that their pages load quickly, that their pages display quickly and that they are easily navigable. Whilst it is all good and well to say that you will do this, it brings us back to the original problem – what may appear to be fast loading and easy to navigate on one person’s computer could still be an absolute nightmare for someone whose ISP still doesn’t provide DSL. In order to make your websites accessible by the masses, they need to be designed with the slowest form of technology in mind.

The average size of website is increasing every year, which allows a better user experience for those lucky few with access to state of the art broadband connections but leaves everyone else well behind. Whilst creating a web design that has pages filled with videos and intense graphics may look fantastic, it will lead most users to click the back button simply because everything takes much too long to load. Instead, keep this extended audience in mind when designing and you will increase your audience tenfold.

Is there, however, a way to compromise? Of course there is. Don’t become one of those designers who simply say “too bad” to those users who aren’t up to date with the newest advancements in technology. Instead, find a computer with a slow speed internet connection and trial your web designs out – remove an HTML tag or two, take down an image here and there, and you will soon find how you can come up with creative and attractive websites, no matter the connection speed.