Wordpress is lacking behind and starts a performance team | Erwin Hofman
Independent website speed and performance consultant / specialist, Core Web Vitals included| Erwin Hofman [sitespeed consultant]
Read about sitespeed findings, company cases I've done and other technical subjects I am enthusiastic about| Erwin Hofman [sitespeed consultant]
While investigating a site-speed anomaly, I discovered a critical bug that was silently breaking performance monitoring for potentially many WordPress sites.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
This is a heads-up when using latest WP Rocket (13.9) on your WP or WooCommerce site. Preconnecting to third parties now comes out of the box, but comes with a sitespeed trade-off.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Preloading fonts can speed up or slow down your site. Learn how it affects FCP/LCP, how Chrome handles preloads, and when to use them for better performance.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
I’ve spent years knee-deep in Lighthouse in my first few pagespeed years. I always assumed that one part was intentional design decision, but after 5 years I learned I was wrong.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
I recently read you don't need to be afraid of "404 Not Found" errors on your site. Some 404s will impact SEO and others can continue to impact Core Web Vitals.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
This year, Google is hosting Google I/O Connect in Berlin. This is the follow-up of the main event in Mountain View USA. Google Experts and Developers from across Europe, Middle East and Africa will be joining to explore Googles latest products and solutions. with live sessions, hands-on activities, and demos. There’ll be plenty of time to network, too.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
This blogpost contains links from my last slide and will be updated to also include the PDF.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Spoiler-alert: there might not be an easy fix. That's why I'll be diving into the issues with images embedded by pagebuilders. After reading this, you should be able to make the right decision.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
It would be quite paradoxical to deploy a tracking script aimed at measuring Core Web Vitals, only to have it inadvertently cause performance issues itself. Unfortunately, I've seen that it isn't uncommon.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Although not part of the set of Core Web Vitals, TTFB is an important page speed metric. However, it poses more challenges for e-commerce sites compared to other types of websites, static sites included. Nevertheless, what is considered a good TTFB for e-commerce?| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
This is a follow-up post where I elaborate on how to easily detect a broken to identify invalid HTML.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Watch out for invalid HTML elements in yourHTML head. A div, input or img can result in unexpected browser behaviour, slowing down page performance.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
"Does anyone have a good hello world demo for a project with INP issues?"| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Let's support my previous claims by actually researching the performance impact of using a JS and CSS-only solution for headline text balancing| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
New to INP or caring about web performance, and living in or nearby the south of The Netherlands? You're in luck. There will be an event next Thursday, where I will talk about INP.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
The moment all performance -and maybe SEO- specialists have been waiting for has arrived: Google has announced the INP deadline!| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Evenly and aesthetically distributing your text on available lines? Use `text-wrap: balance` instead of JavaScript and improve web performance & INP of your website.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
It's a wrap! The organizers of the yearly performance.now() conference managed to raised the bar once again for next year's edition.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Before the performance.now() conference days started, I visited Google headquarters in Amsterdam and also gave a presentation on INP and the LoAF API during a performance meetup.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Here are ways to log the redirect time and TTFB. Just copy & paste it into Chrome's JS Console to see the complete waiting time (including redirect time) when clicking on your own Google + FB Ads, for example.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
You quickly want to check for unnecessary redirects to prevent them from impacting your SEO and PageSpeed. But you don't want to use other tools? You can easily do it by using DevTools, in 3 simple steps.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Yesterday's big news was that X is delaying links to its competitors by up to 5 seconds. It was claimed to be resolved, but I can confirm that not only was it occurring before, but with a delay of 2.6 it is still occurring now. Let's dive in.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Whatever you do as a third party, there's an interesting nuance that we ran into with a Matomo implementation. The issue: the website was too quick.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
INP will observe the latency of all click, tap, and keyboard interactions that occur throughout the lifespan of a user's visit to a page. The final INP value is the longest interaction observed, ignoring outliers. But what does that mean?| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
I've selected my most popular LinkedIn post of 2022. It might be convenient of you if you're not following me yet, or just didn't had the chance to read up on all of them.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Do you also just implement third party code without consideration? Here's a use case where it impacted user engagement and specifically the FCP metric by at least 445ms, based on a Webpagetest analysis.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
You can even compare your own website or webshop with your competition, to check if you are doing a better job on Core Web Vitals.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
While users would actually see the actual link in the user interface (either their browser or the Twitter app), the actual redirect behaviour works with an extra step via t.co| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
You think it would be clear to everyone that the Tower of Pisa is shifted. However, it also depends on the point of view and angle. The same applies to CLS as well: different conditions will result in CLS happening at different moments. Let's discuss toolings you can use to track CLS.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
HTTP/3 is already standardized since June 2022, so it might not be a surprise that most websites are still on HTTP/2. Let's look at HTTP/2, and a little bit at HTTP/1 as well.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
HTTP/2 is already around since 2015. Heck, HTTP/3 even got standardized as of June 6th 2022. So why even bother talking about HTTP/1?| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
We all get that woff2 is smaller than woff, or ditching custom fonts comes with best performance. But what are considerations if you really want to use custom fonts?| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
If you're concerned about the loading experience of your custom fonts, you might have run into the WebFontLoader. A 10 year old library. Should you still use it today.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
If optimizing was only as simple as adding a few attributes. But this time, it really is and it's even easier to use than image preloading.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
So, FID is only tracking delay during first interaction and didn't come with real nuances per stack. But what about the new INP metric and WP, Magento or SPA's?| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
"Interaction to Next Paint", INP for short, measures the time between a user interaction (click, tab, type) and basically the visual feedback to a user. And it should be below 200ms.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Server side caching means that some form of caching is done server side. And from a pagespeed perspective, it makes most sense to do this for contents that tends to be dynamic. Let's dive into the basics of server side caching a bit more.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
In general, people know that I'm not the one to ask which plugins to use for their stack. However, given the fact that I'm a pagespeed and performance enthousiast, I'm sometimes asked which plugins people should be using.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
While two completely different things, there actually is a correlation between pagespeed and accessibility.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Even clients that are convinced they should work with me, still want to know how a collaboration and an auditing trajectory is going to look like. This article is giving background information.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
We've all heard of the 'eliminate render blocking resources' recommendation in Lighthouse. But to understand why it is important to fix this, it first is convenient to know a few basic principles of browsers.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
A platform can take a long time to generate a webpage. But when the content is cached, TTFB and users will benefit, but the first user accessing new contents will pay a penalty. How to prevent this and improve the cache hit ratio?| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Rarely can you increase your PageSpeed with a single line of CSS. Today, though, I will share two separate CSS lines of code that will improve pagespeed and performance.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
I've seen pagespeed audits where Google Analytics' Average Page Load Time was used to determine bad performing pages and claiming the webshop was missing revenue. However, pagespeed is more nuanced.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
WordPress started a performance team to improve its Core Web Vitals scores. I read their pagespeed optimization spreadsheet and boy do I have an opinion regarding their performance backlog.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Google hasn't been sitting still. Both LCP and CLS have been seeing drastic changes already, so why not changing the FID metric?| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
I've been sharing charts of Core Web Vitals passing platforms recently, so here's the shared source of truth for the way websites are both built and experienced.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Wordpress recently wrote about the performance impact of jQuery, but it seems like they are choosing to not call out the real pagespeed bottleneck.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
There is nothing wrong with the mindset of AMP. However, news publishers felt forced to start using Google's AMP HTML framework for their articles for SEO reasons while you could achieve same pagespeed results without AMP.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
If you're looking for PageSpeed Insights, you now get redirected to their new testing environment: The PageSpeed Insights layout has changed as of today.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
When doing pagespeed audits, there often is a common pitfall that I see happening across different webshops. If you're using Cloudflare, then this might help you out as well.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
You might not be aware yet, but chances are that the e-mail or social media campaigns and ads you're running, are impacting user experience.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
You might have noticed that your LCP will often be worse than your FCP. This is quite common, as the header, hamburger menu or (inlined) SVG logo will be rendered sooner than the rest of the page. But what does it mean if your LCP and FCP are almost the same?| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
A/B testing is often used to come up with better headlines or layout, increasing conversion. However, even today A/B testing isn't always implemented in an optimal way, negatively impacting your business instead.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Reddit might not be the first platform you think of when talking about SEO or Core Web Vitals. However, this exact same question got asked on Reddit and led to a surprising reply.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
You're on stackoverflow or MDN docs and found a code snippet that should help pagespeed. Just copy + paste it and hope it works!| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
When it comes to Core Web Vitals, there isn't a one-size-fits. And the same actually applies to (Shopware) shops, as each will have some customized functionality. However, rule of thumb are the same when it comes to Core Web Vitals, but also the typical Shopware shop as they are sharing the same boilerplate.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Google I/O is an annual developer conference held by Google. "I/O" stands for input/output, as well as the slogan "Innovation in the Open", where they typically introduce new developments.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
November 2020 I (and Google) reported that Core Web Vitals would become a ranking factor. This week Google has announced that this has been delayed for several weeks.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Layout shifts aren't a good look and should be below 10%. And while it might actually attract visitors in some contexts, shifts on a website might lead to page abandonment. But there's more to it.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
"Critical CSS is a must-have for a good pagespeed and core web vitals score". I saw this statement passing by recently, and although using critical CSS myself, such claim comes with nuance.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
So, you've got a hero image which is actually messing up your LCP metric in Lighthouse or PageSpeed Insights? You might not have heard this before, but making it even bigger will help.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Google Lighthouse has recently had an update. This may also have (negatively) influenced your scores. I briefly paid attention to it in a LinkedIn post, but in this blogpost I will go into it a bit more deeply.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Does a perfect 100/100 score on Pagespeed Insights guarantee good Web Core Vitals results? Read all about it in this blog.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Lighthouse says your images lack width and height. Wondering why Lighthouse is recommending you to fix this, although you don't see any layout shifts yourself?| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
To reduce pagesize and improve loading speed it is best to minify JS and CSS files. I found out this lifehack to make this whole process a lot easier.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
We should normally strive to get great pagespeed and performance results. But even in real life, the need for speed (and UX) depends on the context.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
PWA might have been a hype to become a serious solution, but it often is implemented wrong. This case is proving that there are perfectly performant solutions.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Cloudflare. CDN might be the first that comes to mind, but their focus is even broader. However, it stops at Core Web Vitals. I dived into some data and code.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
With visitors from around the globe and having to convert currencies when doing a quotation, I figured embedding an accessible currency converter instead.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
How about AMP and Core Web Vitals? AMP was only needed because most websites and platforms forgot to keep an eye on performance. Is AMP still necessary today?| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
If you even wondered if you can build a site with a single PHP file and still earn $65,651 a month, then here is the answer: yes you can.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Alpine is lightweight compared to Bootstrap, jQuery, Vue or React. So, why the complaints, you wonder? You will read all about it in this blog.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Content-visibility is likely to improve the pagespeed and performance. But considering all caveats, how should you approach content-visibility implementation?| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Content-visibility is a new CSS property that boosts your rendering performance, according to Google. But is that really so and should you start using it already?| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
There are many solutions to break words, but they often don't do that in an organic way. Use this code to break words, maintaining SEO value at the same time.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
I wrote about the Backlinko results in 2019 on LinkedIn. It looks like they already put some effort into the pagespeed. They are now passing Core Web Vitals.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Google announced when and how Core Web Vitals will be part of organic ranking. In May, where pages will have a visual indicator of meeting Core Web Vitals.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
I already adviced digital agencies or even provided a work-around for different chat solutions to improve their pagespeed. But maybe you are better of building your own.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Things just got real! We already knew about Core Web Vitals. Google now published that your website will be highlighted within the Google search result pages.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
The sad part of third party chat widgets is that it really is up to chat widget providers to improve performance, caring about the performance of their clients' websites and webshops at the same time. But even when they don't, we can make a difference.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
I wrote my own chatbot + livechat and this created quite some fuzz on LinkedIn. I even received swear words, luckily just for chatbot testing purposes 😅. But let's talk about the harm of chat bots such as Zopim (Zendesk), and how I visualized this.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Did you know that a dark mode could save 63% power usage on mobile devices? More important from UX perspective is that you can also introduce a dark mode to make your site more pleasant for all kinds of users.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
You might be using Bootstrap, or maybe even never considered outlines. Or deliberately removed them, leaving your users in the dark. However, outlines or focus indicators can still be fancy and helpful at the same time, without impacting accessibility.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
You don't want to ruin the look of your website or webshop by some random ugly borders. These borders are called outlines and happen to aid some users as if you are walking in the dark with no lights. So, don't just remove them!| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
If you are already into web accessibility, so-called jump-to or skiplinks might not be new to you. Here is an introduction on skiplinks and some additional food for thought.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
This isn't sexy at all, but someone has to do it as your customers (or maybe even your very own relatives) could be subject to this temporary or even permanently.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
The benefits of Cloudflare Rocket Loader and the consequences for Google Core Web Vitals.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Earlier I wrote why to use PageSpeed Insights instead of GTmetrix, but this might not be accurate anymore by the end of the month. GTmetrix announced they will be moving to using Core Web Vitals as well.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Webflow was founded in 2012 and is an online visual editor platform allowing users to design, build and launch websites. Does this mean you can't get high PageSpeed scores? And what about the newest Core Web Vitals?| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Often when people talk about how to do speed optimization on websites, it involves tackling images. Making images smaller, using webp or simply using fewer images are often heard pagespeed optimization advice. However, the images themselves do not play a role. Here is how that works..| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
If you want to check the performance of your webshop or website, these are the best free toolings you can use.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Google Pagespeed Insights, GTMetrix or Pingdom. Which pagespeed tool should you use to speed up your website. You can find it here!| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Sometimes a LinkedIn post of mine is leading to new questions as well. This time: "How do you get a high PageSpeed score when a site is using HTTP/2?"| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Je kunt code samenvoegen (mergen) en minimaliseren, maar indien delen van de code ongebruikt blijven, heeft het impact op dataverkeer en zal het desondanks geparsed worden door de browser.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Some (WP) agencies are really into accessibility. However, when you do support accessibility as a developer, but not really pay close attention, there is a big chance you are unknowingly building inaccessible Wordpress websites for your clients.| Blog @ Erwin Hofman
Independent website speed and performance consultant / specialist, Core Web Vitals included| Erwin Hofman [sitespeed consultant]
Independent website speed and performance consultant / specialist, Core Web Vitals included| Erwin Hofman [sitespeed consultant]
Independent website speed and performance consultant / specialist, Core Web Vitals included| Erwin Hofman [sitespeed consultant]
