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7 June 2023

⚡ 128: Optimising Time to First Byte

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Performance Newsletter
[issue 128]()
 
#### Editor’s note
 
It’s not uncommon to create or follow lists of actions for better performance. On principle, there’s nothing wrong with this approach. It helps us distill complex projects into smaller tasks, communicate about speed and, often, navigate a subject area that we might not be fully knowledgeable in.
 
While we lean on tools and methodologies, it’s critical to remember the *why* of web performance work—to make the web accessible, inclusive and open for all. This goal can get clouded by competing agendas, unclear communication, lack of necessary knowledge, and, well, processes.
 
Always remember who you’re building for.
 
Karolina
 
 
 
 
#### What’s Performance newsletter?
 

Performance Newsletter is a fortnightly mailing by [Calibre](https://calibreapp.com), featuring web performance tools, talks and resources.

Don’t worry—we don’t spam. If you’d like to leave, [unsubscribe]() at any time. Suggest content [here. ](mailto:[email protected])

 
 
 
# Articles  
 
A woman sitting at and old timey library, studying a map of Australia with vintage map equipment
 
### [Time to First Byte: what it is and how to make improvements](https://calibreapp.com/blog/time-to-first-byte)
 
[Karolina Szczur](https://thefox.is)
Fast Time to First Byte is critical for good user experience as it has a cascading effect on page load. The slower the delivery is, the longer someone has to wait for the content to appear. Here’s how to optimise this process.
 
Observing the number of affected elements in the DOM as the result of style recalculation work.
 
### [How large DOM sizes affect interactivity, and what you can do about it](https://web.dev/dom-size-and-interactivity/)
 
[Jeremy Wagner](https://jlwagner.net/)
Learn how a large DOM can negatively affect page performance and how you can measure as well as reduce DOM size.
 
Explanation of using the responsive img tag
 
### [The modern way of serving images](https://kurtextrem.de/posts/modern-way-of-img)
 
[Jacob 'Kurt' Groß](https://kurtextrem.de/)
Despite the prominence of imagery on the web, a significant amount isn’t leveraging responsive image techniques to serve the best and most performant image. Find out how to implement imagery today.
 
### [Watch out for layout shifts with ‘ch’ units](https://cloudfour.com/thinks/watch-out-for-layout-shifts-with-ch-units/)
 
[Paul Hebert](http://paulhebertdesigns.com/)
Introducing performance monitoring to your organisation can be tough. But even when we succeed, effective speed tracking is still not an easy task. Learn about the most common mistakes to avoid making them in your teams. They are not what you think.
 
### [Performance is not a checklist](https://timkadlec.com/remembers/2023-06-01-performance-is-not-a-checklist/)
 
[Tim Kadlec](https://timkadlec.com/)
When performance becomes solely focused on numbers and completing checklists, we forget the true goal: building a more accessible and inclusive web.
 
 
 
# Case Studies  
 
Synthetic test graph showing a 200ms decrease in Total Blocking Time after the first deploy and a 100ms decrease in Total Blocking Time on a Moto G (5) phone after the second deploy.
 
### [300ms faster: reducing Wikipedia’s Total Blocking Time ](https://www.nray.dev/blog/300ms-faster-reducing-wikipedias-total-blocking-time/)
 
[Nicholas Ray](https://www.nray.dev/)
Step through how folks at Wikipedia approached reducing Total Blocking Time and achieving an approximately 300ms decrease on a Moto G (5) phone.
 
 
Calibre
 
This email is brought to you by the team at [Calibre](https://calibreapp.com). We automate web performance testing, reporting and alerting, so you don’t have to.
 
 

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