Spade shape with cobalt blue background

Performance Newsletter

Archives
Calibre Monitoring
Free Speed Tools
Log in
Subscribe
27 February 2024

⚡ 146: JavaScript bloat in 2024

͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
 
Performance Newsletter
[issue ]()146
 
#### Editor’s note
 
The longer I work on the web, the more I miss the earlier days of web development. “Karolina, you’re just getting old and grumpy!”. Well, perhaps, but what I miss most is not only the wonder and creativity that predated the full commercialisation of the web, but also its reliability. Click on a button, write in an input, navigate around—it just worked.
 
As the appreciation and craft for the basis of the web platform (HTML and CSS!) degrades, and reliance on JavaScript grows uncontrollably, the web becomes more volatile. Less pleasant and accessible. More often than not, trying to do something online results in frustration, mistakes, and stress. Is the web more bloated? Let’s find out in the first article.
 
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  
 
Web Page Size KB chart showing that in 2016 we overcame the size of Doom game
 
### [JavaScript bloat in 2024](https://tonsky.me/blog/js-bloat/)
 
[Nikita Prokopov](https://tonsky.me/)
Is shipping 10 MB of JavaScript to render a website acceptable? Why is Slack a whooping 55 MB? Let’s have a look at how much script static sites and apps ship.
 
Comparison of needed for a navigation element with a huge amount of code for Tailwind and very small for semantic markup
 
### [Tailwind vs. Semantic CSS](https://nuejs.org/blog/tailwind-vs-semantic-css/)
 
[Tero Piirainen](https://github.com/tipiirai)
I’m not one for hot takes or framework wars. But before we pick up another tool, we should evaluate its impact: on performance, maintainability, and semantics.
 
Table comparing sizes of file, base64 size, request size and data-url size
 
### [How to know whether to use data URLs](https://blog.ungra.dev/how-to-know-whether-to-use-data-urls)
 
[Kai Klostermann](https://blog.ungra.dev/)
Are you not sure if data URLs have negative performance implications? Find out what they are, how they affect file size and what to take under consideration when using them.
 
 
 
# Tools  
 
When are Fonts Loading - Mayoclinic
 
### [Identifying font subsetting opportunities with Web Font Analyzer](https://paulcalvano.com/2024-02-16-identifying-font-subsetting-opportunities/)
 
[Paul Calvano](https://paulcalvano.com/)
Over 83% of sites use web fonts, but at what cost? Try out Web Font Analyzer, a new tool to make it easy to improve font loading and decrease the negative performance effects of too many fonts.
 
 
 
# Browsers  
 
A screenshot of the performance panel in DevTools inspecting the loading of a performance trace in the performance panel of another DevTools instance. The profile takes about 10 seconds to load. This time is mostly split across five main groups of activity.
 
### [A 400% faster Performance panel through perf-ception](https://developer.chrome.com/blog/perf-panel-4x-faster)
 
Andrés Olivares
In a case of being meta, learn how the Performance Panel in Google Chrome was used to profile and make itself faster.
 
 
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.
 
 

Performance Newsletter is sent from the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded and pay respects to the Elders past and present.

Send your suggestions, links and feedback to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).

[View or share this email →]()
[Quickly unsubscribe →]()
[Browse older issues →]()

**Sent by**
Calibre Analytics

V119 / 425 Smith Street
Ngár-go
Fitzroy VIC 3065
Australia

 
Don't miss what's next. Subscribe to Performance Newsletter:
← Newer ⚡ 147: Web performance and information equity Older → ⚡ 145: 2024 Performance inequality gap
perf.email
Bluesky
LinkedIn