Issue #28—Fast software is the best software, stale while revalidate, optimising GIFs and more.

        30 July 2019

#### PerformanceNewsletter

#### Issue 28

#### Editor’s Note

One of the reasons I find web performance to be a pillar of the way we design and build for the Web is that it *saves us time*.

Time is an incredibly scarce resource, especially nowadays in the cult of business and pursuit of capitalist success. When we use products, we employ them to fulfil a task, and ultimately, save time so we can channel our focus where it matters.

Fast products often feel efficient, well built and delightful to use. Fast products don’t ask for more attention; they free up space.

Without further ado, let’s kick off with an essay on the subject of time and perception of fast software.
— Karolina

#### article

## Speed is a proxy to efficiency

An excellent essay by [Craig Mod](https://twitter.com/craigmod) explaining how easily software can become a burden rather than a utility to attain our daily goals. Speed projects not only usefulness but also quality and delight:

”Fast software is not always good software, but slow software is rarely able to rise to greatness.”
[Fast Software, the Best Software →](https://craigmod.com/essays/fast_software/)

#### article

## Make your GIFs fast

In her article, [Ire Aderinokun](https://twitter.com/ireaderinokun) describes a couple of strategies to make our beloved GIFs more speed-friendly. Choose between opting for HTML5 video or lossy optimisation to avoid performance hurdles.

[Optimising GIFs for the Web →](https://bitsofco.de/optimising-gifs/)

#### talk

## Build accessible React components

A short but sweet primer by [Tae'lur Alexis](https://twitter.com/TaelurAlexis) focusing on creating accessible React components. Learn about available tooling and native accessibility features of React to make your apps bulletproof.

[React Accessibility: Creating More Compassionate Components →](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Sx5xqyUevrtkxcf9Yh28jq897j1V8U2lcOYK5XbEm1A/edit#slide=id.p)

#### Article

## Balance immediacy & freshness when serving apps

[Jeff Posnick](https://twitter.com/jeffposnick) explains **stale-while-revalidate**, a Cache-Control directive that can be leveraged to refresh assets in a more controlled, granular way. Check it out to see if it’s a good addition to your existing caching policies.

[Keeping things fresh with stale-while-revalidate →](https://web.dev/stale-while-revalidate/)

#### new in calibre

## What Calibre released last month

📚[**Release Notes: June**](https://calibreapp.com/blog/release-notes-june-2019/)

Here’s our monthly roundup of what was released in June: **Calibre Insights email reports are live! **

[Insights is the go-to performance report](https://calibreapp.com/insights) that can be shared with managers, leads or stakeholders, highlighting significant performance improvements and regressions across all pages, all test profiles and all metrics.

#### Spread the word about perf.email

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#### Brought to you by

                              ♠ [Calibre](https://calibreapp.com/). Make the web fast for everyone.

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                Issue #29—Largest Contentful Paint, loading CSS asynchronously, understanding Time to First Byte and more.

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