2009
January, 2009
The British Computer Society gave our Website Optimization book high marks.
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Rachel Singer Gordon reviews two books under the Website Optimization rubric. She recommends Website Optimization Secrets for academic libraries.
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B2B Marketing recommends O'Reilly's Website Optimization book. We address some some minor quibbles that Pick has with some SEO tips, including the importance of inlinks and paid links.
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Broadband subscribers in the UK experience an average download speed of 3.6Mbps, only a fraction (45%) of the advertised speed of up to 8Mbps. Google has just the answer to disgruntled broadband subscribers, launching a new M-Lab service to measure user connections.
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This article shows how offloading resource intensive scripts can significantly improve web server performance. By offloading the Web Page Analyzer script to a separate server, we improved response times by over 98%, improved throughput by a factor of 40, and significantly reduced response time variability.
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February, 2009
Broadband penetration in the UK has gone so high that the Office for National Statistics has discontinued its quarterly reporting of broadband growth. Nearly 60% of broadband users in the UK enjoy speeds of 2Mbps or higher.
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March, 2009
Tim Frick reviews our Website Optimization book and recommends it to practically anyone involved in creating websites: marketers, developers, conversion boosters, and SEO and PPC practitioners as well.
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The popularity of Apple's iTunes and QuickTime players has grown from 32% to 36.4% over the past year, while Microsoft's Windows Media Player has remained unchanged at 50.7% share. Broadband lines grew by 20% in Europe over the past year, while growth slowed in the US to 59% broadband penetration.
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The most important interface design factor is speed, according to a new HCI study. Good interface design is essential for widespread user adoption and ultimately website success.
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April, 2009
Learnxpress gives a five-star review to Website Optimization Secrets. The author suggests adding CMS-based SEO and performance tips to the second edition.
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In a recent usability survey, researchers from Southern Illinois University found that after ease of use, men prefer fast download speed to easy navigation. Women prefer ease of use, easy navigation, and accessibility. The researchers hypothesize that these different usability criteria are due to differences in how men and women use the Web.
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Over the last quarter of 2008 the UK and Canada dropped behind the tiny Bailiwick of Guernsey to 14th and 15th place respectively in the global broadband penetration race. Meanwhile in the US, broadband penetration dropped to 93.1% among active Internet users.
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May, 2009
Author Andrew King will be interviewed on VoiceAmerica talk radio Thursday May 21, 2009 at 7pm EST. Host Stephan Jacob will interview the author on his Welcome to LITR show about optimizing websites.
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Japan is poised to break an important milestone this summer, with 50% of broadband users on high-speed fiber-optic lines. And the Japanese (along with Korea, the UK, and France) enjoy some of the lowest cost bandwidth available worldwide.
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June, 2009
Google today released Page Speed, an open-source add-on to the Firefox browser. Page Speed allows developers to analyze the performance of web pages against best practices and offers recommended solutions.
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Overall broadband penetration in US homes grew to 63% in March 2009, despite an increase in average monthly rates. This growth was fueled largely by low-usage individuals including seniors and low-income Americans.
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July, 2009
More than half of all Americans have accessed the Internet by wireless means, according to a recent survey. WiMAX will spread to 120 million Americans by the end of 2010, and we debut a more accurate broadband survey.
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A Ph.D. thesis on web page performance quantifies the key factors in web page response times. Uses software to measure, model, and monitor response times and improve user satisfaction.
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August, 2009
The US came in 18th worldwide in average connection speed, growing at about half the worldwide average increase over the past year. Delaware had the fastest connection speed among the 50 states surveyed, while DC had the slowest.
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September, 2009
HTTP compression uses standards-based gzip and deflate compression algorithms to compress your XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript to speed up web page downloads and save bandwidth.
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Monaco trumped the world with the highest broadband penetration rate of 47.4 percent among all countries surveyed. The UK dropped from 14th place to 17th place in broadband penetration over the past two quarters.
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A great review of our Website Optimization book by Kate Trgovac. She only reviews books that she has actually read, and our free review copy made the cut.
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October, 2009
New research shows that Web developers need to balance the need to create rich, immersive experiences with tolerable download times and scant distractions.
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Bulgaria leads all of Europe in broadband growth, according to a recent survey by ECTA. Although it lags in overall broadband penetration to top ranked Denmark and the Netherlands, Bulgaria's annual broadband growth rate is over 228%.
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November, 2009
A Harvard study commissioned by the FCC found that open access to broadband lines through local loop "unbundling" is one key factor in fostering widespread adoption of broadband in the US and other countries.
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December, 2009
The US ranks near the top in Internet usage, and leads the world in total broadband subscribers, according to recent studies.
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