It takes a second to enter a web site and another to press escape and exit if you notice that the web site you are loading is taking too much time to load!
Loading time is extremely important, especially for those pages that you intend to submit to search engines for indexing.
Remember that there are still a lot of users that make use of a 56k modem connection, so you must take this in consideration.
Sometimes we make the big mistake to take things fore granted, if you are using a high speed ADSL connection, it does not necessarily mean that everyone is using that type of bandwidth. If you are using a Cable Modem or an ADSL connection, try to load your web site using a dial up connection to test for performance.
Try to avoid excessive use of Java, Flash Animations and large Animated Gifs as these take resources and time to load. It is better to have a web site which is a bit less fancy but which loads in a reasonable time, than having an impressive web site that will take ages to load. You must find a balance between the two. Remember, sometimes all it takes is to web optimise your graphics and to reduce the size of your animated gifs, and this will enhance your web site performance and loading time. For Flash Animated introductions, make sure to include a 'Skip Intro' option.
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