Eric Goldsmith's Blog

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Latency

admin — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:24:11 +0000

Todd Hoff over at the High Scalability blog has assembled one of the most comprehensive collections of information on various types of latency and the impact on Web site performance that I’ve come across.

This is the kitchen sink of latency information. Highly recommended.

Performance and Availability

admin — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:49:34 +0000

In an earlier post I talked about metrics for reporting Web site performance (response time). Site availability is also an important metric. And the relationship between them is often misunderstood.

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Velocity Conference

admin — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:52:46 +0000

I’ll be attending and speaking at the upcoming Velocity conference.

Save 20% with discount code “vel08st”.

Metrics for Performance Analysis

admin — Sat, 24 May 2008 19:12:36 +0000

This may seem a bit ‘back to basics’, but it’s a topic of discussions I’ve been having recently.

When presenting performance metrics, folks sometimes use mean, sometimes median, sometimes both, sometimes they include standard deviation, percentiles, etc. I’ve been looking for some concrete guidance on what metrics to use, and in what contexts.

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Improving Ad Performance

admin — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:06:37 +0000

There has been a good deal of work around defining guidelines, best practices, etc. for improving Web page performance (i.e. delivery speed). As Web page publishers have worked to implement these best practices, they inevitably reach a point where they can go no further to improve their own content. The long poles in the tent are outside their control, often in third-party content - in many cases, ads.

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Best IM Client for BlackBerry

admin — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 02:47:21 +0000

Someone recently asked me what Instant Messaging client I use on my BlackBerry.

Last fall I was looking for an AOL IM (a.k.a. AIM) client for my BlackBerry 8800. After much searching and evaluation, I settled on JiveTalk. It connects to virtually all IM networks (via gateways), and is a true IM client application - not a wrapper around SMS, like some products.

It’s not free, but the cost is minimal, and it’s truly one of the best products I’ve found. Highly recommended.

Steve Jobs Macworld 2008 Keynote in 60 Seconds

admin — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 03:40:33 +0000

Nicely done …

Check Your Site’s Cacheability

admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 20:09:09 +0000

Ensuring the static objects from your Web site are cacheable is one of the best things you can do to improve performance.

I stumbled across this site the other day, with a tutorial on caching, and a tool to assess the cacheability of a site. Very nice.

AOL Releases PageTest

admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:43:50 +0000

AOL has released an open-source tool for measuring Web page performance called PageTest. It shares some similarities with Yahoo!’s YSlow, but works with Internet Explorer (6 and 7).

You can run PageTest as a browser plug-in, or use a hosted version at webpagetest.org (this is still being built out, so please be patient).

We’ve been using (what has evolved into) PageTest at AOL for years. Give it a try.

Web Site Engagement

admin — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 02:40:53 +0000

What keeps users coming back to your Web site? Compelling content? Fast Performance? Cool site design? The answer is “yes”.

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