Building Performant Web Applications

Performance isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s a core feature. Users expect pages to load in under two seconds, and every additional second of load time can significantly impact conversion rates.

Start with the Right Foundation

Choose a framework that prioritizes performance by default. Astro’s zero-JS-by-default approach means you only ship the JavaScript you actually need. This dramatically reduces your bundle size from the start.

Optimize Your Assets

Images are the largest contributor to page weight. Use modern formats like WebP and AVIF, implement responsive image sizes, and lazy-load below-the-fold images. Tools like Astro’s built-in Image component handle most of this automatically.

Measure What Matters

Use Core Web Vitals as your guide:

• LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): < 2.5s. Preload your hero image and minimize render-blocking resources.
• INP (Interaction to Next Paint): < 200ms. Keep your main thread free and break up long tasks.
• CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): < 0.1. Always set explicit dimensions on images and embeds.

Performance optimization is an ongoing process — measure, optimize, and measure again.