Author: Joseph Dickson

Joseph Dickson is a front-end web developer with experience building higher education websites using ClassicPress, WordPress, and Drupal.

Lurking and Private Posts

I stumbled across this post by Chris Aldrich while lurking through my Twitter feed. Which has inspired me throw back a reply and briefly summarize how I have been increasingly using IndiWeb core ideas and concepts to re-focus how I use the web.

More than a website

Recently I’ve been building a custom WordPress theme to suit my niche web surfing behavior.

A custom reading, writing and usability experience

At the core I selected Rhodium Libre a typeface with heavy serifs that allow me to comfortably lean back as I type or read. I also added accessibility features so I can easily tab through without moving my hands away from the keyboard.

A somewhat private digital notebook

I’ve created a post and page template requiring the reader to be logged in to view it’s contents. This allows me to take notes at work and not worry about context. It also allows me to use my personal blog in place of a third party note taking app. Currently I do have a few practical limitations.

  • Uploaded media and files are public.
  • Gutenberg doesn’t have a to-do list checkbox feature

My IndiWeb to do list

Review the various Micropub implementations to replace or use in addition to third party apps such as Goodreads and Untappd. Although I enjoy using these services I don’t have a local copy of their information when and if my account is closed or the service changes or disappears.

Readability Theme Progress Update

Last week I delve into web sustainability which led to running several tests using Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool. As I knocked out one suggestion then the next I was surprised how simple delivery enhancements can speed up even the leanest website.

PageSpeed Insights

Websites are heavy, even a simple blog post can easily pass 2 megabites just displaying text. As I drilled down the path to a score of 100 the suggested fixes turned into a game. By removing Open Sans as a web font I saved 300ms. It’s a secondary font on this theme and I didn’t even perceive the swap for my browsers default of DejaVu Sans. Here are some of my favorite enhancements.

  • Setting font-display to swap can save a few seconds. Fonts can be render blocking until the whole page has downloaded. Yikes.
  • Fewer calls to third party servers really do make a noticeable difference. Even Jetpack which leverages caching and a content delivery network adds unnecessary weight to a page.
  • After purging every unnecessary bit from this theme some of the pages load in less than a second.

Caching is easy

A few years ago I shrugged off caching, I always tried to keep my projects lean so adding a plugin to scrape off 500 milliseconds didn’t seem important. However, when you add up those extra kilobytes and half seconds over the total viewership of a website the improvements can be easily perceived.

  • JavaScript is a beast, less so when cached
  • CSS and HTML can be cached allowing for the DOM to fly by
  • I also gained a new respect for lazy loading images

Enough ranting, here’s some screenshots.

PageSpeed Insights Report for this website on the Desktop view.

PageSpeed Insights score this website for the Mobile view.

For kicks check out my PageSpeed Insight results for this page.