On: Google Coders Need To Go On An HTML Diet

[gruseom]

Yes. Moreover, web performance was one of Google's differentiating features right from the beginning. Arguably the most important, in fact.

[arethuza → gruseom]

I would have said that their key differentiating feature was that they were much better at actually finding relevant stuff than the competitors.

I don't think many people stopped using AltaVista because it was too slow.

[gruseom → arethuza]

I don't think many people stopped using AltaVista because it was too slow.

That's exactly why I stopped using AltaVista. I never noticed Google's search results being more relevant. I distinctly remember this because I was aware of the hype around relevancy at the time and was trying to notice a difference. What was magnificently different, though, was Google's subsecond page load and search response times.

One interesting thing about marketing is that the reason one gives for using a product is often rather disconnected from its real utility. (The book Positioning is about this.)

[romland → arethuza]

I don't think many people stopped using AltaVista because it was too slow.

Maybe. Personally I stopped using it when they started throwing pop-unders at me.

Or maybe it was because it jumped on to the whole "portal" craze and other SE's that were cleaner felt quite refreshing.