{"id":5,"date":"2025-03-09T06:29:20","date_gmt":"2025-03-09T06:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/community\/high-perf-baseline\/?p=5"},"modified":"2025-03-09T06:29:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-09T06:29:20","slug":"a-proposal-for-high-performance-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/community\/high-perf-baseline\/2025\/03\/09\/a-proposal-for-high-performance-web\/","title":{"rendered":"A Proposal for High-Performance Web"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Web was born 35 years ago, back when desktop computers were the main way to get online. Today, mobile internet and touchscreens dominate. To keep up with this shift, the Web needs some changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start by comparing the old PC internet to today\u2019s mobile internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s Changed?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. How We Access the Internet<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the desktop era, browsers were the <\/em>gateway to the internet. People used search engines or navigation sites to find stuff, and websites were linked together by hyperlinks (remember that term?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, in the mobile world, the entry points are app icons on your phone and push notifications. Browsers? Most people don\u2019t bother with them anymore. Typing URLs by hand feels clunky, and who even remembers more than a couple of addresses?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Where Web Traffic Comes From<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

User habits have shifted, and so has web traffic. It\u2019s moved from browsers to inside apps\u2014think social media, news feeds, or e-commerce platforms. These apps still use Web tech (like H5 pages), but they\u2019re not open internet sites anymore. They\u2019re custom pages locked inside each app\u2019s ecosystem. This weakens the Web\u2019s interconnectedness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, in the mobile era, the internet isn\u2019t really a \u201cweb\u201d anymore\u2014it\u2019s more like a chain of isolated islands. Apps prioritize keeping users inside rather than letting them jump around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at the Web Through a Mobile Lens<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite all these changes, Web standards haven\u2019t evolved much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. PC-First, Mobile as an Afterthought<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Web was built for desktops\u2014mice and keyboards ruled the day. Mobile devices, with fingers and touchscreens, work totally differently. Features like long list scrolling, gesture controls, and smooth page transitions? The Web doesn\u2019t have them natively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most the Web has done for mobile is make sure desktop pages work on phones. That makes sense\u2014smartphones didn\u2019t take over overnight, and early on, people just wanted to view PC sites on their tiny screens. W3C did a ton of compatibility work for that, like adding zoom effects so small phone screens could handle desktop layouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the forward\/back buttons from PC browsers got copied over to mobile. But if you look at native apps, none of them use zoomable pages or arrow buttons for navigation. That\u2019s not mobile-friendly. Today, with mobile traffic calling the shots, it\u2019s backward to keep patching the Web to fit phones. Mobile isn\u2019t the guest anymore\u2014it\u2019s the host. Tons of apps exist only on mobile, no desktop version in sight. Compatibility patches feel outdated now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Performance Problem<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If Web pages performed as well as native apps, we wouldn\u2019t have so many cross-platform frameworks like React Native or Flutter. Their popularity is proof the Web\u2019s performance isn\u2019t cutting it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Performance gripes are old news, so I\u2019ll keep it short with some numbers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • A default\u00a0<div><\/code>\u00a0comes with 246 properties and 82 methods.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • HTML has 139 tags. Compare that to React Native\u2019s 5 default tags.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Analyze tag usage on core pages of major sites. Turns out, they don\u2019t use that many:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Website<\/td>Tag Types<\/td><\/tr>
      GitHub<\/td>45<\/td><\/tr>
      Facebook<\/td>33<\/td><\/tr>
      Google<\/td>38<\/td><\/tr>
      YouTube<\/td>26<\/td><\/tr>
      X.com<\/td>31<\/td><\/tr>
      Amazon<\/td>39<\/td><\/tr>
      QQ.com<\/td>24<\/td><\/tr>
      VS Code<\/td>24<\/td><\/tr>
      Average<\/strong><\/td>32<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      (These Include 8 non-UI tags like\u00a0<html><\/code>,\u00a0<head><\/code>,\u00a0<style><\/code>,\u00a0<script><\/code>. Subtract those, and the average drops to 24.) Most HTML tags barely touched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n