UK Web Site Design and Search Engine Optimisation
Speed Up Your Site
As Jakob Nielsen states in the foreword, from nearly every usability study that he has conducted since 1994, one of two major issues constantly voiced is that users do not want to wait for pages to download. Speed Up Your Site is concerned with solving exactly that problem.
This book is not really for beginners as you will need some knowledge about the various programming conventions and coding that is being discussed. However, this book should be mandatory reading for anyone who would even consider creating a website, as it provides an absolute wealth of information.
Topics covered include HTML, XHTML, CSS and javascript optimisation, as well as optimisation for graphics, multimedia and a few advanced optimisation techniques. The Search Engine Optimisation chapter is brief, but useful if you have not encountered it previously.
The author manages to find a good balance between following standards and practical coding and shows you the difference so that you can make up your own mind on whether the advice is worth following. There are also some nice case studies at the end of each chapter that show examples of how the information provided can be put to use in real world situations.
If you think that all there is to web site optimisation is reducing graphic and page sizes, and minimising server calls you would be part the way there. If you would like to find out more of the tips and tricks in order to do this, then Speed Up Your Site should provide you with the answers.
Speed Up Your Site: Web Site Optimization by Andrew King.