MIT Creates Algorithm That Speeds Up Page Load Time By 34% (softpedia.com)

An anonymous reader writes: MIT researchers have created an algorithm that analyzes web pages and creates dependency graphs for all network resources that need to be loaded (CSS, JS, images, etc.). The algorithm, called Polaris, will be presented this week at the USENIX Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation conference, and is said to be able to cut down page load times by 34%, on average. The larger and more resources a web page contains, the better the algorithm's efficiency gets -- which should be useful on today's JavaScript-heavy sites.

Comments

So fast

[SeaFox]

I got first post!

Re:So fast

[davester666]

In other news, most websites announced they are upgrading to new larger graphics and javascript libraries, as a necessary first step in ensuring their pages don't load too fast.

Now the next step

[Anonymous Coward]

Now, the next logical step is to have this algorithm analyze the actual scripts and figure out a way to convince the various malwares that they've been loaded satisfactorily even though they haven't. That way you could avoid downloading almost 99% of modern web pages.

Re:Now the next step

[Anonymous Coward]

Now, the next logical step is to have this algorithm analyze the actual scripts and figure out a way to convince the various malwares that they've been loaded satisfactorily even though they haven't. That way you could avoid downloading almost 99% of modern web pages.

I run the NoScript extension, so I already get all of those benefits without any need for fancy page analysis.

Re:Now the next step

[rudy_wayne]

No, the next step is to kill Javascript which has now become a cancer that is destroying the Internet.

Re:Now the next step

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

No, the next step is to kill Javascript which has now become a cancer that is destroying the Internet.

I'd agree, but sadly, a huge number of sites won't work at all without Javascript. Even sadder, I actually need to use some of those sites.

And when I say "need", I mean "need", they're not optional for me, I have to use them for work or work-related stuff.

To be honest, I like some of the functionality that Javascript provides (ajax, responsive menus, etc) but yeah, it's wormed its way into even the most basic functions of many sites these days- a lot of sites won't even load a page without it.

Is it called ad block plus?

[jimbob6]

I have something kinda like that its called No Script.

Re:Is it called ad block plus?

[dsmatthews9379]

To see a big difference try all of these together Disconnect + AdBlock + ScriptBlock + FlashBlock + Vanilla (cookie blocker and manager)

Re:Is it called ad block plus?

[cheater512]

The big difference being nothing working.

Re:Is it called ad block plus?

[c0d3g33k]

And nothing of value was lost.

Re:Is it called ad block plus?

[Cito]

Adblock plus does not accept any money to exclude any sites.

It uses the exact same blocklists every adblocking service uses, from adblocking at dd-wrt level router plugin to Alternative-DNS a free dns servers that block ads at the dns level:
http://www.alternate-dns.com/

the only thing adblock plus added was a checkbox that defaults to unchecked. But if you do check it the only ad it will allow is adsense. Yet noone checks the exlude.

I have 7 blocklists in my adblock plug, from peter lowe's list to the "Adblock Detector blocker" list.

with adblock detector blocker, you no longer get sites that say "We detected you are running adblock, blah blah blah"

also by not allowing the detection of adblock you can now easily block ads on sites that have embedded ads in video like Hulu. :P

There is also a greasemonkey script to hide and block the detection of adblocking plugins.

Anti-Adblock killer: http://userscripts-mirror.org/...

Adblock plus does not get paid to exclude any sites. that's a false statement as the code is open source. you can allow adsense if you want to support some dumbass youtuber begging for sheckels or just leave it off as it is by default.

And never run just 1 blocklist, get the ad blocking list, then get the peter lowe malware, social media like, plus, share, all social media embeds. And block statistic gathering like Statcounter and Alexia from measuring your visits.

Yeah, but

[fisted]

would still be cooler if there was no 'dependency graph' of dynamically loaded resources behind my every HTTP request.

Fix the sites first

[markdavis]

They would all load a lot freaking faster if they would stop designing them with multiple, stupid, scrolling, 20 megapixel background images and dozens of megabytes of irritating javascript "special effects". Just saying.

Re:Fix the sites first

[The-Ixian]

Yeah exactly.

Right here on /. NoScript blocks 7 domains out of 9 and the site looks and loads fine.

Re:Fix the sites first

[KingMotley]

A better solution is just to bake all the advertising and trackers right into the browser itself so that it doesn't need to keep redownloading it for every site.

It's called AdBlocker

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> Algorithm That Speeds Up Page Load Time By 34%

It's called AdBlocker

cut page load times by 90% instantly

[ihtoit]

disable javascript.

Re:cut page load times by 90% instantly

[ihtoit]

only an idiot thinks javascript is vital to the usefulness of the internet.

Re:cut page load times by 90% instantly

[ihtoit]

I never said that. I said it's not vital.

Vulcanising and HTTP2 Push are the way to go, IMHO

[Qbertino]

Vulcanising and HTTP2 Push are the way to go.
Allthough I do wonder if this method then still has a chance of improving a sites performance.
Personally I'd say well and automatically curated HTTP2 Push and automated minifying and compression are probably the best method overall.
I do doubt that this method could improve much more if that were in place.

But I could be wrong.

Does anyone have experience with http-push and perhaps some insights to offer?
Please comment below. Thanks.

no, 51% more ads!

[oneiros27]

You forget -- those ads would be 34% faster, too ... so you could get 51% more ads in the same time it took to serve the original bloated page.

You know what would speed web page loading?

[smooth wombat]

Not having 14 scripts be needed to post a comment, not having 8 other scripts clogging the pipes for one advertisement, 6 scripts for tracking you, and multiple other scripts for whatever reason.

Nor having a giant, moving graphic as the base part of your page which can't be turned off, menus which bounce up or down when you hover your mouse over them, or needing to have the latest and greatest browser so you don't miss out on the latest and greatest "features" of a site.

But no, finding an algorithm to speed web page loading is what we should concentrate on.

Re:You know what would speed web page loading?

[Jahmbo]

anything introduced after the blink tag was trashed is pure shite.

Re:It's Needed

[__aaclcg7560]

We are now only discovering the terrible price of web standardisation and brower stability.

Web design was a lot simpler when the lowest common speed was a 56K dial-up. Now that everyone is connected to the Internet with a fire hose on the last mile, most web designers don't even stop to optimize their pages.

Re:It's Needed

[__aaclcg7560]

http://hampsterdance.com/classics/originaldance.htm

Reading TFA

[darkain]

I went and actually read TFA. It seems all they've done is create a bastardized version of a less efficient SPDY/HTTP2 protocol fetching system. Essentially, they're trying to solve a problem that is already solved, but the existing solution is already faster, more efficient, and more well thought out in general.

Re:Reading TFA

[johannesg]

> I went and actually read TFA

Thank you brother. Your sacrifice is appreciated by all.

Re:Reading TFA

[Anonymous Coward]

I went and actually read TFA. It seems all they've done is create a bastardized version of a less efficient SPDY/HTTP2 protocol fetching system. Essentially, they're trying to solve a problem that is already solved, but the existing solution is already faster, more efficient, and more well thought out in general.

When they get their degrees from MIT, they're already well-prepared to go to work on systemd.

Re:Vulcanising and HTTP2 Push are the way to go, I

[darkain]

Here is a good example: https://http2.akamai.com/demo

Re:Take it one step further...

[__aaclcg7560]

Also if the CMS goes down the site still is live.

I got tired of hackers beating down the doors of the CMS and occasionally crashing the website. After I converted the website to static pages, the hackers went away because there was nothing to hack.

Re:Noscript

[Half-pint HAL]

We'd need far less Javascript if they just implemented and tags in HTML. The need for them has been apparent for well over a dozen years.