> People will tolerate sub-optimal experiences
Implying the Google Search homepage loading experience is sub-optimal? Chrome starts loading it before you finish typing google.com on your keyboard.
Implying the Google Search homepage loading experience is sub-optimal? Chrome starts loading it before you finish typing google.com on your keyboard.
However, from a pure engineering perspective, I think most people agree that the page weight has increased at a rate that is unjustified considering the core features and functionality have been relatively static. So why the bloat? Engineers can tell of course. The margins of acceptance have gone way up thanks to faster devices and connections, but that still doesn’t explain why they don’t seem to care to optimize anymore. In optimize, I’m talking about it from a pure engineering perspective: what is the minimum amount of data needed to do the job of displaying a list of search results? Some people have forgotten that a list and some simple formatting is all there is to it. It’s not a web app, it has minimal interactivity, and relatively basic features. The fact that it has ballooned to 500k just proves that even Google is not immune. Maybe more resistant than other giant tech companies who’s software just keeps getting larger but not immune.
Remember that code is data too. 500k isn’t a lot in today’s world but multiply that by how much traffic they receive and it is. I’m not saying Google search isn’t a well designed product that doesn’t work well, but from a pure first principles perspective it does seem quite bloated based upon what it used to be.