Guidelines for Low Bandwidth Websites
For an HTML version of this document see BMO: Guidelines for Low Bandwidth Websites
To download the full article, see below.
Introduction
There are two very good two reasons why creating small websites (sites requiring minimal data download to see and use) is something everyone should consider: usability and global accessibility.
Usability
Time and again it has been shown that users like speedy websites. Google and Amazon have recently found even a delay of half a second can mean a 20% drop in users. Obviously your site must provide what your audience is looking for, and it must make it easy to find, but the number one factor that contributes to a positive user experience is speed. Ideally you want your pages to load within 1 second. They must load within 10 seconds; research shows consistently that visitors will leave a site if it doesn't load in 10 seconds or less, the fewer seconds it takes to load the more engaged a visitor will be. Even with the ever increasing connection speeds of broadband we are seeing in the UK, if you're not careful, it's still perfectly possible to make sites that are too slow.
Global Accessibility
Global accessibility is the reason that most interests me and Aptivate, the organisation I work for. Like us, you may feel we have a moral duty to ensure important information is accessible in the developing world or you may see the developing world as an interesting emerging market. Either way, if you want your content to be accessible in the developing world you need to seriously consider the size of your web pages. Aptivate, has been focussing on this issue from the perspective of users in less developed countries. We've found that the majority of information is inaccessible; even information that is intended to be used by this audience. The fact is that the developing world is years behind the broadband revolution we are witnessing in the "global North".
Not only that, but as more bandwidth becomes available in developing countries it is matched by increasing demand. We foresee that bandwidth will remain much lower in developing countries than in wealthy ones for some time to come. This must be considered when designing for a global audience.
Over the past 5 years the average web page has increased by 300%. Meanwhile, in developing country universities, we estimate the bandwidth available to an individual user will have increased by 20 - 60% - and this is from a very low starting point.
Bandwidth capacity is increasing slowly for developing country universities whilst bandwidth demands from users, websites, document downloads and on-line applications are increasing rapidly.
For the full case study, please download the following document. Print quality and web optimised versions are available.
Website Guidelines Web (127 kb) Website Guidelines Print (423 kb)