Sergey Chernyshev: “Every year the Web only gets slower”
Introducing the third issue of the podcast about technologies, processes, infrastructure and people in IT companies. Today CTOcast is hosted by Sergey Chernyshev, one of the leaders of the Web Performance Optimization community (New York).
Listen to the podcast
1st part of the text version of the podcast
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Alexander Astapenko: Now it’s already ending 2014, that is, 7–8 years have passed since when we first started talking about optimizing web productivity, when the best practices for this area were systematized. What are your thoughts on optimizing web performance today? How relevant is this and what challenges do web developers face? Browsers have changed, technologies have changed.
Sergei Chernyshev: So far, the transparency of the web stack is a serious problem, and not only from a technical point of view. Now it’s rather an educational problem, that is, people just don’t know that web productivity optimization needs to be addressed, although the tools are already quite well developed. In my opinion, this is a significant barrier to changing the trend. And the trend is very simple: every year the Web becomes only slower. It would seem that technology is moving forward, but it is not. The situation can only be changed if people pay attention to the problem of speed. That is, non-technical issues are the most important.
Now there are new tools, for example, since I developed Show Slow for synthetic testing of websites, a new direction has been developed - Real User Monitoring (RUM), which allows real-time analyzing the speed of real users and seeing the real picture.
Also, the problem is that for many it is a big leap between the concept of how to analyze a synthetic test, see how much your instrument showed on the scoreboard (Three seconds? Or five seconds? How many queries are there?) And actually watch how real users See your site. There is no single number, there is a whole range of numbers: from very fast to very slow. The task is to move them all closer to zero.
The next challenge is the mobile Web, which has become something relevant. Those problems that we had before, now become important again, they need to pay attention to: networks, completely different transmission speeds, network delays and other similar issues.
Another important task that is difficult to solve due to the already mentioned opacity of the web stack and the huge number of components that go into it is to visualize data on how things are going with speed. And many people are now trying to solve this problem with both RUM and synthetic data.
In fact, browsers have significantly advanced their technology, there are many companies that allow you to speed up websites. So from the point of view of technical optimization, the situation is quite good. Analysis and development strategy for speed are more problematic places.
Pavel Pavlov: Do you continue to be involved in all these technological problems? Do you work with new tools? For example, you created Show Slow. Is this project relevant?
Sergey Chernyshev: Show Slow is still used and is an important tool primarily to support the optimization process, where you can see what the trend is. However, Show Slow became less relevant due to the advent of RUM. And the project, of course, is not as active as it was before. I made him integrate with the very popular Web Page Test project that Patrick Meenan created. The combination of these two tools allows using the Web Page Test to take a deep look at the page analysis, as well as see the trends of all these metrics.
That is how the Show Slow tool is important. Perhaps it will become a Dashboard, or rather a tool supporting the process, rather than a technical-analytical solution in its pure form. Just because other tools do the job better.
I use Web Page Test constantly and actively participate in its development not as a developer, but as a person from the field. And now I am trying to understand in which direction I personally should move: whether it is worth developing tools for acceleration, or working with visualization. I recently spoke at the Velocity conference with designer Mark Zeman, who has an interesting approach to visualizing data speed. And, perhaps, we will go in this direction.
Alexander Astapenko: Web Performance Optimization Foundation. I honestly know very little about this initiative. And I would like to hear a few words from you. What is the mission of the organization, what projects are there current?
Sergey Chernyshev: The organization was created to promote Web Performance Optimization. Participants include Steve Souders, Stoyan Stefanov, Patrick Minen and several other people who are actively involved in web productivity. The main project at the moment is to support Web Page Test and its promotion to the masses. Also our goal is to create mitos and various speed events, for example, WebPerfDays Unconference. The task of the organization is very simple - speed. People need to know that speed can and should be improved.
Alexander Astapenko: Once already touched on the topic of conferences. Tell me a little about Velocity. Who are the speakers there is easy to learn, and who are the participants of this conference? You said that business does not understand the importance of investing in speeding. Does business go there? Or is this a conference only for developers?
Sergei Chernyshev: First of all, O'Reilly needs to be said for creating this conference. Now, in my opinion, it takes place four times a year in different parts of the world. The conference began in Santa Clara, California. Velocity actually consists of two parts: Performance and Operations - two camps that overlap slightly, but not much.
At the conference come system administrators, front-end developers and businesses. Especially the last couple of years - a huge number of businesses. The reality is that websites grow and only become slower, especially when the mobile Web has become relevant.
Velocity covers a wide range of topics. And business is actively coming there. Of course, these are mostly technical managers. The conference is technical and a man with a business horseshoe will be hard. But on the other hand, I saw there as representatives of the US government, and just businesses, mainly from e-commerce. Naturally, they were the first to occupy this issue, because it is very easy for them to draw a parallel between speed and money. It is harder for other areas. So the Velocity conference is a great conference, in my opinion. If you have the opportunity to visit her either in Europe or in America, then I highly recommend it.
Pavel Pavlov: Velocity takes place in the States, Europe, even in China. Actually developing around the world. But at the same time there is a huge space in Runet, where the topic is not heated enough. There are, of course, companies that are engaged in web productivity, books have been published on this subject, there are blogs, speakers. But there is no community as such.
Sergey Chernyshev: Yes, I agree. There is the HighLoad conference, which mainly looks at issues of scalability and availability. Just recently was. Some speakers come there: Philip Tellis and Buddy Brewer performed there.
Pavel Pavlov: And Stoin Stefanov.
Sergey Chernyshev: Yes, exactly. I agree. So somehow it exists, but very little. In general, I am not very familiar with how conferences are organized in Russia. But Europe, thank God, is near. So listening there makes complete sense.
Pavel Pavlov: Maybe it makes sense to push Steve Soders and the company to hold at least a small conference in Moscow?
Sergey Chernyshev: I think that the main thing is not who to invite, but who can do it locally. That is, to find people who are interested in the issue locally. Naturally, you can invite speakers and it is easy. But, in my opinion, it is important that the organizers are able to gather the community, which will move the speakers who are ready to speak in the right direction.
It is not necessary to wait for a big conference. And, in fact, O'Reilly carefully looked at how local communities evolve before they organized a conference in New York and in Europe. As in London was a very popular meeting for Europe, and in New York was one of the most popular meetings. And only after that they created a conference. A business like O'Reilly is required to confirm local activity. Organize mitap in Minsk, Moscow, Kiev. And this is how to push the question.
Alexander Astapenko: There are mitapas, Velocity, but there is also WebPerfDays. Can you talk about the essence and purpose of WebPerfDays?
Sergey Chernyshev: WebPerfDays was originally created in San Francisco in the image of DevOpsDays. This, roughly speaking, is a one-day conference, which has a slightly different format. Of course, there are a couple of presentations in traditional style, but the rest is discussion, that is, everyone can bring their own question on the topic of web productivity, after which everyone divides into groups and discusses this issue for a while.
In terms of format - a very simple but important addition to the traditional style of conferences. Often, after the official Velocity Conference, WebPerfDays Unconference takes place the next day, because it is very easy to attract those who have already attended the main conference, as well as to create a local one-day event.
WebPerfDays for those who know what they are talking about at all - those who are engaged in web productivity or somehow relate to this. This is a good chance to talk with speakers in a less formal setting, to discuss the issues in more detail, because many of those who speak at Velocity also participate in WebPerfDays.
Listen to the podcast
1st part of the text version of the podcast
')
Text version of the podcast (2nd part)
About the challenges of modern web performance optimization
Alexander Astapenko: Now it’s already ending 2014, that is, 7–8 years have passed since when we first started talking about optimizing web productivity, when the best practices for this area were systematized. What are your thoughts on optimizing web performance today? How relevant is this and what challenges do web developers face? Browsers have changed, technologies have changed.
Sergei Chernyshev: So far, the transparency of the web stack is a serious problem, and not only from a technical point of view. Now it’s rather an educational problem, that is, people just don’t know that web productivity optimization needs to be addressed, although the tools are already quite well developed. In my opinion, this is a significant barrier to changing the trend. And the trend is very simple: every year the Web becomes only slower. It would seem that technology is moving forward, but it is not. The situation can only be changed if people pay attention to the problem of speed. That is, non-technical issues are the most important.
Now there are new tools, for example, since I developed Show Slow for synthetic testing of websites, a new direction has been developed - Real User Monitoring (RUM), which allows real-time analyzing the speed of real users and seeing the real picture.
Also, the problem is that for many it is a big leap between the concept of how to analyze a synthetic test, see how much your instrument showed on the scoreboard (Three seconds? Or five seconds? How many queries are there?) And actually watch how real users See your site. There is no single number, there is a whole range of numbers: from very fast to very slow. The task is to move them all closer to zero.
The next challenge is the mobile Web, which has become something relevant. Those problems that we had before, now become important again, they need to pay attention to: networks, completely different transmission speeds, network delays and other similar issues.
Another important task that is difficult to solve due to the already mentioned opacity of the web stack and the huge number of components that go into it is to visualize data on how things are going with speed. And many people are now trying to solve this problem with both RUM and synthetic data.
In fact, browsers have significantly advanced their technology, there are many companies that allow you to speed up websites. So from the point of view of technical optimization, the situation is quite good. Analysis and development strategy for speed are more problematic places.
Pavel Pavlov: Do you continue to be involved in all these technological problems? Do you work with new tools? For example, you created Show Slow. Is this project relevant?
Sergey Chernyshev: Show Slow is still used and is an important tool primarily to support the optimization process, where you can see what the trend is. However, Show Slow became less relevant due to the advent of RUM. And the project, of course, is not as active as it was before. I made him integrate with the very popular Web Page Test project that Patrick Meenan created. The combination of these two tools allows using the Web Page Test to take a deep look at the page analysis, as well as see the trends of all these metrics.
That is how the Show Slow tool is important. Perhaps it will become a Dashboard, or rather a tool supporting the process, rather than a technical-analytical solution in its pure form. Just because other tools do the job better.
I use Web Page Test constantly and actively participate in its development not as a developer, but as a person from the field. And now I am trying to understand in which direction I personally should move: whether it is worth developing tools for acceleration, or working with visualization. I recently spoke at the Velocity conference with designer Mark Zeman, who has an interesting approach to visualizing data speed. And, perhaps, we will go in this direction.
About conferences and web performance community
Alexander Astapenko: Web Performance Optimization Foundation. I honestly know very little about this initiative. And I would like to hear a few words from you. What is the mission of the organization, what projects are there current?
Sergey Chernyshev: The organization was created to promote Web Performance Optimization. Participants include Steve Souders, Stoyan Stefanov, Patrick Minen and several other people who are actively involved in web productivity. The main project at the moment is to support Web Page Test and its promotion to the masses. Also our goal is to create mitos and various speed events, for example, WebPerfDays Unconference. The task of the organization is very simple - speed. People need to know that speed can and should be improved.
Alexander Astapenko: Once already touched on the topic of conferences. Tell me a little about Velocity. Who are the speakers there is easy to learn, and who are the participants of this conference? You said that business does not understand the importance of investing in speeding. Does business go there? Or is this a conference only for developers?
Sergei Chernyshev: First of all, O'Reilly needs to be said for creating this conference. Now, in my opinion, it takes place four times a year in different parts of the world. The conference began in Santa Clara, California. Velocity actually consists of two parts: Performance and Operations - two camps that overlap slightly, but not much.
At the conference come system administrators, front-end developers and businesses. Especially the last couple of years - a huge number of businesses. The reality is that websites grow and only become slower, especially when the mobile Web has become relevant.
Velocity covers a wide range of topics. And business is actively coming there. Of course, these are mostly technical managers. The conference is technical and a man with a business horseshoe will be hard. But on the other hand, I saw there as representatives of the US government, and just businesses, mainly from e-commerce. Naturally, they were the first to occupy this issue, because it is very easy for them to draw a parallel between speed and money. It is harder for other areas. So the Velocity conference is a great conference, in my opinion. If you have the opportunity to visit her either in Europe or in America, then I highly recommend it.
Pavel Pavlov: Velocity takes place in the States, Europe, even in China. Actually developing around the world. But at the same time there is a huge space in Runet, where the topic is not heated enough. There are, of course, companies that are engaged in web productivity, books have been published on this subject, there are blogs, speakers. But there is no community as such.
Sergey Chernyshev: Yes, I agree. There is the HighLoad conference, which mainly looks at issues of scalability and availability. Just recently was. Some speakers come there: Philip Tellis and Buddy Brewer performed there.
Pavel Pavlov: And Stoin Stefanov.
Sergey Chernyshev: Yes, exactly. I agree. So somehow it exists, but very little. In general, I am not very familiar with how conferences are organized in Russia. But Europe, thank God, is near. So listening there makes complete sense.
Pavel Pavlov: Maybe it makes sense to push Steve Soders and the company to hold at least a small conference in Moscow?
Sergey Chernyshev: I think that the main thing is not who to invite, but who can do it locally. That is, to find people who are interested in the issue locally. Naturally, you can invite speakers and it is easy. But, in my opinion, it is important that the organizers are able to gather the community, which will move the speakers who are ready to speak in the right direction.
It is not necessary to wait for a big conference. And, in fact, O'Reilly carefully looked at how local communities evolve before they organized a conference in New York and in Europe. As in London was a very popular meeting for Europe, and in New York was one of the most popular meetings. And only after that they created a conference. A business like O'Reilly is required to confirm local activity. Organize mitap in Minsk, Moscow, Kiev. And this is how to push the question.
Alexander Astapenko: There are mitapas, Velocity, but there is also WebPerfDays. Can you talk about the essence and purpose of WebPerfDays?
Sergey Chernyshev: WebPerfDays was originally created in San Francisco in the image of DevOpsDays. This, roughly speaking, is a one-day conference, which has a slightly different format. Of course, there are a couple of presentations in traditional style, but the rest is discussion, that is, everyone can bring their own question on the topic of web productivity, after which everyone divides into groups and discusses this issue for a while.
In terms of format - a very simple but important addition to the traditional style of conferences. Often, after the official Velocity Conference, WebPerfDays Unconference takes place the next day, because it is very easy to attract those who have already attended the main conference, as well as to create a local one-day event.
WebPerfDays for those who know what they are talking about at all - those who are engaged in web productivity or somehow relate to this. This is a good chance to talk with speakers in a less formal setting, to discuss the issues in more detail, because many of those who speak at Velocity also participate in WebPerfDays.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/245237/
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