Techniques for improving Web application performance in bandwidth constrained scenarios

Abstract

Performance is critical for the success of a Web application. One of the major bottlenecks in performance is the limited bandwidth of the network that connects browsers to the servers. Hence, if the amount of data flowing through the network can be reduced, it is possible to improve response times and support more users using the same network infrastructure. The paper discusses various strategies to reduce the amount of data flowing from the server to the browser using programming concepts such as gzip compression, XSLT and JavaScript. This is done without changing the look and feel of the application, nor depending on hardware or networking optimization. The data flowing in the network has been reduced by 96% using the techniques described.