preconnect, prefetch, preload, pre-what?
summary
Browsers spend ~248 ms just opening TCP+TLS and a Hamburg→New York round trip is ~62 ms, and a 3G connection can push that connection time to ~1.2 s. Resource hints actually change network behavior: preconnect to gstatic.com removes ~1 s by doing DNS+TCP+TLS early; dns-prefetch only resolves DNS; prefetch downloads low-priority assets into cache for likely future navigations; preload with as="font" forces high-priority fetches and sets correct accept/CSP headers; use crossorigin for webfonts and consider HTTP 103 Early Hints to emit preload hints before HTML.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (13)
- 0:00Why web performance matters
- 2:09What slows down websites
- 11:41Introducing resource hints
- 12:23Preconnect in action
- 16:55Cross-origin preconnect
- 19:01DNS prefetch explained
- 22:11Prefetch for later pages
- 23:37Pre-render limitations
- 27:52No-state prefetch alternative
- 28:12Preload for critical resources
- 31:01Preload request types
- 32:51Early hints and HTTP/2 push
- 35:40Further reading
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28mThe Browser Hackers Guide To Instantly Loading Everything
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38mCSS and the first meaningful paint
34mCargo Cult Web Performance Optimization
