FE409
Web Performance
Faculty
Eirikur Nilsson
Developer of Interactive Web Experiences at Aranja
Course length
Duration
Total hours
Credits
Language
Course type
Fee for single course
Fee for degree students
Skills you’ll learn
Overview
One of the main user experience factors is performance. Every second that users have to wait dramatically increases their frustration and the likelihood of them giving up and switching to another product or service. Performance is an even more important topic now that most users browse the web on mobile devices and web development revolves more and more around running JavaScript in the browser.
During this course, students will learn how browsers work and the different things that can affect performance. It will guide them through the tools and techniques they can use to research and fix performance issues in real-world projects. The goal of this course is to equip the students with the knowledge required to create fast and smooth web experiences.
Learning highlights
- Get deep knowledge of the steps a browser takes to load a website
- Learn about performance metrics and how they are used to measure page load performance
- Understand how network requests can be optimised to speed up initial page load
- Learn how to optimise JavaScript bundles with code splitting and tree shaking
- Learn O notation basics in regards to JavaScript performance and memory use
- Discover ways to improve animations and perceived performance
Course outline
15 classes
Session 1
- Introduction to web performance
- Performance fundamentals
- Critical rendering path
- Request lifecycle
- Web Vitals
Session 2
- Network minification
- Concatenation
- Minification
- Compression
Session 3
- Network caching
- Caching
- Cache-control
- Conditional requests
- Caching strategies
- Service worker
Session 4
- Faster loading
- Content delivery networks (CDN)
- Preloading and lazy loading
- Loading gotchas
Session 5
- Practice session
Improve page load performance of an example website.
Session 6
- Smaller JavaScript bundles
- Bundling
- Analyzing bundles
- Lazy loading JS
- Tree shaking
Session 7
- JavaScript performance
- Big O Notation
- Performance gotchas
- Profiling JavaScript
- Run code on a background thread
Session 8
- Render performance
- The pixel pipeline
- Reflows
- Layout shifting
Session 9
- Performant animations
- Perceived performance
- Smooth animations 101
- GPU layers
- Minimize repaints
Session 10
- Practice session
- Improve JavaScript performance of an example website.
Session 11
- Server performance
- API design
- Server side caching
- Scaling in the cloud
- Profiling the server
Session 12
- Memory performance
- Memory management
- Garbage collection
- Profiling memory usage
- Memory leaks
Session 13
- Web Assembly
- WASM fundamentals
- AssemblyScript
Session 14
- HTTP2 / HTTP3
- History
- Concepts
- Concerns
Session 15
Final exam
Prerequisites
Skill: HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Skill: Shell basics.
Methodology
Lectures and demonstration format.
Group debates where we’ll discuss problem-solving techniques
Discord channel to ask questions to the teacher
Homework will be given at least twice a week, and it will be reviewed first thing next class
Project presentation and feedback upon completion of the two Friday assignments
Grading
Eiríkur is a co-founder and CTO at Aranja, a digital agency that specialises in front-end development for websites and apps. He has worked on projects for Google, Facebook, Pinterest, Blue Lagoon and many innovative startups.
Recently, Eirikur has overseen development for scooter sharing service Hopp which was founded by Aranja. He is also the lead architect at Digital Iceland, a public-private partnership developing high-quality digital government services.
See full profileApply for this course
Web Performance
by Eirikur Nilsson
Total hours
45 Hours
Dates
Apr 10 - Apr 28, 2023
Fee for single course
€1500
Fee for degree students
€750
How to secure your spot
Complete the form below to kickstart your application
Schedule your Harbour.Space interview
If successful, get ready to join us on campus
FAQ
Will I receive a certificate after completion?
Yes. Upon completion of the course, you will receive a certificate signed by the director of the program your course belonged to.
Do I need a visa?
This depends on your case. Please check with the Spanish or Thai consulate in your country of residence about visa requirements. We will do our part to provide you with the necessary documents, such as the Certificate of Enrollment.
Can I get a discount?
Yes. The easiest way to enroll in a course at a discounted price is to register for multiple courses. Registering for multiple courses will reduce the cost per individual course. Please ask the Admissions Office for more information about the other kinds of discounts we offer and what you can do to receive one.