Recently I’ve been investigating this measure for some of our sites and was quite surprised at how long Google thinks it takes our pages to load. Page load times as measured by Google were several seconds above the one second it takes for our largely static pages to load from the end users perspective. I measured this from several remote locations on different continents and our pages appear to load in about a second. Crucially the time measured by Google is also above their recommended maximum page load time. Why the difference?

Google doesn’t just measure the time it takes the main content to load, but also how long it takes all the Javascript to process and potentially load other bits and pieces.  On our pages, a lot of this extra loading doesn’t really affect whether the user can get on with reading the content and using the site. We try to make use of progressive enhancement as much as we can.  A further detailed look at the load times showed that the main culprits where actually all the social networking add-ons such as Facebook Like, Google +1, ShareThis and ShareThat.  I am now a little worried that Google may be penalising our sites unfairly. I don’t consider social networking buttons as being vital to the proper functioning of our site.

On the other hand I can see why Google have introduced this feature and why they take the approach that they do. All sites nowadays are filled with Javascript and Ajax calls. On the ones who do this properly you won’t really notice.  But on lots and lots of sites the page gets reformatted slightly about 2 seconds after it initially got displayed. This is really annoying if you’ve just read the first sentence and then text text shifts. Or you’re about to click a link and then the text shifts so you click another link. Both of these have been happening more often recently, especially when browsing on my six year old laptop. And I must say: It is really annoying.

So I can fully understand why they are measuring this.  I do hope though that their algorithm is clever enough to evaluate what the consequence of the extra loading to the end user is. Do they take into account how quickly the initial content loads? Do they measure how the text displaces after the Javascript has finished? I sure hope so.

Launch date: December 2011

Links

• Maggie’s CancerLinks

Coming more from a software engineering background I see similarities here with the Agile Manifesto that was formulated about 10 years ago. So here’s my initial attempt at a Future Friendly Manifesto:

Great content over good looks
Accessible usability over functionality
Web based applications over device specific applications
Open standards over proprietory implementations

That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more.

Comments welcome via Twitter: @rmassart.

Launch date: December 2011

Links

• The IDEAL Collaboration

The website itself has currently been translated into German and Turkish, with more translations planned for the Testing Treatments Interactive site that is currently in development. This site, to be powered by WordPress Multisite, will contain the complete second edition of the book with intelligent cross-linking between the various languages.

Launch date: November 2011

Links

• Testing Treaments site
• German version
• Turkish version
• Minervation news item about the launch

On my last run I was struggling somewhat and was getting frustrated by this. (It turns out I was actually coming down with a bit of a flu, but that’s by the by). Well before the 4km mark I was having conversations with my inner demons as to when I would “give up”. I was aiming for 7k in 40 minutes for that run and it was obvious I was not going to manage that.  These conversations go something like this:

Me: Must keep going, must keep going
My inner demon: It is so much easier and less painful just to stop
Me: No! I will not stop.
My inner demon: Well, have some of this then.

At this point imagine a little red demon jabbing me under my right knee cap with his little pitch fork.

Me: Ouch! No, must keep going!
My inner demon: Stop torturing yourself and stop running, this might help.

He jabs me under my left knee cap.

Me: Arghhh. You little #$!%@%#! Maybe just a little bit further then…

And so it goes on until he’s basically defeated me and I have actually decided to stop “at the next corner”. Note: I really have decided to stop, I am not just trying to trick him. And so I jog on. My inner demon, in the meantime accepts this and obviously decides to take a well earned break and head out for a nice cup of tea and a biscuit, or whatever it is that inner demons do in their time off. And guess what? With the little git with the pitch fork out for a walk all my pain dissapears.  So I get to the next corner and… carry on.

This happens Every. Single. Run. Now I am prepared!

Update

Isn’t it strange how when you’ve been turning an idea over and over in your head for a while you often come upon an article that affirms your thoughts, almost exactly. Well this is precisely what happened to me over the weekend, when I came across the BBC article “Running as Therapy“.

It’s nice to know I am not crazy!

Update (28th October 2011): I actually managed 6k in 40 minutes in my second run of Week 1 so I’ve decided to up the distance in Week 2 to 7k.

So here’s my personal 6 week B210K program:

• Week 1. 3 runs of 40 minutes. Distance not important, but you should be covering at least 5k really.
• Week 2. 3 runs of 6k 7k. Final run in 40 minutes.
• Week 3. 3 runs of 50 minutes. Distance not important, but you should be covering at least 6k 7k really.
• Week 4. 3 runs of 8k. Final run in 50 minutes. This will be quite a step up, but anyway.
• Week 5. 3 runs of 60 minutes. Distance not important, but you should be covering at least 8k really.
• Week 6. 3 runs of 10k. Final run in 60 minutes. Again, this will be quite a step up, but give it a go anyway.

It’s quite possible weeks 4 and 6 are pushing it a little, but I’ll see how I get on.

1. The start. I have no problem actually starting. I start at the same place on my course every time and when I get there (after a brisk walk) I just get going. No problem, no need for motivation or anything. Just Do It.
2. After 10 seconds.  Within the first few steps my calf muscles are already hurting. This never really goes away until towards the end of the run. I wonder if some warm up exercises (beside my five minute brisk walk) might help.
3. The first five minutes. These are quite dull and a little annoying. I am not yet into the full swing of things. Whilst I’ve no intention of stopping, they are not the best five minutes of the run as all I can think of is why bother!
4. The next 10 minutes. Somewhere at this point I start to enjoy the run. A curious contradiction is that on the one hand I actually start feeling lots of aches and pains, on the other hand I am able to essentially ignore them.
5. Minutes 15 to 25.  By this time I’ve started sweating, yuck! The other thing I’ve noticed is the ability to get into brief trance like states after about 15 minutes. When there’s a long straight stretch and I am always looking at the same thing, I can for few seconds at a time essentially blank my mind. My ultimate aim is to run the whole run in this state!
6. Minutes 25 until 1 minutes from end. After about 25 minutes I am in the full swing of things. All pains, aches and other anxieties (with the exception of watching out for those pesky cars) are firmly out of my mind. I feel like I can go on for ever.
7. The ending. I normally set a time to run, rather than a distance. Currently it’s about 40 minutes. As I get towards the end of the run I often feel like I can just keep on going. Sometimes I do and set myself a distance. Other times I sprint the last minute or so.
8. The sprint. If I’ve decided to sprint I simply increase my pace significantly for the last minute or so. What still amazes me at this point is how much energy I have left after a 40 minute run.
9. The jog. If I’ve decided to for a distance I will normally try for a new distance (currently the maximum distance I’ve managed is 8km). Somewhere towards the end of this I really do feel TIRED. I still feel I can go further, but am currently aware that if I overdo it I run the risk of ligament or joint pain. I am still a beginner at this after all.
10. The end. No matter how I finish, I feel a real high when I finally stop. I am not talking nirvana or anything, just a real satisfied tiredness. I need to pinch myself to remember that 10 weeks ago I couldn’t run 1km.

So there you have it. A jog of mine in 10 easy steps. My next goal is to manage 10k in 60 minutes.