More Google loving! This time, it’s a plugin for Firebug (the best tool in the world for developers- get it now) that Google created, called Page Speed. Here’s the breakdown, and here’s why it rocks.
Page Speed analyzes your code, running the same checks that Google uses for their own sites- checking for things like unoptimized images, un-gzipped code, slow CSS, uncompressed Javascript, and more; and then it delivers you a neat little report, which you can then use as a checklist of things to fix. Page Speed allowed me to cut over half a meg from the page requests from one of the projects I was working on; kind of a big deal. Even if you think your application is amazing, there’s a small chance that a quick 20-second test can tell you something that’ll save you bandwidth, and by extension, money. Saving money is good, and saving your visitors time and bandwidth is great.
Check it out, and revel in the awesomeness.