Speed matters
Why performance is a feature, not a metric. My quest for a 100 Lighthouse score.
Nobody likes a slow website. We’ve all been there: you click a link, and nothing happens. You wait. You wait some more. Then you leave.
For IntentLabs, speed isn't just a technical metric. It’s a part of the brand. If I’m talking about "Indie Studio" and "Technical Leverage," my site needs to reflect that. It needs to feel fast, light, and efficient.
My "Zero Bloat" Policy
The web is full of bloat. Giant tracking scripts, heavy libraries, and unoptimized images. As a humble builder, I try to keep it simple.
- Plausible Analytics: I chose Plausible because it’s a tiny script (less than 1KB) compared to Google Analytics. It doesn't slow down the site, and it respects your privacy.
- Tailwind CSS: Instead of writing thousands of lines of custom CSS, I use Tailwind. It generates a tiny, optimized stylesheet that only includes the styles I actually use.
- Static Assets: Whenever possible, I serve content as static HTML. This site is mostly text and a few images, so it should be near-instant.
The Developer Experience vs. The User Experience
Sometimes, a tool makes my life easier as a developer but makes the site slower for you. I try to avoid those tools.
- Hydration: Next.js uses "Hydration" to make the site interactive. If you have too much JavaScript, the site "freezes" while it loads. I’m constantly looking at my "Field Notes" to see how I can reduce that.
- Font Loading: I use Geist, a beautiful font, but I make sure it loads efficiently so you don't see a "flicker" of a default system font first.
Speed is Respect
I respect your time. By making IntentLabs fast, I’m saying: "I value your attention, and I don’t want to waste it."
It’s not perfect yet—I still have a few images I need to optimize—but I’m getting closer to that perfect 100 Lighthouse score. Not because I want to "flex," but because it’s the right way to build.