Turbocharge Your Page Speed With This Feature
Google has announced an experimental feature that aims to turbocharge the speed of webpages. This feature has the potential to give publishers an edge over their competitors by boosting their performance in a core web vital metric. Let’s take a closer look at the problem Google aims to solve, the limitations of existing strategies, and the proposed solution.
The Problem: Interaction to Next Paint (INP) Metric
Interaction to Next Paint (INP) is a crucial metric that measures webpage responsiveness and is set to become a core web vital metric in March 2024. To score well in the INP metric, a webpage needs to be highly responsive to user interactions. However, one of the factors that can negatively impact INP scores is JavaScript that takes a long time to run. These long-running JavaScript tasks are known as Long Tasks, and they act as a roadblock, slowing down the webpage and causing it to be unresponsive.
When a long task is running, it blocks the scripts responsible for user interactions, forcing users to wait for the page to respond. This delay can lead to a poor user experience and frustration. In many webpages today, user interactions have to wait until long tasks finish running, resulting in a sluggish performance.
Limitations of Existing Strategies
While there are coding workarounds available to improve user interaction scores, they are not specifically designed to address the user interaction problem. Existing strategies often pause long tasks but place them at the back of the queue, along with other less important scripts. Consequently, the long task that must finish ends up waiting until less significant scripts are completed, creating a less than ideal situation. These workarounds can sometimes worsen the performance instead of improving it.
The Solution: Introducing scheduler.yield
Google’s proposed solution to the long task problem is an approach called scheduler.yield. This new feature, available since Chrome 115, offers a way to pause long tasks and yield control to user interaction tasks. By allowing user interaction scripts to run alongside long tasks, scheduler.yield enables a smoother and more responsive user experience. Once the user interaction script is finished, the long task can jump to the head of the queue and resume running.
Origin Trials of scheduler.yield
To gather feedback and understand how scheduler.yield performs in real-world scenarios, Google is conducting an origin trial. Developers are invited to participate in testing this new feature before its official release. An origin trial provides an opportunity to experiment with new features and provide valuable insights to improve their functionality. It is crucial to note that a fallback will need to be coded for non-Chrome 115 browsers to ensure a seamless experience for users who have not yet adopted the new feature.
Leap Ahead of Competitors
As INP is scheduled to become an official core web vital metric in March 2024, it is worth keeping an eye on this experimental Chrome feature. Adopting scheduler.yield early on, once it is out of the experimental phase, can give publishers a competitive advantage. However, it is essential to ensure the website is compatible with non-Chrome 115 browsers by implementing a fallback solution. By staying ahead of the curve and optimizing for the future, publishers can provide a faster and more responsive user experience.
How to Participate in the scheduler.yield Origin Trial
If you are interested in testing the scheduler.yield feature on your website, you can sign up for the origin trial by visiting the scheduler.yield origin trial page. This trial will enable you to explore the benefits of scheduler.yield and contribute to its further development.
See first source: Search Engine Journal
FAQ
Q1: What is the purpose of Google’s experimental feature?
A: Google’s experimental feature aims to enhance webpage speed by addressing the Interaction to Next Paint (INP) metric, a crucial measure of webpage responsiveness.
Q2: What is the INP metric?
A: INP (Interaction to Next Paint) measures how responsive a webpage is to user interactions. It gauges the time between user input and the webpage’s next visual update.
Q3: How can long-running JavaScript tasks impact INP scores?
A: Long-running JavaScript tasks, known as Long Tasks, can hinder INP scores by delaying user interactions, making webpages less responsive.
Q4: What are the limitations of existing strategies to improve user interaction scores?
A: Existing strategies often pause long tasks, but these paused tasks end up waiting in a queue with other scripts, potentially worsening performance.
Q5: What is the proposed solution to address long-running JavaScript tasks?
A: Google’s solution is scheduler.yield, an approach that allows user interaction scripts to run alongside long tasks, resulting in a smoother user experience.
Q6: How does scheduler.yield work?
A: scheduler.yield pauses long tasks, allowing user interaction scripts to run concurrently. Once user interaction is complete, the paused long task can resume running.
Q7: What are Origin Trials, and how do they relate to scheduler.yield?
A: Origin Trials are real-world tests that developers can participate in to provide feedback on new features like scheduler.yield before official release.
Q8: How can adopting scheduler.yield give publishers a competitive advantage?
A: As INP becomes a core web vital metric, early adoption of scheduler.yield can lead to a faster and more responsive user experience, setting publishers apart from competitors.
Q9: What is the significance of implementing a fallback solution?
A: A fallback solution ensures compatibility with non-Chrome 115 browsers, providing a seamless experience for users who have not adopted the new feature.
Q10: How can website owners participate in the scheduler.yield Origin Trial?
A: Interested developers can sign up for the origin trial by visiting the scheduler.yield origin trial page, allowing them to explore the benefits and contribute to its development.
Featured Image Credit: Marc-Olivier Jodoin; Unsplash – Thank you!