Researchers at MIT have created a new software framework called Polaris that is designed to make the web faster and it can load speed up web page loading times by as much as 34 percent.
The Polaris framework works by reducing the number of round trips a web browser makes to a server to load all the various elements of a website.
How Polaris Works
Polaris achieves its impressive speed improvements by optimizing the way web browsers fetch data. Traditional web browsers often need to make multiple round trips to servers to load all the elements of a webpage, such as images, scripts, and stylesheets. Each of these round trips can introduce significant delays, especially over mobile networks.
“It can take up to 100 milliseconds each time a browser has to cross a mobile network to fetch a piece of data,” says PhD student Ravi Netravali, who is first author on a paper about Polaris that he will present at this week’s USENIX Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation (NSDI ’16). “As pages increase in complexity, they often require multiple trips that create delays that really add up. Our approach minimizes the number of round trips so that we can substantially speed up a page’s load-time.”
Polaris uses a technique called “dependency tracking” to map out all the elements that a webpage needs to load. By understanding these dependencies, Polaris can fetch multiple elements in parallel, rather than sequentially. This reduces the overall number of round trips required, thereby speeding up the loading process.
Real-World Testing and Results
This new Polaris framework was tested on 200 of the world’s most popular websites, including major news sites, e-commerce platforms, and social media networks. The results were promising, showing a consistent reduction in load times by up to 34 percent.
For example, on a complex news website with numerous images, videos, and interactive elements, Polaris was able to reduce the load time from 10 seconds to approximately 6.6 seconds. This kind of improvement can significantly enhance user experience, particularly for users on slower mobile networks.
Moreover, the benefits of Polaris are not limited to mobile networks. Even on high-speed broadband connections, the reduction in round trips can lead to noticeable improvements in load times. This makes Polaris a versatile solution for a wide range of web applications.
Future Implications and Developments
The development of Polaris is a significant step forward in web performance optimization. As web pages continue to grow in complexity, the need for efficient loading mechanisms becomes increasingly important. Polaris addresses this need by fundamentally changing the way browsers interact with servers.
Looking ahead, the researchers at MIT are exploring ways to integrate Polaris into existing web browsers and content delivery networks (CDNs). This could make the technology widely accessible, benefiting millions of users worldwide. Additionally, the team is investigating how Polaris can be adapted to work with emerging web technologies, such as Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) and WebAssembly.
In conclusion, Polaris represents a major advancement in web performance technology. By reducing the number of round trips required to load a webpage, it offers a practical solution to the growing problem of slow load times. As the internet continues to evolve, innovations like Polaris will play a crucial role in ensuring a fast and seamless user experience.
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Source MIT, Motherboard, Techmeme
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