Is there a maximum size that web pages should be kept under?

Question

When I say size I\'m talking about bytes not pixels.

I\'m curious if there is any consensus on what the maximum size should be for various categories. Specifically

Answer 1

Your 'maximum' size really depends on a lot.

Your audience:

• What type of connection do they have
• What load time are they expecting
• What content are they expecting

Your content

• What content are you trying to present

The functionality

• How does your site load the content
• Do users need to move through the site and fetch multiple pages regularly or are there large pauses before they move

For any site though, keep your page as small as possible. Good design is about taking things away until you're left with what you need. The base HTML should be a few kb, the CSS a few kb, and if you're loading scripts and images load them last.

With a smaller page, your site loads faster, which means your users feel more engaged and your page gets indexed better.

Response times for users: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/response-times.html

Response times for google: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/04/using-site-speed-in-web-search-ranking.html