Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Extremely informative on front end optimizations
Comment: The author Steve Souders (who at the time of publication was Chief Performance engineer at Yahoo, but is now at Google]) demonstrates fourteen methods that could be employed to increase web page download response times through clear and concise chapters.
The information presented within this book is kept simple and to the point, complete with small code samples and explanations as to why they work. Occasional comparison graphs are scattered throughout the book to illustrate the differences in response times when dealing with some of the methods discussed.
While some of the methods require server side configurations, most others can be dealt with directly by the web programmers themselves. The server side methods enables web developers who wish to make their own sites download faster make better informed decisions with regards to selecting a web hosting service provider by asking in advance what server configurations the hosting providers use.
Also scattered throughout the book are links to handy browser add-ons and other informative links in helping developers keep tabs on performance issues when developing their sites.
All in all, the author definitely knows what he is talking about. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to take their front end development skills higher by designing faster and more lightweight websites which result in better response times for visitors (not to mention save on monthly bandwidth).
Customer Rating:
Summary: Expert-in-a-book
Comment: When optimizing a website, a lot of focus is usually placed on the back-end (databases, server-side code, etc.). That's because most programmers are comfortable with such matters. Once the HTML is emitted, it's easy to think "not my problem".
This book, however, is written by someone (a Yahoo engineer) who knows the front end (how the emitted HTML performs for the user) *is* often the biggest problem.
Instead of vague generalities, you'll find precise prescriptions (14, in fact) that when applied will make your site faster. The prescriptions are well-supported with both the *reasons* as well as examples of live URLs with and without the rules applied.
This book should be required reading for your whole engineering team. If you ran a series of brown-bag lunches and applied 1 rule per week, at the end of a calendar quarter you'd have a much snappier web site.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: I expected more...
Comment: While the information in the book is good information to know, it is (as others have said) information that pretty much gave a "yeah, I knew that" type of impression. And at only 137 pages of text, it's a very light read. If you are a new web developer, this is a nice collection of tips. As an experienced developer, there's nothing new here. And at $29 for its minimal 137 pages, it's really just an expensive checklist of 14 simple items. Too pricey for what you get in my opinion.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Must Read for Web Site Performance Testers
Comment: I am a software performance tester and a teacher of performance testers. This is the best single reference I have found to assist software testers in learning what to look for in terms of what will have significant negative impact on the user perceived response time of a web site. In fact, I've incorporated the lessons from this book into my training course for performance testers and provide copies of this book to my students along with my own book about performance testing.
As far as I am concerned, this book should be required reading for anyone who develops or tests the performance of web sites.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Practical, organized, detailed, succinct... fantastic
Comment: A web, database and compiled application developer of over 7 years, I read a lot. Typically about a thousand pages a week worth of technical books (cover to cover, my wife thinks I'm nuts). Having read this one recently it is the first to have compelled me to write an Amazon book review.
My hat is off to Steve Souders. The book is perfectly organized and packed with his valuable insights into what matters most when working to optimize website performance.
To everyone thinking about buying this book, I encourage you to do so. It's a great read and can give even seasoned web programmers valuable new insights into how to improve site performance. Steve is one of those rare authors that is both smart enough to boil complex subjects down into simple explanations and nice enough to do it for his readers with a consistency that is rare even among the best technical writers. To top it all he manages to do so with a light, frank style.
A joy to read. Thanks Steve. Can't wait for your next book.
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