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Frame from Maciej Ceglowski - The Website Obesity Crisis [Web Directions 2015 Keynote] Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Maciej Ceglowski - The Website Obesity Crisis [Web Directions 2015 Keynote]

cat stevens (catb0t)
Talks
YouTube
1 HN user recommended this talk1 month2020–2026 score 1
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Brought up as the classic critique of web bloat whenever slow or heavy sites are discussed.

Maciej Ceglowski's Web Directions 2015 keynote on website bloat, arguing that pages have grown far heavier than their content justifies. This is a re-upload of the original talk.

“Maybe it's time again to remember Maciej Ceglowski's” (HN, 2020)

1 recommendations · 3 citations · Talks

4 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@jcynix Dec 2020 Recommends
on HN thread The mythical “fast” web page
Fat, slow loading, unresponsive web pages? Maybe it's time again to remember Maciej Ceglowski's "Web Directions 2015 Keynote": The Website Obesity Crisis [this video]
Ceglowski's keynote on bloated websites.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@grishka May 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Faster web fonts
Yeah I mean > This is a good base because it lets website visitors start reading your content right away They're already reading the content. The one job your website had has already been accomplished without the custom font. As this guy[1] said, you first serve what's essential for your website's functionality, and then you stop. [1] [this video]
Argues to serve only what is essential for a website.
@renegat0x0 Sep 2023 Cites it
on HN thread Why do software nowadays take so much more memory and processing power
Read more
It is more true about the Internet. More and more web pages use more bloated libraries, and more complex solutions. There is more data, more communication, more patterns, more services, more styles. If you want a blog there is no need for fancy libraries with a fancy frameworks, probably. I think this could be passed to the whole software / hardware situation. Do you need a fancy desktop? Does not Gnome look better than XFCE? But you want a shiny desktop with nice animations, nice icons. It is also required by the producent for the product to be more complicated and fragile. Now you cannot have offline software. There needs to be telemetry. Therefore there need to be internet logins. Therefore hackers are a higher threat. Why does my calculator on Xiaomi phone need permissions for gathering private data? I know maybe to select some units, but comes on! [link] [this video] [link]
@renegat0x0 Mar 2026 Cites it
on HN thread 'Your Frustration Is the Product'
Read more
Reminds me of "Website obesity crisis" - [this video] - [link] Some say that you should not use ad blocker, because that kills ad revenue, but I did not forced anybody to rely with their lives on ad revenue. Many of things were 'free' because we were all just using ad blocks, and then it all became commodified, simplified, so simpletons without ad blocks became a thing. Now they shame people for using ad blocks, even though it stops spreading malware and viruses. I plan to use ad block, and use as many extensions that protect me. If there is some form of goods, be it streaming movies, audio, books I will happily pay for it. I will not accept a web with ads. I prefer touch grass. There is a clear line for me. Also there is no line ad publisher will not cross. The goal posts are shifted, so you will never satisfy shareholder greed. The only pushback is trough ads and probably sometimes piracy. Not that I advocate it, but in reality if companies push too hard, there are consequences.
Talk on website obesity.

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