Why faster response times matter

We are constantly looking at ways of improving the performance of our platform allowing it to respond more quickly to users - whether it is writing faster database queries or introducing various server side caching layers.

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox is a fantastic usability newsletter and as he points out speed does matter.

Responsiveness matters for 2 reasons:

• Human limitations, especially in the areas of memory and attention (as further discussed in our seminar on The Human Mind and Usability). We simply don't perform as well if we have to wait and suffer the inevitable decay of information stored in short-term memory.
• Human aspirations. We like to feel in control of our destiny rather than subjugated to a computer's whims. Also, when companies make us wait instead of providing responsive service, they seem either arrogant or incompetent.

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox

The effort that Google is putting into getting faster websites is driven by the desire to improve the user experience of the web which we are definitely in favour of!