For Websites to Load Faster, Browse the Web Like Europeans.
We are now living in a GDPR world. GDPR, in case you didn’t know, means the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation privacy law, which came into force on May 25 and caused every service you have ever used to blow up your inbox in the last month.
As annoying as these privacy emails are, the law has forced a number of large companies to make some pretty significant changes to the way they collect and store your data, including giving you more opportunities to find out what they know about you and delete data you don’t. you know. I want them to be.
Ironically, GDPR can also improve your browsing speed – at least according to several sources who have done practical testing on multiple sites. As Erica Sweeney of Marketing Dive describes :
“For example, the US version of USA Today had an average web page load time of 9.86 seconds after implementing the GDPR. In comparison, the UK site took 0.42 seconds to load, 0.75 seconds in France and 0.51 seconds in Germany. Faster loading may be due to the removal of most external third-party features such as ad servers, Google services and analytics, social media plugins, and more. ”
Web developer Marcel Freinbichler found similar results – not only did USA Today load faster, but installing the “EU” version of the site also reduced the amount of data requested from a whopping 5.2 MB to 500 KB, or about 90 percent.
While those who are internet savvy might think that you can just replicate this “EU experience” by installing an ad blocker in your browser, Freinbichler notes that the higher speeds you might experience will still not be as good. like the remote site. – down “European version”, if available.
While I highly recommend planning a beautiful European vacation to enjoy the faster browsing speed (and the beautiful countryside), there are a few tricks you can use to get a European-style web browsing experience from your home outside of the EU. However, one caveat; some companies block visitors from the EU entirely, either because they need a little longer to bring their sites in line with GDPR, or because they absolutely have no intention of doing so.
For sites that you can access, here are a few ways to view like a European:
- Use a VPN: With a VPN, you basically connect to a server somewhere else, and that server routes your requests and gives the impression that you are indeed where the VPN server is located . If you have a fast VPN and can get a great European server connection, this can be a great way to “pretend” that you are not from somewhere to view special (faster) sites that companies are setting up to stay GDPR compliant. – compatible. Resist the urge to use a free VPN or web proxy as you never know what they are doing with any data they might collect during your browsing session. (I suppose this is true for paid VPNs too, but free VPNs have an even greater incentive to find ways to profit from you since you don’t pay them.)
- Use Opera: While I just warned about free VPNs, it’s worth noting that Opera’s web browser comes with a built-in free VPN that makes it incredibly easy to switch to a European server if you just want to quickly browse your favorite news. sites are much faster. To activate it, click on “Opera Menu” (the “O” icon in the upper left corner), “Settings”, “Privacy & Security” and select “Enable VPN”. When you load a web page and see a small VPN icon to the left of your browser’s address bar, click on it and select Europe as your virtual location.
- Fill your browser with privacy extensions: well, really, you probably just need a combination of uBlock Origin and an extension like NoScript , uMatrix , ScriptSafe, or JavaScript Switcher ( Firefox , Chrome ). Your goal is to prevent as much junk as possible from loading on the websites you visit, including Javascript, unless absolutely necessary for the site to function. Although it is still not able to get as good of experience as if the site is specifically creates a lean version for a specific audience, as noted above, it is the best thing you can do, if you go the route or the VPN, if you can find a text version your favorite site. Ah, sweet simplicity.