Google Chrome Will Identify and Label Slow-Loading Websites to Help Speed Up the Web

Everyone hates slow-loading websites. Google is now looking to make it easier to identify such websites and, in the process, push website owners to improve page load times. Google Chrome is testing a way to identify and label slow-loading websites. Such websites will be appropriately labelled in the future. As of now, Google Chrome is simply experimenting with several options for badging websites, letting users easily make out if a particular website is slow or if their network connection is acting up.

In a blog post, Google's Chrome team says, "In the future, Chrome may identify sites that typically load fast or slow for users with clear badging." The team is also looking at ways to identify websites that may load slowly based on a user's device and network conditions too. Google announced its plans at the Chrome Dev Summit in San Francisco on Monday.

To highlight slow-loading websites, Google Chrome may add a new badge that is likely to appear as a loading screen, displaying "Usually loads slow". Google will factor in several properties to determine if a website will load slow or fast. Some of these include websites "authored" in a fashion that's likely to make them slow-loading, historical latencies, and other factors including device hardware and network connections.

A splash screen may be used to warn users about a slow-loading website or a different progress bar with green colour in case the website is fast-loading or red for slow-loading sites. Google Chrome is still experimenting with these options. The company claims it wants to offer the best user experience while delivering the feature to its users.

Apart from this, Google has also revealed what's in store for Chrome soon along with a number of developer-focussed updates. The company also unveiled a preview of an API, called Web Bundles, that allows developers to distribute content across multiple formats.