Boosting Web Performance: Lessons from DoorDash’s High-Traffic Challenges

Hello TypescriptDaily enthusiasts,

DoorDash article highlights crucial strategies for improving web performance in high-traffic scenarios. Here's a summarized breakdown of their key findings:

1. Bundle Size Management:

   • Use tools like webpack-bundle-analyzer to identify large components/modules.

   • Employ techniques such as tree shaking, code splitting, and HTTP/2 chunk loading to reduce bundle size.

   • Optimize dependencies to ensure tree-shaking effectiveness.

2. Defer Rendering of Off-screen Elements:

   • Apply lazy loading to elements below the fold to reduce initial load times.

   • Ensure lazy loading doesn’t negatively impact SEO.

   • Target specific areas for lazy loading based on initial viewport visibility.

3. Optimizing API Responses:

   • Analyze and optimize API response times, as they can significantly impact initial rendering.

   • Consider rendering placeholders or static content before API responses are received.

   • Opt for Server-Side Rendering (SSR) for accurate initial rendering.

4. Delay Loading Render-Blocking Resources:

   • Identify and modify critical resources that might block initial rendering.

   • Apply async or defer attributes to non-critical resources like scripts and stylesheets.

   • Extract and inline critical CSS to reduce render-blocking time.

5. Effective Cache Policies:

   • Configure HTTP caching headers for static assets for faster retrieval.

   • Monitor and optimize cache hit ratios in CDN for shared assets.

   • Audit and optimize application-level caches for data and heavy computations.

The article emphasizes the challenges of implementing these strategies in large codebases and high-traffic environments. It also highlights the importance of careful coordination, testing, and risk assessment while applying these performance enhancement techniques.