Google initially cracked down on invasive ads in its Chrome browser, and it now wants to tackle the scourge of slow-loading websites by slapping them with a speed warning badge of shame.
Google Chrome is one of the most popular web browsers out there and for good reason, mainly because it is constantly adding new tweaks and updates to streamline users’ web browsing experience.
Two years ago, it was the https or SSL certificate issue that filtered many websites out of presence on Google’s platform. What happened is that Google browser started flagging websites without HTTPS encryption as unsafe and many websites were forced to opt for the SSL certificate to show the reader that they are safe websites.
And now Google Chrome is pondering slow loading websites as the target for many reasons.
I bet we all know how it feels when you click on a web link or open a website and the page takes an eternity to load while you sit there waiting and watching before you abandon the webpage. However, with Chrome’s upcoming plans, you won’t have to wait anymore.
The search giant is testing a “speed badging” feature for Chrome. and revealed in Chromium blog post that it plans to introduce a badge of shame for websites that load slowly on the browser.
The badge would be shown when visiting websites to inform netizens which sites load quickly and warn them which sites take ages to load.
In the post, Google laid out some early examples of how the badging system could work. One example shows a loading message on the splash screen with a warning that the page “usually loads slow.
“In the future, Chrome may identify sites that typically load fast or slow for users with clear badging.
This may take a number of forms and we plan to experiment with different options, to determine which provides the most value to our users.”
Chromium blog post
The intention for Google to add the badge of shame on Chrome is to highlight websites that are authored in such a way that they load slower. Google will also look at a webpage’s historical loading data to determine which sites take time to load and flag them.
Chrome will also explore the possibility of identifying webpages based on information derived from device hardware or network connectivity.
The blog doesn’t go into too much detail about the criteria for receiving a badge of shame/honour, as much as it has noted that they would be based on historical load latencies. It also suggests that any initial rollout would be gradual to allow websites to get up to speed (literally), but that stricter measures would be put in place over time. Unfortunately, no timeline has been given by Google on when these warnings will start showing up.
Google is hoping that its unique shaming technique will motivate developers to speed up page-load times but is still contemplating on how to label sites with long loading times.
One way is to simply badge the site with the words “usually loads slow” with a red loading screen on the browser or a green progress bar to indicate that the website loads fast as shown in the images above.
So, if you are a developer and know that you will be affected by this, it’s about time you worked on your website before it gets a badge of shame. Though, as noted by The Verge, the search giant will likely look to developers for feedback before launching the feature.