Thought I’d share a little behind-the-scenes from REW’s latest upgrade to the Renaissance framework.
Our Google Page Speed and Web Dev scores are perfect on desktop (Thanks to Renaissance) and WELL into the green on mobile. But we’re pushing for perfection.
Turns out “Magenta” is not ADA compliant (not enough contrast with white text)
So now we’re spending all these cycles debating buttons (my poor team)
I honestly think this will be the first time ever in history, a fully functioning, public servicing website (in any industry) will have achieved a perfect score across the board on both mobile and desktop in call categories.
Google uses its lighthouse metrics as a guide to perfection, but from a consumer’s perspective on realistic 4 or 5 G or at home wifi, the reality is there is likely no difference between 90 and 100.
There is a HUGE difference though between 30 and 100.
Also each of these things serves different purposes: Page speed yes, those elements can be improved for speed, but SEO / Best Practices and accessibility are unrelated categories to speed.
They measure things like WCAG standards (can people with impairments still interact with your site << VERY valuable and google cares about this) or will it rank well based on structure (SEO)
The goal should be green in all categories if you can (and have the budget for it) but even in the 80’s on mobile is still quite good for speed).
Perfection is too expensive for most (and not needed) so I don’t recommend trying for it unless you have a big budget and/or like us here at REW you have experts in-house. (and it’s still expensive for us).
Ideally you’re in the 80’s to 90’s and you’re faster than every other site on the first page. Then you can focus on quality content development, best practices and link building
The only thing that slows it down is customization and content, but if you follow best practices (which you can learn here) then you should have no issue always having the fastest site in your market.
Reminder to the REW community - If you aren’t sure how your site is performing with WPO or ADA, your Account Manager can help with this.
Renaissance is awesome for so many reasons but WPO and ADA compliance are the top 2 reasons for sure!
Speaking on a personal note (as I was recently on a house hunt myself), if I am on a website where I can’t scroll quickly through the listings - I moved onto another website immediately. I just don’t have patience to wait for listings to load and I’m sure I am not alone on this.
