Case Studies: Yahoo.com and WebReference.com

Now let's take the URL abbreviation technique you learned in Chapter 17, "Server-Side Techniques," and put it to work. As you recall, you can use the mod_rewrite module to automatically expand abbreviated URLs to save space. For pages with lots of links, this can make a big difference in file size. Because your home page is usually the busiest page on your site, it is especially important to ensure that it displays quickly.

Figures

Code Listings

WebReference.com

Yahoo.com

  • Yahoo.com (Zipped, 30,177 bytes total) before abbreviation (May 30, 2002)
  • Yahoo.com (Zipped, 21,639 bytes total) after abbreviation (difference = 8,538 bytes = 28.3 percent smaller).