Data transfer

Silktide loads your pages in a real browser and measures the total amount of data transferred to display each page for the first time. The largest files are listed so you can see where the weight comes from.

Why this matters

Every byte a page sends must be downloaded by every visitor, so total page weight sets a floor on how fast the page can possibly load. On slow or mobile connections the difference is dramatic, and for visitors on metered data plans, heavy pages cost real money. Page speed also feeds into search ranking through .

Page weight tends to creep upward - a bigger hero image here, another script there - because no single addition seems large. Measuring the total keeps the trend visible.

How to fix it

This check needs your judgment: there is no single "correct" page weight, so review the largest files and ask what each one is worth.

Start with images, which usually dominate. Compress them, serve them at the displayed size, and use modern formats - see Image optimization.
Check for files that don't need to load up front. Below-the-fold images and on-demand features can use .
Make sure text files are compressed in transit - see Text compression.
Question the biggest items: an autoplaying video, a large font family, or a heavy third-party embed may cost more than it delivers.

How Silktide tests this

Load the page in a real browser and record every file it downloads.
Sum the transferred size of all files to get the page's total weight.
List each file with its size, largest first, so the heaviest items stand out.
Score the page by its total transfer size - the smaller, the better.

Troubleshooting

The total differs from what my browser shows

Silktide measures a first visit with an empty . Your own browser has usually cached most of the page's files, so it transfers far less. The first-visit figure is what new visitors experience.

Some weight is unavoidable

True - a photo gallery is heavier than a text page, and that's fine. The check reports what is transferred; you decide what is justified. Focus on weight that doesn't buy visible value.