Optimizing Interaction to Next Paint (INP) for Better UX
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Chapter 1: Understanding Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
In this section, we will delve into the Interaction to Next Paint (INP) metric, its significance, and how to enhance it effectively.
The INP metric is vital for assessing a webpage's interactivity.
How is INP Determined?
The INP measures the latency associated with user interactions, such as clicks, taps, and keyboard inputs, across the lifespan of a webpage. It reports the longest delay while ignoring any outliers. A low INP score indicates a highly responsive page.
What Constitutes a Good INP?
Measured in milliseconds (ms), an INP value below 200ms is deemed Good. Values between 200ms and 500ms indicate the Need for Improvement, while those over 500ms are classified as Poor.
Factors Influencing INP
Several elements can contribute to a subpar INP score, including:
- Inefficient code that obstructs the main thread responsible for rendering the page.
- Interactions that demand extensive processing time, leading to delayed responses.
- Lack of response to user interactions.
Steps to Enhance INP
Now that we understand the potential pitfalls of poor INP, let’s explore actionable strategies to optimize it:
- Minify Files and Enable GZip Compression: This reduces bundle size, thereby speeding up loading times.
- Optimize Code: Focus on simplifying the code executed in response to user actions.
- Utilize Web Workers: Offload some tasks from the main thread to background services.
- Break Down Long Tasks: Use the built-in JavaScript function setTimeout to schedule tasks after a specified delay.
- Provide Immediate Feedback: For interactions that require processing time, deliver quick initial feedback, such as a loader or message, to indicate that the request is being handled.
Conclusions
In this article, we explored the measurement of INP, the factors that affect it, and practical ways to improve it. This marks the conclusion of our series on Core Web Vitals. If you’ve followed along, well done!
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Chapter 2: Video Insights on Optimizing INP
The first video, "How To Optimize Interaction to Next Paint," provides a comprehensive overview of strategies to enhance INP and improve user experience.
The second video, "How to Optimize Web Responsiveness with Interaction to Next Paint," dives deeper into techniques for achieving better responsiveness in web applications.