Speed is of the essence in today’s life! And more so, on the web! It is one such factor which every tech or non-tech user wants. With the Internet broadband speeds shooting up it is the time that companies are also trying their best to give their users better user experience
The ease of access, speed and simplicity are the new parameters with which legacy systems are being rebuilt today. And Windows Live Hotmail is no exception.
A few days back, Microsoft announced a faster version of SkyDrive … and now Hotmail follows.
Microsoft has worked on making the Hotmail the faster and better by using three simple techniques. The techniques are as follows:
- Caching: Modern Hotmail cache the information after it is downloaded. The data is stored in browser DOM (Document object model). They also cache the email’s you have read so in case you open the same email again and again, it won’t fetch the data again from server. In the new Hotmail, the server detects when your account changes – for instance, when a new message is delivered – and it sends a notification to the browser. The browser then retrieves the updated data, so your inbox is never out of sync. Finally, when you sign out then the cache is removed to ensure data privacy.
- Pre-loading: New Hotmail first your subject headlines are pre-loaded and cache the first few messages. Also, while you read the email it automatically cache the next one in the list. This is done on the basis of their internal study. It also pre-loads the code and the data. For instance, most Hotmail sessions involve sending email. So while you’re reading and deleting email, it downloads and cache the JavaScript and HTML code and address book data that you need for composing a new email message.
- Asynchronous Operations: The new Hotmail no longer waits for server responses for most operations before updating the UI. In the new Hotmail, when you delete a message, Hotmail updates the message list instantly, and you can resume working right away. In the background, client code queues up actions and calls the server to delete the email. So email still gets deleted, but without the wait.
So, thanks to caching, pre-loading, and asynchronous operations one can achieve a 10x faster Hotmail.
To really see the speed variation, check out this video.
Hotmail users … what is your experience? Satisfied? Or not yet!
If you have liked this post, you might want to check out some more, on topics like Hotmail.
