Is web site efficiency If you ever plan on having a high volume and high traffic website then developing the site to be efficient is critical.

Way back when computers were slow, had limited memory, storage and processing power, programmers had to design and develop applications efficiently. Programs didn't waste as much memory and processors didn't have to work as hard. Programmers had to know time saving and processor clock cycle saving algorithms because a computer's resources were so limited. Hence the term software. Over the years computer processors have become way faster with RAM and storage space that are significantly larger. Similarly, programmers have become lazy, paying less attention to compressing files, programming with adherence to more complicated but better algorithms and so forth. Applications should now be called fatware instead given their large sizes and slow run-time.

Even though programs and websites are not developed as efficiently as they need to, a good programmer and web developer will design the site to be as efficient as possible. Yes, if you have a very low traffic site or if you have a server-side web admin content management system with intended limited users then it can be programmed inefficiently and you won't notice a difference because the processor can handle the poorly designed code. If you have to wait 10 milliseconds as opposed to 1 millisecond (1/100th of a second rather than 1/1000th of a second) you won't notice a difference; computers are fast and though the computer knows it had to work 10 times harder, you'll never notice it in this case.

Lets assume you get what you want in a website and have thousands or millions of visitors to your site. Then the poor performance of your code (even if just milliseconds in difference) will have to be executed thousands or millions of times. This translates into a real strain on the web server and a noticeable difference and lag to the web user browsing your website. 1/100th of a second multiplied by 1,000 users equates 10 seconds of delay and wait time, totally unacceptable to any web user.

Take home point: just because computers are fast doesn't mean you can be a careless web developer. You should design websites and programs with scalability in mind. There's no point in designing a website meant for a few people to see. The reason people want a website is because they want hundreds and thousands and even millions of people visiting it. Design the site right the first time; adhere to standards and make the site efficient. Do it right.