CHAPTER 4 Culture of Performance
it’s unlikely most developers take any time to justify the options’ existence
based on project needs — even when customization tools are available. In-
stead, we load this additional baggage into our sites by default. Just in case.
The Filament Group’s responsive carousel^23 is one small example of a
tool that takes the exact opposite approach. Modular, with smart defaults.
They have a default
script that gets the
job done, and then
separate scripts that
extend the behavior
of the carousel in
different ways. Your
default option is to
include only what is
absolutely necessary
— you determine
what else, if anything,
needs to be included.
Christian Heilmann
covers this very well
in the previous chap-
ter, “The Vanilla Web
Diet.”
We need to apply this thinking to the way we approach projects in
general. Have your base template be as lean and mean as possible. Have go-
to options for certain behaviors or fixes — things you know are well-tested
and lightweight. But don’t make them part of your default. Roll them in
only as needed, if needed.23 https://github.com/filamentgroup/responsive-carouselImageOptim and ImageAlpha can team up to bring the size
of your images down.