So far, this series presented the details of all the things that happen after a user clicks a link to retrieve a new web page. It purported to follow the details chronologically, but in truth we know that cannot be true. If all the processes we discussed were to happen consecutively, the web page would take so long to load that even the most long suffering would give up and go elsewhere.
Fortunately, web browsers download more than one component at a time. We can see this graphically in waterfall charts. If all downloads were serial, the graph would have a perfect staircase design with each step beginning where the previous one left off. Instead, we see stairs underneath stairs, which indicates concurrency between the two steps. [Use the Monitis Page Load tool to see for yourself.] Read more…
