Code Ratios
For this test, I downloaded the source code for the home pages of each website (in the event of purely graphical front pages, I selected secondary pages which more closely represented the site). I then selected all relevant information from the site as it appears on screen -- done simply by issuing a "select all" command, copying the text, and saving it as a text file. I recorded these two numbers and determined how much of the total file size the actual content accounted for and the ratio of code lines to lines of text.
The purpose of this test is to gauge how bloated the code of a site may be if it uses outdated markup and extensive inline JavaScript to control the viewing of the page. We will see that standards-compliant, universally accessible pages convey more content per line of code and, thus, put less strain on networks due to relatively smaller page downloads.
- Popular Sites (news, sports, etc.)
- UNC Related
- Search Engines
- Government
- Standards advocates (sites that promote good design)
| Name/URL | Code (bytes) | Content (bytes) | Content / Code (%) | Code ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESPN | 11,617 | 2,833 | 24.39 | 4.10 |
| MTV | 66,955 | 7,131 | 10.65 | 9.39 |
| CNN | 55,118 | 4,826 | 8.76 | 11.42 |
| Weather Channel | 38,693 | 2,857 | 7.38 | 13.54 |
| FoxSports Net | 63,521 | 4,591 | 7.23 | 13.84 |
| America Online | 23,851 | 1,973 | 8.27 | 12.09 |
| Macromedia | 27,701 | 2,705 | 9.76 | 10.24 |
| ABC News | 54,543 | 2,656 | 4.87 | 20.54 |
| Microsoft | 33,818 | 4,348 | 12.86 | 7.78 |
| Netscape | 38,842 | 2,424 | 6.24 | 16.02 |
| MSN | 29,157 | 4,266 | 14.63 | 6.83 |
| E*Trade | 25,976 | 2,704 | 10.41 | 9.61 |
| Average: | 39,149 | 3,610 | 10.00 | 11.28 |
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| Name/URL | Code (bytes) | Content (bytes) | Content / Code (%) | Code ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNC-CH Home ** | 9,739 | 429 | 4.40 | 22.70 |
| UNC Students | 18,134 | 2,201 | 12.14 | 8.24 |
| Student Central | 44,697 | 10,782 | 24.12 | 4.15 |
| Tar Heel Blue | 63,072 | 7,160 | 11.35 | 8.81 |
| Campus-Y | 14,454 | 3,708 | 25.65 | 3.90 |
| Disability Services | 9,814 | 1,592 | 16.22 | 6.16 |
| UNC Computer Science ** | 12,281 | 557 | 4.54 | 22.05 |
| UNC Libarary Catalog | 16,045 | 1,613 | 10.05 | 9.95 |
| UNC Dance Marathon | 14,879 | 2,557 | 17.19 | 5.82 |
| Carolina Web Servers | 22,588 | 10,200 | 45.16 | 2.21 |
| Daily Tar Heel | 49,501 | 2,452 | 4.95 | 20.19 |
| Average: | 25,019 | 3,932 | 15.98 | 10.38 |
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| Name/URL | Code (bytes) | Content (bytes) | Content / Code (%) | Code ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19,043 | 4,418 | 23.20 | 4.31 | |
| Yahoo | 33,565 | 5,084 | 15.15 | 6.60 |
| Altavista | 46,569 | 6,335 | 13.60 | 7.35 |
| Lycos | 31,738 | 2,712 | 8.54 | 11.70 |
| Average: | 32,729 | 4,637 | 15.12 | 7.49 |
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| Name/URL | Code (bytes) | Content (bytes) | Content / Code (%) | Code ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White House | 38,253 | 4,079 | 10.66 | 9.38 |
| US Army | 27,102 | 2,208 | 8.15 | 12.27 |
| House of Representatives | 66,420 | 16,729 | 25.19 | 3.97 |
| Senate | 21,505 | 1,755 | 8.16 | 12.25 |
| Section 508 | 16,593 | 2,552 | 15.38 | 6.50 |
| ADA | 44,508 | 6,023 | 13.53 | 7.39 |
| Average: | 35,730 | 5,558 | 13.51 | 8.63 |
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| Name/URL | Code (bytes) | Content (bytes) | Content / Code (%) | Code ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zeldman | 37,390 | 15,389 | 41.16 | 2.43 |
| A List Apart | 9,732 | 2,124 | 21.82 | 4.58 |
| Use It | 11,889 | 4,091 | 34.41 | 2.91 |
| Netscape DevEdge | 14,243 | 3,284 | 23.06 | 4.34 |
| World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) | 21,220 | 5,421 | 25.55 | 3.91 |
| WaSP | 11,528 | 4,773 | 41.40 | 2.42 |
| Ibiblio | 28,004 | 10,482 | 37.43 | 2.67 |
| Universal Web Design | 7,379 | 3,741 | 50.70 | 1.97 |
| Average: | 17,673 | 6,163 | 34.44 | 3.15 |
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