Bolthole.nz :: Website Refinement and Optimization

Initially, it took the site over 8 seconds to load which seriously impacted the site's usability and user experience. By the time we were done, the load speed improved by over 100%!

The largest resources on the site are images. This is to be expected given the website features a luxury home for sale. We optimized all 50+ slides and images through the site by converting them to WEBp format, which is a modern image format. We also optimized the dimensions of each image so we are not wasting bandwidth and slowing down the site.

To further increase load speeds, we got rid of the bulky YouTube player scripts and replaced them with a light-weight version that defers loading the full player until the user clicks on the video to start playback.

We knew going in that one of the things that we need to improve is the usability of the site. It features a ton of helpful information about the site, however, it did not have any way to navigate to a section - there was no navigation menu at all.

We got to work creating tags for each of the major sections and organizing them in a side menu that did not obstruct the view of the site, but was there when needed.

We were able to clean up the design and remove distracting bouncing effects. We added small accents to refine the design and enhance the luxury feel of the sit to match the luxury design of the home.