The First Input Delay (FID), commonly referred to as input latency, measures the time it takes for a website to respond from the initial user interaction to the browser’s response. FID measures how long it takes a website to respond to user queries, concentrating only on responsiveness.
Examining the input latency is crucial since it impacts the way users interact with your website. When a website loads longer than four seconds, even 25% of visitors will go away.
Why Does the First Input Delay Matter?
The initial input delay can impact a website’s perception. It is one of the Core Web Vitals metrics along with the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), and upcoming Interaction to Next Paint (INP).
You can assess the performance of your page and look at a report that is produced by Core Web Vitals to help you make improvements to the functionality of your website.
Additionally, such indicators affect a website’s ranking and user experience, which impacts search engine optimization (SEO) activities. One of the primary components of Google’s ranking is page speed.
Users will become disappointed if the website takes a long time to react to their interactions.
Since most problems with responsiveness arise when a page loads, it’s critical to maintain a low first input latency score.
How to Check the First Input Delay
Now that you understand the significance of the initial input latency for your page, it’s time to test it and optimize your website’s speed for enhanced user interaction.
The first input delay can only be measured in the presence of actual user activity on the page, in contrast to the cumulative layout shift and the largest contentful paint.
The list of instruments to check your first input delay is as follows:
- Web Vitals JavaScript Library
- Chrome User Experience Report
- Search Console Core Web Vitals Report
- Page Speed Insights
What Is a Good FID Score?
In general, a website needs an FID of less than 100 ms at the utmost in order to receive high marks for first input delay and quick user input. Less than 100 milliseconds should be the ideal time for 75% of all page loads, including those on desktop and mobile devices.
The first input delay score is divided into three categories: good, needs improvement, and poor as seen in the graph below.
8 Ways to Optimize Your First Input Delay (FID)
- Divide Long Tasks Into Smaller Ones
- Implement Progressive Loading
- Move Logic to Server-Side
- Generate Content Statically
- Review Third-Party Script Execution
- Utilize Web Workers
- Optimize Unused and Non-Critical JavaScript
- Revise Polyfills Usage
Sreyas IT Solutions helps in building an optimized website with much better core web vitals. We are also one of the leading web and mobile application development companies and well expertise in e-commerce development and also provide post-launch support and maintenance.
