You clicked the little file size number at the bottom of the page. That number shows how much data your browser downloaded to display this page. It includes the page itself plus images, fonts, scripts, and styles.
The number is different for every page on this website.
The size of the webpage is important. The higher the number the more effort it takes to send you the page. On the web, that effort is energy: electricity used by servers, networks, and your device.
According to the httparchive (as of 2025 when I wrote this) the average webpage is nearly 3MB (2900 KB). This page is much smaller.
For comparison the size of the average webpage in 2010 was 450KB (0.45MB). So pages in 2025 are over six times larger, and arguably worse because of the proliferation of tracking scripts and ads.
Why Size Matters
- Environment: Every byte transferred uses electricity. At global scale, those bytes add up, and bigger sites mean higher carbon emissions.
- Speed: Smaller pages load faster, which makes the web quicker.
- Fairness: Lighter sites cost less for people on limited data plans.
Why Does the Size Change?
As you scroll down the page more content loads, generally images, so the page size increases.
How We Keep Things Lean
I try to keep all of my websites as small as possible by compressing images, caching files, and writing simple code instead of using heavy libraries. This way, pages load quickly and waste less energy.
By adding this page size indicator, I hope to encourage myself and others to keep web pages small and efficient. For instance having now seen how big some of the pages on this site are, I now intend to go back and make them even smaller.
The Bigger Picture
The internet already produces more CO₂ than the aviation industry. Each kilobyte we save might seem tiny, but across thousands of visits, it makes a measurable difference.
So that little number isn’t just trivia. It’s a reminder that smaller websites are better for you, better for your device, and better for the planet.