Introduction

Today, I spent some time digging into three key web performance metrics: First Contentful Paint (FCP), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), and Time to Interactive (TTI). These metrics were new to me, and I found them fascinating in terms of how they relate to the user experience on a web page.

🚀 First Contentful Paint (FCP): The First Visual Feedback

• What I learned: FCP measures the time it takes for the first piece of content—like text or images—to be rendered on the screen. It’s the first moment users start to see something on the page, which makes it pretty important for the initial user experience.

🖼️ Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): When the Main Content Appears

• What I learned: LCP tracks the time it takes for the largest element in the viewport (think of a big image or headline) to fully load. This metric was particularly interesting to me because it gives insight into when the most significant part of the page is visible to the user.

🕒 Time to Interactive (TTI): Ready for Action

• What I learned: TTI measures how long it takes before the page becomes fully interactive—when users can reliably click around without lag. I hadn’t thought much about this before, but it’s crucial for ensuring that users can start engaging with the content quickly.

Conclusion

These metrics opened up a new perspective for me on how to measure and think about web performance. If you’re curious about these metrics too, it might be worth checking them out!