Your website’s load time is not just a convenience—it can be the deciding factor between capturing an audience or losing them to the back button. EverWeb is set to introduce an exciting update in version 4.1 that promises to drastically enhance your website’s performance. The key features in this update are automatic WebP image conversion and lazy loading image options, aimed at speeding up your site and improving your search engine rankings.

What Are WebP Images?

WebP, the image format developed by Google, is known for its superior compression and image quality, which allow it to be smaller in file size compared to traditional formats like JPEG and PNG without sacrificing quality. This means quicker website load times and less bandwidth usage—a win for both website owners and visitors.

EverWeb’s Automatic Conversion: A Seamless Process

EverWeb 4.1 simplifies the optimization process with a new feature, 'Export Optimized Images'. Found under the File menu -> Publishing Settings screen, this option automatically converts and resizes images to the WebP format and resizes them appropriately for various devices. It's an effortless approach: just select the option and let EverWeb handle the rest, ensuring your website is utilizing the most efficient image format available.

Lazy Loading: A Smarter Way to Load Images

Lazy loading is not about procrastination—it’s about efficiency. With this technique, images only load when they’re needed, i.e., when they enter the viewer's browser window. This means that visitors to your site won't have to wait for offscreen images to load before they can start interacting with the content they see. In EverWeb 4.1, setting images to lazy load will be as simple as ticking an option in the inspector.

Instant Benefits for Your Website

Implementing these two features will provide immediate advantages. By simply optimizing your image files to WebP your websites will load over 100% faster.

Faster sites offer a better user experience, keeping visitors engaged longer and reducing bounce rates. Additionally, because site speed is a factor in search engine rankings, these changes can lead to better SEO, giving your site a competitive edge.

All you have to do to take advantage of these new features is tick the Export Optimized Images in your Publishing Settings screen and apply the Lazy Loading Image option for the images added to your page.

The new 'Check Page' option introduced in EverWeb 4.0 will guide you to the Lazy loading image option and let you know any images that should have this option enabled.

More Features To Come in EverWeb 4.1

While the automatic WebP conversion and lazy loading are substantial enhancements, EverWeb 4.1 will have even more to offer. We will continue to post more updates here.

Stay tuned for a faster, more efficient website building experience with EverWeb 4.1—where the focus is on performance, so you can focus on creating great content.