Chris's slow website
Chris's website took far too long to load on a phone. I did not open a code editor. I asked three questions, and the fixes came back as steps he could do himself. Here are the three prompts.
- Where
- In the terminal, with Claude Code
- Size
- A quick one
- Short link
- piy.show/s115
Your website has three seconds
Three seconds. That is how long a visitor on a phone waits before they leave. Chris's site took far longer. The speed test gave it thirty-three out of a hundred, and the page took almost thirty seconds to arrive.
He wanted it fast, and he thought that meant a developer and a week. I did not open a code editor. I asked three questions in a terminal, and the fixes came back in plain words.
A slow site is a list of causes, and the agent can read the list. You cannot fix what you cannot see. The agent can see it.
Why does a website get three seconds? Prompt it yourself
Take a look at my website on a phone. How long does it take to load, and what does a visitor see while they wait?
Ask why, and get a number
The first prompt: why is my website taking so long to load on mobile? The agent ran the speed test and read the result back to me. When the visitor leaves, when the first text shows, when the whole page is there. The list of causes started with video.
The number is the point. Not "it feels slow". A score, and a list in order. The agent reads that list better than I do, because it has read a thousand of them.
What does the speed score mean? Prompt it yourself
Why is my website taking so long to load on mobile?
Five changes, biggest effect first
The second prompt: what are five quick changes I can make that will have the biggest impact? Five, not fifty. The list came back in order. The background videos become a still picture. The chat widget loads only when somebody clicks it. One short video stays, muted. The images get their space, and every image gets its text.
Five is a number you can do in an afternoon. A long list is a list nobody starts.
Why ask for only five changes? Prompt it yourself
What are five quick changes I can make that will have the biggest impact?
I can help you build yours
I build things like this with an AI agent, on my own computer. In a private session I help you do the same with your idea. Or bring it to the show, free.
Ask to be shown, step by step
The third prompt: show me how to make those changes myself, step by step. The agent knows which site builder the page runs on, so the steps are for that builder. Open this section, swap the video for the picture, done. Clicks, not code.
This is the step people skip. They get the list and hand it to somebody. Ask for the steps instead, and the list becomes your afternoon.
How do I do this step myself? Prompt it yourself
Show me how to make those changes myself, step by step.
From thirty-three to ninety-seven
After the changes, the same test came back green. Ninety-seven out of a hundred.
Fixing this used to be hard. Now it is three prompts and an afternoon. Do not let somebody else solve your problem with AI. Prompt it yourself.
How do I check that the fix worked? Prompt it yourself
Run the speed test again and compare it with the first one. What changed, and what is still slow?
Start with your own site
Open the agent, give it your address, and ask the three questions in order. Why is it slow, which five changes matter most, and how do I make them myself. One afternoon.
What do I do next? Prompt it yourself
Why is my website slow on mobile? Give me the five changes with the biggest impact, then show me how to make them myself, step by step.
Do it in the terminal
I do this with Claude Code, the AI agent in the terminal. It works in a folder on your own computer, so it reads your files every time and can look things up for you.
A web chat works too, but there you paste everything in again in every new chat.
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Get Claude Code
It comes with Claude Pro, US$20 a month, paid to Anthropic. Claude's plans
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Make a folder for it, and open it
mkdir -p ~/projects/my-website && cd ~/projects/my-website
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Start the agent
claude
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Ask it
Why is my website taking so long to load on mobile?
Never opened a terminal? In a private session I put Claude Code on your computer with you, and you start your first idea.
Prompty