Desktop and Mobile Web Page Comparison: Characteristics, Trends, and Implications

TL;DR

This study compares desktop and mobile web pages over two years, revealing key differences in object requests, sizes, and caching, and discusses long-term trends and future implications of mobile web access.

Contribution

First long-term evaluation of desktop versus mobile web page characteristics, highlighting differences and trends over two years.

Findings

Mobile pages have fewer object requests than desktop pages.

Mobile pages tend to have smaller object sizes.

Caching behaviors differ between desktop and mobile web pages.

Abstract

The broad proliferation of mobile devices in recent years has drastically changed the means of accessing the World Wide Web. Describing a shift away from the desktop computer era for content consumption, predictions indicate that the main access of web-based content will come from mobile devices. Concurrently, the manner of content presentation has changed as well; web artifacts are allowing for richer media and higher levels of user interaction which is enabled through increasing access networks speeds. This article provides an overview of more than two years of high level web page characteristics by comparing the desktop and mobile client versions. Our study is the first long-term evaluation of differences as seen by desktop and mobile web browser clients. We showcase the main differentiating factors with respect to the number of web page object requests, their sizes, relationships, and web page object caching. We additionally highlight long-term trends and discuss their future implications.