For those of you that develop web applications in ASP.NET (or for anyone who simply wants a Google alternative), don’t forget that Microsoft hosts jQuery on the Microsoft Content Delivery Network.
Including the library is as simple as any other script tag to your site:
[cc lang=”html”]
[/cc]
Regardless of what CDN you choose to use, we highly recommend it (we even use one!) as you get compressed, cached versions of libraries ultimately improving performance of your own application.
In case you’re interested, you can also read more about the Microsoft CDN.
sokkz says
Mind if I ask what your tipping point is for using a Content Delivery Network?
I’m nowhere near it, but I’m curious to understand if there’s a certain number of [visitors per week] or [files served per week] or something like that where it becomes necessary?
Tom says
The tipping point will vary largely based on your hosting plan – there’s a lot that can be done between shared hosting and using a CDN.
Sometimes minifying scripts and styles and compressing them into a single file can work wonders depending on how many are setup on your site.
I’d also suggest dedicated hosting. From there, I’d say make sure your application’s queries are optimized and move forward with caching. You can toy with different levels here – page, objects, etc.
Then, you’ll have to look at analytics. How fast is the site (YSlow and PageSpeed do an awesome job with providing this info)? Where are your visitors from geographically? If you’re getting traffic all over and there’s a high-demand on your dedicated server, a CDN may be worth it.
Here’s some info on our CDN.