Interaction to Next Paint (INP) is a pending Core Web Vital metric that assesses responsiveness to user interactions and seeks to replace First Input Delay (FID) as a metric in March 2024.
Having a website that attracts visitors is half the battle, but making sure that visitors stay and interact with your website is the real challenge. This is where it's important to have a strong web user experience, which is measured by Google's Core Web Vitals, with one being the interactive and responsive metric known as INP (Input Delay). INP is set to become a critical signal in website user experience as Google retires FID in March 2024. In this blog post, I'll dive deeper into INP, why it matters, and how to optimize it.
INP measures the latency of all interactions by observing the time it takes for visual feedback to appear after an interaction has been initiated with a page.
To begin, INP is a Core Web Vital that measures the latency of all interactions by observing the time it takes for visual feedback to appear after an interaction has been initiated with a page. This includes clicks, swipes, and keyboard inputs. INP essentially measures how responsive and interactive your website is to user input.
So why is INP important?
Slow INP can lead to frustrated users and low engagement rates, while fast INP leads to engaged users and ultimately, improved website performance metrics. Simply put, website visitors want their interactions with your website to feel smooth and seamless. Slow INP can cause them to feel like they are waiting too long for their actions to be acknowledged, leading to a negative user experience.
Designed to assess a website's responsiveness to user interactions, INP is poised to replace First Input Delay (FID) as an essential metric for website performance. INP is great news for designers and developers looking to improve the user experience of their websites, as it will help them easily identify areas that need improvement.
Measuring INP
To measure INP, you can use tools such as Google Analytics or UserTesting, which can track INP performance over time. It's important to track INP regularly to identify issues and optimize website performance. For example, slow INP could be a sign of inefficient code or too many resources being loaded on the website. Regularly monitoring INP can help you identify these issues and optimize your website to improve its user experience.
To optimize INP, strategies such as optimizing code and framework, minimizing resources, and leveraging browser caching can help reduce INP and improve website performance. These strategies help to ensure that website elements are loaded promptly before user interactions occur. This means that the website is more responsive and interactive, leading to a more positive user experience.
In the Future
Looking to the future, experts predict that INP will become increasingly sophisticated as technologies advance. Potential advancements could include incorporating machine learning and AI to provide personalized experiences. This means that optimizing INP will become even more vital to a website's success.
Interactive and responsive websites are crucial for providing a positive user experience. Measured by the Core Web Vital INP, website owners must prioritize optimizing this metric to ensure that website visitors receive a seamless and smooth user experience. Regularly tracking and optimizing INP using tools and strategies such as those mentioned in this blog post will help website owners improve their website performance in the long run, providing a better user experience for their visitors.
Sources and links:
- Introducing INP to Core Web Vitals on Google Central Blog
- Interaction to Next Paint (INP) on Web.dev
- First Input Delay (FID)
