Below you will see two YSlow! screen shots. One is good and one isn't.

I've been a huge fan of YSlow! and following its suggestions since it came out, but actually implementing these suggestions on a site the size of ESPN.com can be very difficult, especially since, until recently, ESPN.com has chosen flair over speed.

But with our opportunity to start over with Fan Profiles and Widget Center, we have made every effort to abide by the YSlow! way.

As you can see, we were just lower than an A, and we have one more change to roll out that should finally get us there, which is really exciting.

The hardest part is reducing dns look ups because there are so many different javascript files that are brought in through analytics, sponsored links and advertising that are beyond our control.

Any way, I'm proud of the team for sticking to this and making it a priority, and it has helped lower our page load times as well.