Minification

Definitions

1. The process of removing whitespace, comments, and renaming variables to shorter identifiers in JavaScript, CSS, or HTML source code to reduce file size and improve page load times, typically performed by tools like Terser or esbuild during a production build.

   In plain English: Shrinking code files by stripping out spaces, comments, and long names so web pages load faster.

   Example: "After minification the bundle dropped from 420 KB to 138 KB — turns out half the weight was comments and long variable names."

Related Terms

• SSR
• Hydration
• Islands Architecture
• Virtual DOM
• Debounce
• Live Reload
• Module Bundler
• Pixel Density
• Production Build
• Server-Side Rendering
• Short Circuit
• Asset Bundler
• Asset Compilation
• Code Bundle