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Performance guide · Cardiff

Cardiff: cache the page, stream the media

Production companies put their best work on the home page and then wonder why it takes four seconds. The answer is nearly always the thing they are proudest of.

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The short answer

Keep media out of the critical path: cache the HTML, serve a WebP poster frame at display size, and let a player stream the video on demand rather than making the first paint wait for it. That single split does more for a Cardiff media site than any change of host.

HostingFast runs NVMe storage behind LiteSpeed caching from London with WebP conversion included, plus free SSL, free migration and daily backups — so the page around your media is delivered before the media is even requested.

By the HostingFast team · Reviewed 12 August 2026

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Broadcast, sport and public-sector work dominate the brief here, and public-sector work in Wales means the site ships in two languages by default rather than as an afterthought.

Two things follow technically: pages carrying a lot of media, and sites that exist twice because they are published in two languages. Both get a section, along with the delivery detail and how to check the result properly.

Video, images and the first paint

The largest contentful element on a production company's home page is usually a showreel poster. If that file is a full-resolution export, it is the entire story of your page speed and nothing else matters until it is fixed. Convert to WebP, serve it at the size it is displayed, and set width and height so the layout does not jump when it arrives.

Autoplaying video is the other trap. It starts downloading immediately, competes with the assets needed to paint, and on a mobile connection it will lose you the visitor before the first frame. Poster in, video on interaction.

Cache the page, stream the media

Cached HTML is handed over without loading PHP at all, so the text, layout and navigation can be on screen while the heavy assets are still arriving. Check the x-litespeed-cache header on the document request to confirm the page itself is getting that treatment.

Media then belongs on a path that streams: a player that requests ranges rather than a single enormous file, and images lazy-loaded below the fold. The aim is not a small page — it is a page where nothing important waits on something optional.

Two languages, and the cost of a second tree

A bilingual Welsh and English site doubles the number of URLs, which affects caching more than it affects anything else: each language variant is a separate cache entry, and a language switcher implemented with a cookie can quietly make every page uncacheable.

Use distinct URLs per language rather than cookie-based switching, keep the alternate declarations honest, and sample the cache header on both trees. Sites where the English pages hit and the Welsh pages miss are common and rarely noticed.

Verify it on the connections your audience uses

The valleys are not the centre of Cardiff and a studio's office fibre is neither. Throttle to a mobile profile, run three times, keep the median, and treat that as the number rather than the flattering one from your desk.

Then let the field report settle it: 75th percentile of real visits over a rolling 28-day window, which is the only measurement that includes everyone your marketing reached.

An aisle of racks inside the London datacentre

The delivery side, handled

NVMe storage with LiteSpeed caching in the web server, a London origin 5-15 ms from a Welsh connection, and WebP conversion built into the platform rather than added by a plugin sitting in every request.

Free SSL that renews itself, free migration with the old site still serving, daily backups and one-click installs for the applications a production site is usually built on.

  • .co.uk, .wales or .cymru registered and renewed with the plan
  • Built-in WebP conversion at no extra cost
  • LiteSpeed caching at server level, not another plugin
  • Daily backups with self-service restores

Why HostingFast

Standard on every plan

WebP conversion included

Image optimisation happens at platform level, so a gallery-heavy site loses weight without adding another PHP process to every page.

Cached HTML, immediately

A LiteSpeed hit is answered before WordPress loads, so the readable part of the page arrives while media is still in flight.

Three extensions, one account

.co.uk, .wales and .cymru all register, point and renew alongside the hosting, with DNS aimed correctly from the start.

NVMe on every tier

Large file reads and database work both benefit, and it is standard from the entry plan rather than reserved for the top one.

One-click application installs

Softaculous puts 240+ applications on the account in a click, so a campaign microsite does not become a week of setup.

Support at any hour

Engineers on shift around the clock, with a first reply inside two hours and inside one when a site is down.

Quick Start

From order to online

  1. 1

    Find the largest element

    Identify what the largest contentful paint actually is. On a media site it is a poster frame far more often than anyone expects.

  2. 2

    Split media from the critical path

    WebP poster at display size, video streamed by a player on interaction, everything below the fold lazy-loaded.

  3. 3

    Check both language trees

    Sample the cache header on English and Welsh URLs separately. A cookie-based switcher can make one of them uncacheable without warning.

  4. 4

    Re-measure throttled, then wait

    Mobile profile, three runs, median — then confirm in the field report a few weeks later once real visits have accumulated.

Built In

Loaded onto every plan

  • Largest contentful element identified before any optimisation work
  • WebP conversion included, applied to the gallery in both language trees
  • Video streamed by a player rather than autoplayed from the page
  • Cache headers sampled on both language trees
  • Distinct URLs per language rather than cookie-based switching
  • LiteSpeed caching built into the server rather than patched in by plugin
  • A daily backup, restored from the panel across both language trees at once
  • WordPress and 240+ other applications installed in one click
  • Human support on duty every hour of every day
  • NVMe SSD storage on every tier, not just the expensive ones

Frequently Asked

What people ask us most often

Should we self-host the showreel?

Only if you are prepared to serve it properly. A single large file served from the page competes with everything needed to paint, and it consumes bandwidth on every idle view. A player that streams ranges on interaction, with a WebP poster frame at display size, gives the visitor the same impression for a fraction of the cost.

Does a bilingual site slow things down?

Not in itself, but it doubles the URLs and therefore the cache entries, and language switching implemented with a cookie can make every page uncacheable. Use separate URLs per language, then sample the cache header on both trees — an English tree hitting while the Welsh tree misses is a common and quiet failure.

Is .wales or .cymru worth registering?

When Wales is the market rather than merely the address, both read unambiguously and .cymru carries the language with it. Hold .co.uk alongside and 301 one to the other so a single name accumulates the search authority. All three register and renew on the same account as the hosting.

How do I test what a visitor outside the city experiences?

Throttle. Set the network to a mobile profile and the CPU to a slower multiplier in DevTools, then measure three times and keep the median. Office fibre flatters every page, and the gap between that number and the throttled one is exactly the part of your audience you were not seeing.

Keep reading

Changing hosts? Run through our checklist first.

A straightforward sequence for a switch your visitors never feel: which files move first, how to shift email across without losing a single message, the right moment to repoint DNS, and the two mistakes behind almost all the downtime we get asked to rescue.

You'll get the checklist email, then occasional pointers on keeping a site running fast. Unsubscribe the moment you want out — the privacy policy covers the rest.

Let the page arrive before the media does.

Server-level caching, built-in WebP conversion and NVMe storage — with free migration and support at any hour.

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