serving js libraries: better performance from google code or using asset packager?
- by brahn
I am working on a rails application that uses big javascript libraries (e.g. jquery UI), and I also have a handful of my own javascript files. I'm using asset packager to package up my own javascript. I'm considering two ways of serving these files:
Link to the jQuery libraries from Google Code as described at http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxlibs/documentation/#jquery , and separately package up and serve my javascript files using asset packager.
Host the jquery libraries myself, and package them together with my own javascript as one big merged javascript file.
My hosting solution is of course not going to beat out Google's content delivery network, so at first I assumed that end users would experience faster page loads via option #1.
However, it also occured to me that if I serve them myself, users would only need to issue one request to get the merged javascript (as opposed to one for my merged javascript and another for the libraries served by google).
Which approach will provide the best end-user experience (presumably in the form of faster load times?)
