Websites are getting heavier by the years (and this one is no big exception). As people crave nicer designs and functionality and internet connections are getting faster, our web servers include more HTML, CSS, Javascript and pictures when they reply to a page request.

But: Not everyone's internet connection gets faster at the same rate. Some people are stuck with modems, for instance a lot of places in Africa. The internet becomes more and more unusable for them. It's called the Digital Divide, and it's a shame, basically. It's getting bigger for them as web pages grow heavier.

No one puts in extra work to maintain light versions of websites so that these people can conveniently surf them. They don't have money, so they're not important.

But if rich people need light websites, stuff will happen fast. Luckily, with the advent of internet-browsing phones like the iPhone, a lot of big websites offer mobile versions. Now that is something for the rich and, by luck, also for the poor.

So, Africans or other people with low bandwith: Check out mobile Reddit, mobile GMail, mobile Facebook, mobile MySpace and others (I just googled for 2 minutes)! Save yourself a lot of mind-numbing page load time. Note: Some webservers see if you actually use a mobile phone browser, like mobile Spiegel, but you can fake what browser you are using.