# Turbolinks and the Prague Café Effect

DevFeed: [Turbolinks and the Prague Café Effect](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/turbolinks-and-the-prague-cafe-effect-40611.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://eviltrout.com/blog/2013-01-06-turbolinks-and-the-prague-effect/>)

Published: 2013-01-06T00:00:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Robin Ward](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/robin-ward.md>)

Topics: [web applications](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/web-applications.md>), [Rails](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/rails.md>), [Ruby](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ruby.md>), [JavaScript](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/javascript.md>), [Ajax](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ajax.md>), [Web Development](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/web-development.md>)

Tags: [ajax](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ajax.md>), [cdn](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cdn.md>), [javascript](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/javascript.md>), [rails](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/rails.md>), [ruby](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ruby.md>), [speed](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/speed.md>), [web-applications](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/web-applications.md>)

## AI overview

The article explains how Turbolinks, a Ruby library enabled by default in Rails 4, uses background AJAX requests and replaces page content without repeatedly downloading static assets. It argues that geographically distributed Content Delivery Networks can improve web application performance for users far from a site's servers.

## Source excerpt

Turbolinks Turbolinks is a new Ruby library, enabled in Rails 4 by default, that is designed to speed up your web applications. It does this by binding a Javascript handler to all link clicks. Instead of allowing the browser to load the new page, it fetches it in the background via AJAX. It then parses out the body, and injects it into the document you're currently viewing. The main advantage of Turbolinks is that your static assets such as Javascript or CSS will not be downloaded or parsed every time a link is clicked. This can result in a significant client side speed improvement for your end users.