Response to
However, it’s not just about raw size, but about an “ethos of small”. It’s caring about the users of your site: that your pages download fast, are easy to read, have interesting content, and don’t load scads of JavaScript for Google or Facebook’s trackers.
I bookmarked this post over on the Tanzawa blog, but I felt this post was worth a proper response on my regular blog.
Ben's thinking about the small web overlaps a lot with what I think: the small web is beautiful. Not just small size (so it's fast, uses less power and so forth), but as he says an "ethos of small". He expands to say we should use smaller images and fewer scripts. (Consistent, no-nonsense, efficient and lazy loading images were actually a major motivating factor for me starting Tanzawa)
While Ben extends this ethos of small about caring about your users - I feel it goes a step further than that.
An "ethos of small" is about respecting your readers. Respect that they may not be on the latest and greatest machine. Respect they might be on a limit Internet plan. Respect they might be running on battery. Respect their (and your) privacy.
The small web is about "just enough". Just enough code. Just enough html/css/Javascript. Just enough infrastructure. We are the small web: Just enough.