Is there a maximum size that web pages should be kept under?

Question

When I say size I'm talking about bytes not pixels.

I'm curious if there is any consensus on what the maximum size should be for various categories. Specifically:

1. Broadband connections
2. Dialup connections
3. Mobile connections

Answer 1

Size isn't everything. What matters is performance. Better even: perceived performance. There are many ways to make a website feel faster than it really is. Some of these techniques can even increase your absolute page size in bytes (e.g. adding more javascript logic to it).

Test your websites with a tool like Yahoo! YSlow and stop focussing on page size. That's just one factor of website performance and not even the most important one.

Answer 2

Depending on the connection you want the page loading in as less time as possible. Less than 4 seconds is optimal.

"A study conducted by leading web traffic controller Akamai Technologies revealed that a poorly designed website loses a full 30 percent of its customers within a few seconds. The same study also found that if a site takes longer than four seconds to load, 75 percent of viewers won’t bother to return to it." http://www.ianbrodie.com/get-clients-online/lose-website-visitors-in-5-minutes/

More important than size is following some simple rules and best practices.
Best Practices for Up Your Web Site
http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html

So a rough estimate would be

Broadband connections   ~200K
Dialup connections      ~50k
Mobile connections      ~100K