Four ways to navigate the same three pages
Each mode below holds the content constant and changes only the navigation mechanics: nothing, a cross-document view transition, Speculation Rules prerendering, or both. The pages are real, statically served HTML documents, so everything you feel here is the browser's own navigation.
For an honest comparison, open DevTools, set Network throttling to Slow 4G, and walk A to B to C in each mode. Then open the Application panel and find Speculative loads under Background services to see the prerender attempts and their statuses. Support varies by browser; the diagnostics panel on every page reports what yours can do.
Plain document navigation. No view transition, no speculative loading. This is the control.
Enter at Page AView transition onlyBoth pages opt in with @view-transition, so the swap animates. Loading still starts at the click.
Enter at Page ASpeculation Rules onlyEach page prerenders its siblings ahead of the click. The swap itself is still an abrupt cut.
Enter at Page ABoth togetherPrerendered destinations plus an animated swap: latency handled early, continuity handled at the cut.
Enter at Page AThis lab belongs to a Senior Eye article on instant navigation for static sites. Read the article for the policy thinking behind it.