One aspect of the present invention provides a alternative hypertext protocol to enable the selection of quick-to-download/reduced content from a website. In one embodiment, this alternative hypertext protocol uses the same structure as HTTP, but contains a unique predefined Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) scheme for easy designation by clients. On the web server, content is defined for HTTP connections and a quick-to-download version of this content is defined for alternative hypertext protocol connections. The HTTP content is made available on a first port on the web server, and the quick-to-download alternative hypertext protocol content is made available on a second port on the web server. To access the quick-to-download content, an internet connection is established to the second port of the web server using the alternative hypertext protocol. Once a connection is established to the second port, the web server transmits the quick-to-download content via the alternative hypertext protocol.