Performance

In the digital world, performance is a general term that refers to how well a website or app functions. Functionality implies a website's speed, stability, and responsiveness—in short, how fast it delivers content and responds to user interaction. Web performance matters because it is all about creating a well-performing website that enhances user satisfaction.

Web Performance Evaluation

Analyzing web performance provides valuable insights into how a website operates. Website performance is checked by measuring key performance metrics and conducting various tests with the help of performance testing tools. The steps to evaluate a website involve:

1. Tracking Key Performance Metrics

   One of the most crucial aspects of understanding website performance is analyzing the results of key performance metrics.

• Core Web Vitals - they serve as essential metrics for evaluating a website:
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) → evaluates unexpected design shifts that impact the screen's stability.
• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) → tracks the time until the largest visible content loads.
• Interaction to Next Paint (INP) → measures how a website responds to user interactions.
• Web Vitals - CWV are supported by additional metrics that provide deeper insights. Some of the most important ones are:
• First Contentful Paint (FCP) → evaluates how long the first visible content takes to appear.
• Time to First Byte (TTFB) → measures the delay between a request and the first byte received from the server.
• Total Blocking Time (TBT) → identifies the existing delays in interactivity.
• Time to Interactive (TTI) → measures when a page becomes fully interactive.

1. ### Running Real-User Monitoring and Synthetic Testing

Both methods analyze performance, but they gather data in different ways:

• RUM (Real-User Monitoring): collects actual user data from real-world conditions. It requires real users to interact with the website naturally to generate insights.
• Synthetic testing: simulates user interactions under controlled conditions to anticipate how a website will perform in specific scenarios.
  RUM vs. Synthetic Monitoring – understanding the differences between these two methods allows for a more effective combined approach. Employing both testing methods helps ensure that real-world user experience and proactive issue detection are addressed.

1. Analyzing Server and Network Performance

   Another major step in testing website performance is ensuring that hosting servers, CDNs, databases, and HTTP requests function efficiently. These components directly impact a website’s speed, stability, and responsiveness. This involves checking:

• Hosting server response times: to identify delays in processing requests, server bottlenecks, and network latency.
• CDN (Content Delivery Network): to analyze content delivery speed, latency, and server distribution efficiency.
• Database queries: to detect slow queries, reduce server load, and improve data retrieval speed.
• HTTP requests: to minimize load times, decrease server overhead, and optimize resource delivery.

1. Testing Functionality of Different Devices and Browsers

   A performant website must be consistent across different devices and browsers. It should also be mobile-friendly and work well on various browsers.

• Mobile performance: it is measured by analyzing load times, responsiveness, touch interactions, and visual stability on various screen sizes and network conditions.
• Cross-browser performance: involves checking layout, functionality, rendering, and interactive elements across different web browsers.

1. Essential Tools for Website Performance Testing

   Developers, website owners, and SEO experts need comprehensive performance auditing tools to evaluate website functionality. These tools provide valuable details about the website's functionality and recommendations for necessary improvements.

• Google PageSpeed Insights: evaluates website speed and Core Web Vitals, providing detailed performance reports and actionable suggestions.
• Google Lighthouse: analyzes page speed, accessibility, SEO, and best practices, helping identify inefficiencies that impact performance.
• Chrome DevTools: offers real-time performance analysis, debugging, and optimization tips.
• Wattspeed: analyzes loading speed, Core Web Vitals, and overall site performance, offering detailed insights and optimization recommendations.

Website Performance Score

Website performance testing tools provide a performance score ranging from 0 to 100, helping to determine how well or poorly a website performs. This score serves as a guide to identify performance issues and take the necessary steps for improvement.

Good Website Performance vs. Bad Performance

A good website performance provides fast loading times, smooth interactivity, and visual stability, creating a seamless user experience. In contrast, bad website performance leads to slow page loads, delayed responses, unexpected layout shifts, frustrating visitors, and increasing bounce rates.

Steps to Improve Website Performance Score

Good website performance requires continuous monitoring and optimization across all devices and networks. There are multiple effective strategies to enhance website speed, responsiveness, and overall performance, including: