Internet users generally prefer resources with a shorter load time. And who wouldn’t? In this fast and interconnected world, quick results are necessary. That said website owners would do well to ensure that they do not make visitors wait forever for their product pages to appear completely on the screen.
Ever the champion for making things easier, Google has gone through the motions in order to make Page Speed accessible to those who want and need it. From being aGoogle Labs project, it has recently been made a part of the new Google Analytics (GA). Another good news is that this online, open-sourced tool is available for download on both Firefox and Chrome browsers.
I recently tested this feature using Firefox. Accessible from the browser’s webmaster tools source, Firebug. You start by opening the site you want to analyse then accessing Firebug via the Tools button on the upper left corner of the screen. Refer to the screenshot below for more information.
From the Firebug menu, choose the Page Speed tab and click on the Analyze Performance button. See screenshot.
From this initial assessment, the tool aptly delivers on what it promises to do. You are presented with the page speed score plus detailed suggestions on how to make your site run faster. I personally think the way the findings are presented is efficient because it lists specific areas on which your site needs to improve on. This will also make it easier for webmasters to work on weak points. See how well our own resource did (refer to screenshot below).
Overall, I would say that the Page Speed feature in Firefox is useful if you want to make your website’s load time shorter. Never make your site visitors wait and trust me they will really thank you for it. For more information, see http://code.google.com/speed/page-speed/.
