Patrick Meenan of AOL has released aggregated data results of a years data of web page testing from webpagetest.org.

Here a quick summary of the results:

Average Load Time: 10.1 seconds
Average Time to First Byte: 1.1 seconds
Average Time to Start Render: 3.8 seconds

Average Page Size: 510 KB
Average Number of Requests: 50
Average Number of Redirects: 1

Comparing that to the web performance audit of the top 100 NZ websites.

Average homepage size: 359.6K
Average download time: 3.85
Average total requests: 57.2

Looks like NZ homepages are starting to get the message.

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I decided to have a look at “The NZ homepage hall of shame” , 1 year on. ( Part of the speeding up NZ Internet series, I’ve just finished retesting the web performance of top 75 NZ homepages and added another 25 websites to cover the departure of a few sites) .

This time around, I’ve added a couple new metrics, including website download time. I’ve used Webpagetest.org.nz to calculate download time. The webpagetest service is equivalent download speed to a fast office connection. (ie. they have 15Mb Down 1Mb Up connection !)

The bragging rights for NZ’s fastest webpage does not belong to Trade Me but to Land Transport at #1 and Canterbury University at #2. (Although Trade Me dominate the Top 10).

The key takeaway from this audit is the effect of too many page elements will kill download speed. Reducing the number of page elements will speed up the site!

Summary Findings

  • The average page size of homepages was 359.6K. ( Up from 305.1K)
  • Fastest sites load < 1 sec. Top site loads in 0.246 secs ! The average download time was 3.85 secs
  • 33% of websites use NO WEB COMPRESSION (Down from 52% – Great improvement)
  • The largest pages were over 1000K
  • A lot Advertising javascript still is not being compressed
  • Some sites have dozens of Javascript and CSS files, worst offender had 35 javascript files
  • The fastest sites have less total requests. There seems to be a strong co-relation to lower total requests to speed.

Here are the summary results: (The raw results are found here - http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p94gU-OKvrDhp7ggKO8iiBw )


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Fastest Homepage

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Site Rating Size (K) Total requests Homepage Size backend percentage Webpagetest.org.nz time first load webpagetest.org.nz Cached load

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landtransport.govt.nz 73 51.7 16 12 23.21% 0.246 0.237

.

canterbury.ac.nz 69 156.1 20 19 12.17% 0.563 0.508

.

findsomeone.co.nz 90 95.8 13 5.9 6.16% 0.678 0.453

.

oldfriends.co.nz 89 89.4 16 7.4 8.28% 0.77 0.544

.

psis.co.nz 69 118.2 17 7.4 6.26% 0.795 0.574

.

otago.ac.nz 79 107.2 15 6.8 6.34% 0.849 0.745

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trademe.co.nz 57 225.3 84 17.7 7.86% 1.059 0.688

.

snipesoft.net.nz 78 100.3 14 2.7 2.69% 1.078 0.552

.

golf.co.nz 71 196.8 24 6.6 3.35% 1.129 0.542

.

massey.ac.nz 79 242.2 17 39.4 16.27% 1.193 0.867

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westpac.co.nz 70 152.3 33 23.3 15.3% 1.275 0.239

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Slowest homepages

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Site Rating Size (K) Total requests Homepage Size backend percentage Webpagetest.org.nz time first load webpagetest.org.nz Cached load

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clear.net.nz 59 326.8 100 45.6 13.95% 22.35 15.179

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sjs.co.nz 60 261.2 51 18.9 7.24% 14.53 5.131

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realenz.co.nz 57 531.1 81 7.2 1.36% 10.852 5.413

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kiwibiker.co.nz 64 945.1 46 94.2 9.97% 10.792 6.904

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publicaddress.net 61 97.4 58 7.1 7.29% 9.769 7.226

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ticketek.co.nz 51 633.8 110 12.1 1.91% 9.433 5.031

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thestandard.org.nz 60 995.1 49 43.6 4.38% 8.526 3.541

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vouchermate.co.nz 50 954.7 93 66.5 6.97% 8.319 3.588

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telstraclear.co.nz 61 247.2 69 48.5 19.62% 7.776 2.006

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odt.co.nz 53 557 104 26.5 4.76% 7.297 3.293

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BEST YSLOW ranking

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Site Rating Size (K) Total requests Homepage Size backend percentage Webpagetest.org.nz time first load webpagetest.org.nz Cached load

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nz.yahoo.com 94 519.5 73 24.6 4.74% 5.819 3.447

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findsomeone.co.nz 90 95.8 13 5.9 6.16% 0.678 0.453

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oldfriends.co.nz 89 89.4 16 7.4 8.28% 0.77 0.544

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zoomin.co.nz 86 291.1 84 7.9 2.71% 5.033 0.814

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nzcity.co.nz 85 71 19 18.7 26.34% 2.743 1.529

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nzdating.com 85 38.8 47 5.1 13.14% 3.804 1.977

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airnewzealand.co.nz 84 150.6 57 6.3 4.18% 1.468 0.6

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offtheback.co.nz 83 176.1 31 5.6 3.18% 2.576 0.681

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massey.ac.nz 79 242.2 17 39.4 16.27% 1.193 0.867

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gpstore.co.nz | mightyape.co.nz 79 255.7 106 12.9 5.04% 2.396 0.829

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WORST YSLOW ranking

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Site Rating Size (K) Total requests Homepage Size backend percentage Webpagetest.org.nz time first load webpagetest.org.nz Cached load

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whaleoil.co.nz 49 541.9 88 94.1 17.36% 3.562 10.669

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vouchermate.co.nz 50 954.7 93 66.5 6.97% 8.319 3.588

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ticketek.co.nz 51 633.8 110 12.1 1.91% 9.433 5.031

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asbbank.co.nz 52 548.8 108 5.8 1.06% 2.249 1.899

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maxx.co.nz 53 535 71 51.2 9.57% 4.102 3.683

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aa.co.nz 53 321.1 80 61.8 19.25% 2.695 1.593

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odt.co.nz 53 557 104 26.5 4.76% 7.297 3.293

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kiwiblog.co.nz 54 320.6 46 106.8 33.31% 7.133 3.27

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skycitycinemas.co.nz 54 1103.8 72 17.1 1.55% 5.994 5.257

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nbr.co.nz 54 491.4 66 9.6 1.95% 4.979 4.67

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houseoftravel.co.nz 55 540 97 25 4.63% 2.284 1.773

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Largest pages (K)

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Site Rating Size (K) Total requests Homepage Size backend percentage Webpagetest.org.nz time first load webpagetest.org.nz Cached load

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skycitycinemas.co.nz 54 1103.8 72 17.1 1.55% 5.994 5.257

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kiwibank.co.nz 58 1061.9 34 23.1 2.18% 1.923 1.54

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skytv.co.nz 55 1048.5 129 19.2 1.83% 4.586 2.916

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thestandard.org.nz 60 995.1 49 43.6 4.38% 8.526 3.541

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thewarehouse.co.nz 59 963.4 97 90.7 9.41% 3.849 1.397

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vouchermate.co.nz 50 954.7 93 66.5 6.97% 8.319 3.588

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kiwibiker.co.nz 64 945.1 46 94.2 9.97% 10.792 6.904

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tvnz.co.nz 59 820 148 28.1 3.43% 3.878 2.536

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orcon.net.nz 66 788.5 52 4.6 0.58% 2.697 1.41

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aatravel.co.nz 55 685.5 79 16.2 2.36% 3.469 1.909

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Smallest pages (K)

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Site Rating Size (K) Total requests Homepage Size backend percentage Webpagetest.org.nz time first load webpagetest.org.nz Cached load

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nzdating.com 85 38.8 47 5.1 13.14% 3.804 1.977

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landtransport.govt.nz 73 51.7 16 12 23.21% 0.246 0.237

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nzcity.co.nz 85 71 19 18.7 26.34% 2.743 1.529

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te.co.nz 61 79 42 9.1 11.52% 2.349 2.349

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oldfriends.co.nz 89 89.4 16 7.4 8.28% 0.77 0.544

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findsomeone.co.nz 90 95.8 13 5.9 6.16% 0.678 0.453

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publicaddress.net 61 97.4 58 7.1 7.29% 9.769 7.226

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vodafone.co.nz 68 97.9 67 21.5 21.96% 2.148 1.674

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snipesoft.net.nz 78 100.3 14 2.7 2.69% 1.078 0.552

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auckland.ac.nz 67 100.7 30 6.5 6.45% 2.114 0.69

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zeald.com 73 103.1 33 5.5 5.33% 2.381 1.008

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Homepage download time Frequency

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<1 6

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1 – 2 18

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2 – 3 28

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3 – 4 16

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4 – 5 7

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5 – 6 12

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6 – 7 1

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7 – 8 4

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8 – 9 2

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9 – 10 2

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10+ 4

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Here is a graph of the distribution of homepage download time.

homepage_download_time

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Wow, looking at the blog, we haven’t made any posts in months.

Lots of changes happening, new staff, new office, lots of work! We’ve been busy on productionising some code, working with Gooddata and our new project with GWRC.

More details to come…..

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We at ZoomIn joined the internet blackout last week, along with many others.

The recent news of the delay of Section 92A is good news. We have now removed our “dark maps” as the black out has ended. Thank you all for your comments as well as participation in the blackout.

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zoomin_black

We at ProjectX support the movement to blackout in protest against the Guilt Upon Accusation law Section 92A. In solidarity to the blackout movement, we have “blacked” out our maps on http://www.zoomin.co.nz and http://www.projectx.co.nz.

This blackout will be in effect until February 23rd, 2009.

If you are interested in helping out and have Google maps, here’s the code we used to black out our maps:

//Assume you have a map object
//Create a BlackOutMessageControl
function BlackoutMessageControl() {}
BlackoutMessageControl.prototype = new GControl();
BlackoutMessageControl.prototype.initialize = function(map) {
var container = document.createElement("div");

var src = “http://creativefreedom.org.nz/blackout.html”

var link = document.createElement(”a”);
link.setAttribute(’href’, src);
link.setAttribute(’title’, “Internet Blackout NZ”);
link.appendChild(document.createTextNode(’Why is the map “blacked” out?’));
link.style.color = “#ffffff”;
container.appendChild(link);
this.setButtonStyle_(container);

GEvent.addDomListener(container, “click”, function() {
window.location = src;
});
GEvent.addDomListener(container, “mouseover”, function() {
link.style.textDecoration = “underline”;
});
GEvent.addDomListener(container, “mouseout”, function() {
link.style.textDecoration = “none”;
})

map.getContainer().appendChild(container);
return container;
}
BlackoutMessageControl.prototype.getDefaultPosition = function(){
return new GControlPosition(G_ANCHOR_TOP_LEFT, new GSize(75, 7));
}
// Sets the proper CSS for the given button element.
BlackoutMessageControl.prototype.setButtonStyle_ = function(button) {
button.style.textDecoration = “none”;
button.style.color = “#ffffff”;
button.style.backgroundColor = “black”;
button.style.border = “1px solid black”;
button.style.padding = “2px”;
button.style.marginBottom = “3px”;
button.style.textAlign = “center”;
button.style.width = “20em”;
button.style.cursor = “pointer”;
}

//Dark maps
var myCopyright = new GCopyrightCollection(”© “);
myCopyright.addCopyright(new GCopyright(’Demo’,
new GLatLngBounds(new GLatLng(-90,-180), new GLatLng(90,180)),
0,’©2008 ProjectX Technology’));
var tilelayer = new GTileLayer(myCopyright);
tilelayer.getTileUrl = function() { return “/images/dark_map.gif”; };  //Modify the image location to suit
tilelayer.isPng = function() { return false;};
tilelayer.getOpacity = function() { return 0.5; }
var myTileLayer = new GTileLayerOverlay(tilelayer);
map.setCenter(new GLatLng(37.4419, -122.1419), 13);
map.addOverlay(myTileLayer);
map.addControl(new BlackoutMessageControl());

You can use the image(dark_map.gif) below

dark_map.gif

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driving_directions2driving_directions


We’ve launched a new feature on ZoomIn today – Directions! Thanks to the awesome power of the Google API, you can now show you how to get from A to B on ZoomIn.
direction3


You can get directions from any address or place in ZoomIn or simply click on the “Get Directions” link at the top of the page. Its really easy ! Find your way to Te Papa, or Sky City Tower.

Enjoy!

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Steve Sounders has put up the test for his stanford class on website optimisation.

There are some really challenging questions in there.

Why were ETags introduced in HTTP/1.1?
What are four techniques for reducing cookie weight?
List five techniques for making selector matching faster.
Why do ETags (with the default Apache and IIS syntax) degrade performance with regard
to proxy caching?

Kudos to Steve for pushing the boundaries of our field. Its time that optimisation was baked in by default and every web developer knew the fundamentals! That starts by teaching the students of the future.

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