How Strangeloop helps you control rogue page content: Third-party timing and SLAs

28 May 2012  -   Tags: ,

Why run up a $100K/month CDN tab if you're going to implement a single line of JavaScript that could take down your site? There's simply no rationale behind allowing this to happen, especially given the costs of using a content delivery network.

Here's how Strangeloop helps you regain control over out-of-control third-party scripts...

The problem: Poorly optimized third-party content often blocks page rendering, and seriously hinders web performance.

Poorly optimized script for advertisements, social media widgets, or analytics support can block a page from rendering, sometimes adding precious seconds to load times. (Parsing JavaScript can take up to 100 milliseconds per KB of code on some mobile devices. Those milliseconds can add up quickly!)

The question is, since these slow-loading scripts are controlled by third parties, how can site owners prevent them from adding critical seconds to their page load times?

Our solution: Give site owners control over how, when, and if third-party scripts are allowed to load.

We've developed a feature in both our Site Optimizer and Mobile Optimizer solutions that gives site owners yet another valuable tool for controlling their web performance.

This feature – called Third-Party Timing and SLAs – allows site owners to create automated service level agreements (SLAs) that allot a maximum wait time for each third-party script on a page. If the script has not loaded within this time frame, it's deferred until after the page renders, or else it is cancelled altogether. This eliminates delays and page timeouts caused by poorly optimized third-party scripts.

How it works

Many script libraries aren't needed until after a page has finished rendering. Downloading and parsing these scripts can safely be deferred until after the onload event. Our development team has identified a number of script libraries that can be deferred safely until after the rest of the page has rendered.

This feature is fully customizable. You have complete control over the settings for each third-party script -- from the amount of time to allow each individual script to load to the decision as to whether or not to cancel the script completely if it fails to load within the designated time. Once you've set your third-party controls, our automated solutions manage your scripts in real time. You can adjust your settings at any time.

Whether cancelled or deferred, Third-Party Timing and SLAs prevents unoptimized scripts from needlessly holding up the initial rendering of important page elements.

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