Three free new performance measurement tools for managing mobile and third-party content

3 July 2012  -   Tags: , , , ,

The annual Velocity Web Performance and Operations Conference is always a great time to discover new technology, and this year was no different. Here are three interesting (and free) tools revealed at last week's conference that we at Strangeloop are already big fans of:

3PO
A handy bookmarklet from Stoyan Stefanov, 3PO checks pages for integration with third-party content such as analytics and social sharing buttons. The tool installs by simply dragging it to your bookmarks, and launches with just one click.
After a quick analysis, 3PO generates a report for each page – complete with letter grade – that gives tips on how to fix common performance drawbacks. Still in its infancy, Stefanov plans to add additional checks to this tool, but it’s already very useful and has the potential to become much more. 
SPOF-O-Matic
This third-party measurement tool from Pat Meenan is a Chrome extension that detects likely third-party single points of failure (SPOFs) while browsing, and allows site owners to simulate how a page will perform if third-party resources are unavailable. The tool is a fast and easy way to test your site’s vulnerability to third-party outages.
One of the interesting features of this tool is its ability to show visible alerts any time a user is on a page with potential third-party issues. With this feature, users quickly discover that the vast majority of web pages are prone to negative third-party interference.
WebPageTest for mobile
Another tool from Pat Meenan, WebPagetest now lets users test on two mobile devices, iPhone 4 (iOS 5.1) and Nexus S (Android 2.3), from the Dulles, VA location, thanks to Akamai’s recently open-sourced Mobitest agents. 
The test agents are also available for people to use for private instances. Given the difficulty of creating tests that generate reliable mobile results, this new feature will surely get plenty of use. 
We at Strangeloop salute the many hardworking and creative developers who so generously make these tools available for free. Their fearless experimentation with new features and platforms is truly leading the change in our industry.

3PO

A handy bookmarklet from Stoyan Stefanov, 3PO checks pages for integration with third-party content such as analytics and social sharing buttons. The tool installs by simply dragging it to your bookmarks, and it launches with just one click.

After a quick analysis, 3PO generates a report for each page – complete with letter grade – that gives tips on how to fix common performance issues. This tool is still in its infancy. Stoyan plans to add additional checks to this tool, but it’s already very useful and has the potential to become much more so. 

SPOF-O-Matic

SPOF-O-Matic is a fast and easy way to test your site’s vulnerability to third-party outages. This third-party measurement tool from Patrick Meenan is a Chrome extension that detects likely third-party single points of failure (SPOFs) while browsing and allows site owners to simulate how a page will perform if third-party resources are unavailable. 

One of the interesting features of this tool is its ability to show visible alerts any time a user is on a page with potential third-party issues. With this feature, users can quickly discover that the vast majority of web pages are prone to third-party interference.

WebPagetest for mobile

Another tool from Pat Meenan, WebPagetest now lets users test on two mobile devices, iPhone 4 (iOS 5.1) and Nexus S (Android 2.3), from the Dulles, VA, location, thanks to Akamai's recently open-sourced Mobitest agents. The test agents are also available for people to use for private instances. Given the difficulty of creating tests that generate reliable mobile results, this new feature will surely get plenty of use. 

We at Strangeloop salute the many hardworking and creative developers who so generously make these tools available for free. Their fearless experimentation with new features and platforms is leading the change in our industry.