Catchpoint has announced the expansion of the WebPageTest platform, an open source web performance testing suite. It allows web developers, SEO managers and performance teams to run instant tests from various locations and receive a detailed performance audit of their web pages and web applications.
WebPageTest's new Opportunities and Experiments features are designed to help these teams code with confidence, providing actionable insights and automated experiments for implementing best practices and building quick, usable and resilient websites, the company states.
Identifying and testing performance improvements often proves difficult and time-consuming, with increasingly complex websites. Even the best web performance teams often spend days or weeks identifying and implementing a potential improvement based on standard scores and metrics, just to be underwhelmed by the changes or find that it breaks other parts of their users' experience, according to Catchpoint.
To combat this, WebPageTest Opportunities and Experiments automatically generates and tests performance tweaks to eliminate blocking scripts, optimise image rendering, and minimise layout shifts with zero code changes.
WebPageTest Opportunities allows users access to unique and actionable insights generated by test results. IT teams receive suggested best practices, such as deferred or async JavaScript, right-sized images, and security fundamentals. Built by performance experts, WebPageTest Opportunities has been created to guide teams to implement best practices and create lightning-fast websites that delight and convert more users.
Meanwhile, WebPageTest Experiments gives users access to custom and automatically generated optimisation tests that show how their websites could benefit from specific, actionable improvements with zero changes to the codebase. By making on-the-fly changes to the site's HTML, JS, and CSS without actually changing any deployed code and comparing it to a control test, developers can instantly gauge the potential for success of their performance tuning.
This will prove to be an essential piece of any developers' or site owners' toolbox, improving the pace of development and increasing their ability to code with confidence.
Catchpoint CEO Mehdi Daoudi says, "For devs and businesses alike, WebPageTest is continuing to evolve as the gold-standard of performance testing.
"Teams will save countless hours of triage by accelerating performance prototyping for both production and in-prod sites. The ability to test and tweak major performance improvements without changing any production code will help to remove red tape and improve the org-wide adoption of performance as a culture.
In addition to Opportunities and Experiments, WebPageTest is also working to improve the platform experience with access to Private Tests, Bulk Tests, and Priority Testing. As of today, all existing API users of WebPageTest will be also be able to access all new features.
Catchpoint is the enterprise-driven Digital Experience Observability industry expert, focused on enabling teams to confidently own the end-user experience. The company provides visibility and insight into every critical system that collectively produces and delivers digital experiences to customers and employees.
