Poor Performance

Web Performance Discuss Test Results
1

Hi there,

  1. Why is my TTFB failing consistently? Is that server related?
  2. Also, why is Chrome performing worse than Safari or Firefox?
  3. Someone recommended removing youtube from the homepage. I really don’t want to do that. Is there a problem here? Or is there better optimized embed code?

http://www.webpagetest.org/result/141026_TP_455/1/details/#request1

Thanks in advance.

Greg
www.southbayresidential.com

2

1 - The first byte failing is a combination of the server and the actual application code.

2 - Make sure to run more than 1 run (at least 3 if not the full 9) to make sure you are getting consistent results. If you are still seeing Chrome slower you can run a Chrome and other browser test with video capture enabled and go to the comparison view which will overlay the waterfalls and hopefully make it easier to track down why.

3 - I don’t know that I’d ever recommend removing content if it is something you want to get across to the visitors. If it’s not visible above-the fold then it might be worth delaying the load and injecting the frame through javascript after the rest of the page has loaded.

You basically want to choreograph the experience so you get as much of what you want the user to interact with on screen as soon as possible. Looking at the filmstrip it looks like the property picture and form don’t get displayed until the very end so some tweaking could probably help quite a bit: http://www.webpagetest.org/video/compare.php?tests=141029_6E_PEP-r:2-c:0

#1 and 3 are both going to require someone with development experience to do the work though (#1 on the back-end and #3 on the front-end code).

3

Thanks a bunch, Patrick. Do you do that kind of work? Would love to chat with you more.

4

Not directly. I’d be happy to answer any questions or guide someone doing the work but I work at Google on Chrome performance (and generally trying to make the web faster).

5

I recommend you change your server. The issue looks related with server. First byte time is “F” so bad. It isnt related with chrome or safari.

6

Greg,
You don’t need to remove your videos to slim down the digital “weight” of your page.

The “standard” YouTube embed adds 4-500,000 bytes for each instance. With two videos your page is well beyond the limit for serving quickly to desktops; mobile users will just give up.

Here is an article that discusses Google’s alternative which reduces embeds by 300,000 bytes or more:

If you use WordPress then check their plugin repository for solutions. This is a plugin I have used successfully:

Best of luck!
Dennis

7

Thanks a bunch, Dennis! Really appreciate it.