ProjectX Blog

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 )

. Fastest Homepage . Site Rating Size (K) Total requests Homepage Size backend percentage Webpagetest.org.nz time first load webpagetest.org.nz Cached load . 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 . 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 . westpac.co.nz 70 152.3 33 23.3 15.3% 1.275 0.239 . . Slowest homepages . Site Rating Size (K) Total requests Homepage Size backend percentage Webpagetest.org.nz time first load webpagetest.org.nz Cached load . clear.net.nz 59 326.8 100 45.6 13.95% 22.35 15.179 . sjs.co.nz 60 261.2 51 18.9 7.24% 14.53 5.131 . realenz.co.nz 57 531.1 81 7.2 1.36% 10.852 5.413 . kiwibiker.co.nz 64 945.1 46 94.2 9.97% 10.792 6.904

d class=hd> . . publicaddress.net 61 97.4 58 7.1 7.29% 9.769 7.226 . ticketek.co.nz 51 633.8 110 12.1 1.91% 9.433 5.031 . thestandard.org.nz 60 995.1 49 43.6 4.38% 8.526 3.541 . vouchermate.co.nz 50 954.7 93 66.5 6.97% 8.319 3.588 . telstraclear.co.nz 61 247.2 69 48.5 19.62% 7.776 2.006 . odt.co.nz 53 557 104 26.5 4.76% 7.297 3.293 . . . . . BEST YSLOW ranking . . Site Rating Size (K) Total requests Homepage Size backend percentage Webpagetest.org.nz time first load webpagetest.org.nz Cached load . nz.yahoo.com 94 519.5 73 24.6 4.74% 5.819 3.447 . 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 . zoomin.co.nz 86 291.1 84 7.9 2.71% 5.033 0.814 . nzcity.co.nz 85 71 19 18.7 26.34% 2.743 1.529 . nzdating.com 85 38.8 47 5.1 13.14% 3.804 1.977 . airnewzealand.co.nz 84 150.6 57 6.3 4.18% 1.468 0.6

. offtheback.co.nz 83 176.1 31 5.6 3.18% 2.576 0.681 . massey.ac.nz 79 242.2 17 39.4 16.27% 1.193 0.867 . gpstore.co.nz | mightyape.co.nz 79 255.7 106 12.9 5.04% 2.396 0.829 . . . WORST YSLOW ranking . Site Rating Size (K) Total requests Homepage Size backend percentage Webpagetest.org.nz time first load webpagetest.org.nz Cached load . whaleoil.co.nz 49 541.9 88 94.1 17.36% 3.562 10.669 . vouchermate.co.nz 50 954.7 93 66.5 6.97% 8.319 3.588 . ticketek.co.nz 51 633.8 110 12.1 1.91% 9.433 5.031 . asbbank.co.nz 52 548.8 108 5.8 1.06% 2.249 1.899 . maxx.co.nz 53 535 71 51.2 9.57% 4.102 3.683 . aa.co.nz 53 321.1 80 61.8 19.25% 2.695 1.593 . odt.co.nz 53 557 104 26.5 4.76% 7.297 3.293 . kiwiblog.co.nz 54 320.6 46 106.8 33.31% 7.133 3.27 . skycitycinemas.co.nz 54 1103.8 72 17.1 1.55% 5.994 5.257 . nbr.co.nz 54 491.4 66 9.6 1.95% 4.979 4.67 . houseoftravel.co.nz 55 540 97 25 4.63% 2.284 1.773 . . Largest pages (K)

. Site Rating Size (K) Total requests Homepage Size backend percentage Webpagetest.org.nz time first load webpagetest.org.nz Cached load . skycitycinemas.co.nz 54 1103.8 72 17.1 1.55% 5.994 5.257 . kiwibank.co.nz 58 1061.9 34 23.1 2.18% 1.923 1.54 . skytv.co.nz 55 1048.5 129 19.2 1.83% 4.586 2.916 . thestandard.org.nz 60 995.1 49 43.6 4.38% 8.526 3.541 . thewarehouse.co.nz 59 963.4 97 90.7 ass=’s12′>9.41% 3.849 1.397 . vouchermate.co.nz 50 954.7 93 66.5 6.97% 8.319 3.588 . kiwibiker.co.nz 64 945.1 46 94.2 9.97% 10.792 6.904 . tvnz.co.nz 59 820 148 28.1 3.43% 3.878 2.536 . orcon.net.nz 66 788.5 52 4.6 0.58% 2.697 1.41 . aatravel.co.nz 55 685.5 79 16.2 2.36% 3.469 1.909 . . Smallest pages (K) . Site Rating Size (K) Total requests Homepage Size backend percentage Webpagetest.org.nz time first load webpagetest.org.nz Cached load . nzdating.com 85 38.8 47 5.1 13.14% 3.804 1.977 . landtransport.govt.nz 73 51.7 16 12 23.21% 0.246 0.237 . nzcity.co.nz 85 71 19 18.7 26.34% 2.743 1.529 . te.co.nz 61 79 42 9.1 11.52% 2.349 2.349 . oldfriends.co.nz 89 89.4 16 7.4 8.28% 0.77 0.544 . findsomeone.co.nz 90 95.8 13 5.9 6.16% 0.678 0.453

. publicaddress.net 61 97.4 58 7.1 7.29% 9.769 7.226 . vodafone.co.nz 68 97.9 67 21.5 21.96% 2.148 1.674 . snipesoft.net.nz 78 100.3 14 2.7 2.69% 1.078 0.552 . auckland.ac.nz 67 100.7 30 6.5 6.45% 2.114 0.69 . zeald.com 73 103.1 33 5.5 5.33% 2.381 1.008 . . . . Homepage download time Frequency . <1 6 . 1 – 2 18 . 2 – 3 28 . 3 – 4 16 . 4 – 5 7 . 5 – 6 12 . 6 – 7 1 . 7 – 8 4 . 8 – 9 2 . 9 – 10 2 . 10+ 4

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

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 3:41 pm and is filed under Speed Up NZ Internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.