Load Time Study
A websites’ load time has a large impact on its overall page performance. This can affect its SEO, the search engine optimization rating, and therefore indirectly influence the traffic leading to Concordia’s digital platform.
I am interested in discovering the factors that cause Concordia University’s web page’s load times to highlight mishaps, wrong-doings, and successes to create the highest online performance and user experience.
Most Viewed Pages
I took into consideration the top three most visited web pages for Concordia University, St. Paul. Excluding the home page, which has the most visitors, the next pages are
ACADEMICS - 19,465 views
APPLY NOW - 11,997 views
ADMISSIONS - 9,020 views
I decided to use these pages for the opportunity to notice the positive and negatives aspects to both fix faults and celebrate the goods that our users are facing in their journey.
These numbers, as well as all data collected from google analytics, are accumulated from November 1st, 2019 to January 20th, 2020.
Average Load Times
The average load time for the entire CSP website is 4.76 seconds. The following data displays the page’s title, its average load time, and its comparison to the site’s average load.
ACADEMICS - 3.92 seconds | 17.55% faster
APPLY NOW - 3.03 seconds | 36.36% faster
ADMISSIONS - 2.43 seconds | 49.02% faster
What characteristics led to those load times?
To investigate performance, I used pingdoms online Website Speed Test. Pindom’s test is designed to help make websites faster by identifying what about a webpage is fast, slow, too big, and so on.
Academics Page
Pingdom Results
According to the Pingdom scan, the academics page reports an overall 73%, C grade.
As the table to the left displays, the majority of the content on the academics page is taken by images, 81.43%. This means that the greatest factor of load time is due to the image material.
Heavy Hero Image
Given all the wordy content that fills this long page, the greatest factor, and therefore the greatest influence on load speed, of the material data is the image content occupping 81.43% of the page’s content.
Since the images are heavy, I wondered if the image resolutions were too large and slowing down the loading speed. I began by following the website’s development and source to find the resolution of the hero image where I found the photo’s dimensions.
To find the bit depth of an image, I uploaded the graphic into photoshop.
Upon reading the page’s source, I noticed that more images are included on the page...
All 3 icons expose an image only once hovered over.
Hidden Graphics
The additional images are located at the bottom of the page, only seen if the user scrolls to the end of the long spread. One picture is almost invisible due the blue fade over it. Not only does the user have to scroll to the bottom but also needs to happen to hover over the icons to expose the image. But, are users even seeing these?
Users Next Action from Academics
As you can see from the google analytics chart, users are not clicking on either of the “Next Steps” icons at the very bottom of the admissions page.
With reasonable concern, the images connected to those overlays are unnecessary and forces the user to wait to load unused data.
Additional Megabyte Calculations
3.2157 MB
Users wait for 3 MB of imagery content to load. The academics page is using an additional 1.9380 megabytes of imagery storage that is not being seen and, by the data, irrelevant in the user’s journey through the CSP website.
Megabyte Storage
Any image over 1 megabyte, according to Pingdom, is unacceptable. The reason for this is because having a large file size on images takes more energy to load and therefore contributes to a slower loading speed.
As the calculations show, the hero image has 1.2777 megabytes which accounts for a surplus amount of data used when loading the page. Even worse, the additional four photographs displayed at the bottom of the page require 1.9380 MB.
By eliminating those four photos, the load time will decrease and therefore the visitor is brought to their destination at a shorter wait.
Apply Now
Pingdom Results
Like the academics page, the apply now page received a C grade.
Although the largest portion of content is the imagery, the script and font data play significant roles in the factors of load time taking 51.26% of the content material.
The Apply Now page does not have the four bottom photographs like the Academics page. Meaning, the 40.78% of image content is mainly due to the hero image.
Collecting photo data in the same manner as before allows for the variables to be presented in calculating the hero’s weight.
Hero Image Calculation is 0.7946 MB.
29.41%
Given that the amount of JavaScript coding in the Apply Now page takes 29.41% of overall content, it can be assumed that the majority of the coding is developed and communicates in JS.
HTTP Requests
HTTP is a tool that functions to connect with internet web servers and returns HTML pages back to the browser. Another purpose of HTTP is its ability to download files from the server to either the browser or to other HTTP supporting applications.
Reducing HTTP requests are done by condensing files, combining multiple scripts into one, create one style sheet from multiple CSS files, using image maps and CSS Sprites.
To encourage faster page loading, decrease the number of components on a page which reduces the number of HTTP requests.
Admissions Page
Pingdom Results
Another C was given to the Academics result, when graded by Pingdom’s Website Speed Test.
The largest concern regarding content percentage, which leads to content load time, is the imagery data. This case is very similar to the Academics page.
Users Next Action from Admissions
Like the Academics page, the Admissions page hold a long spread of wordy elements that holds a large percentage of imagery content. This page incorporates a hero image and the 4 images found at the bottom of the Academics page.
The chart displays that CSP visitors are not clicking on the “Next Steps” links located at the bottom of the long page. Same as before, this reasonably can be assumed that those four images are using data, slowing down load time, contributing to a users wait, and is not being accessed or connected to.
Calculating Image Megabytes
Users wait for 3MB of imagery content to load. The admissions page is using an additional 1.9380 megabytes of imagery storage that is not being seen and, by the data, irrelevant in the user’s journey through the CSP website.
Great Experience from First Connection
Researching the top three most viewed web pages, excluding the most viewed home page, for Concordia University, St. Paul, the goal was to observe any journey erupting factors that the majority of users face.
My biggest argument with this study is that the 3 most viewed pages are Academics, Apply Now, & Admissions. Meaning the majority of our visitors are prospective students & possibly their parents. The moments from their initial curiosity of Concordia University, St. Paul & getting to know us through our website are curtrially fragile. They are shopping at multiple other institutions so it's really important we give them a great first experience by not making them wait to learn more about us.
Adjustments & Results
Academics
Adjustments: Reduced the resolution count on the hero image but was not able to remove the footer and bottom images due to preset coding that is permanently there.
Results: 2.11 Seconds Faster (116%)
Load Time: 1.81 seconds
Page Size: 2.0 MB
Image Content: 1.3 MB (65.65%)
Apply Now
Adjustments: Reduced resolution count on hero image but was not given access to clean nor adjust coding.
Results: 1.74 Seconds Faster (135%)
Load Time: 1.29 seconds
Page Size: 1.1 MB
Image Content: 372.4 KB (35.57%)
Admissions
Adjustments: Deleted bottom footer and it’s images and reduced resolution count on hero image.
Results: 0.79 Seconds Faster (48%)
Load Time: 1.64 seconds
Page Size: 1.2 MB
Image Content: 378.9 KB (32.16%)
Sources & Tools
Google Analytics
https://tools.pingdom.com/#5bf6819315400000
https://www.pixelcalculator.com/index.php?lang=en&dpi1=&FS=14
https://ezgif.com/cut/ezgif-2-5ed5b9b51acf.gif
https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/http