Web Browsing Lite Tests

The web page load (lite) test measures the time taken to fetch the HTML and referenced resources from a page of a popular website. Unlike other website performance tests, which incorporate a real headless web browser that renders the page and executes dynamic content, such as JavaScript, this test does not test against centralized testing nodes; instead it tests against real websites, allowing for content distribution networks and other performance enhancing factors to be considered.

Methodology

Each Device Agent tests against one or more popular websites on every test run. A blend of multiple sites is recommended to help smooth out content changes or performance anomalies observed from any one particular website. Alternatively, the test can be configured to test a reference web page, hosted on our servers. This has the advantage of ensuring that the content will never change, but is no longer representative of real users’ web browsing experience.

Metrics

The primary measure for this test is the total time taken to download the HTML page and all associated images, JavaScript, and stylesheet resources. The number of bytes transferred, and the calculated rate per second are also recorded. Optionally, the test can capture metrics for every single object fetched when downloading the page.

The results include the time taken for DNS resolution. The test can be optionally configured to use a DNS-over-HTTPS resolver for its DNS requests.

The test uses up to eight concurrent TCP connections to fetch resources from targets. The test pools TCP connections and utilizes persistent connections where the remote HTTP server supports them.

The test may optionally run with or without HTTP headers providing cache support. The test runs a modern version of Mozilla Firefox by default, but can be configured to run any browser.

Web Page Load (Lite) Test Example

The web page load (lite) test can be configured to test various http websites. All tests use the DNS resolution server provided by the user's router.

Web page loading times for popular websites on different networks

Web Page Load (Lite) Test Configuration Options

Configure your web page load (lite) test via the following tabs and fields.

Basic Settings

The basic settings tab contains only the settings detailed within Configuring Common Test Settings).

• For the Target setting, enter the URL to test to. Do not include URL queries or fragments. Defaults to an empty string field; enter a valid domain name or IP address.

• Interval defaults to 8 hours.

Advanced Settings

IP Version

• Defaults to " IPv4 only”. Choose also “IPv6 only”.

Network

• Max concurrent connections (threads): Uses CURLMOPT_MAX_TOTAL_CONNECTIONS which controls the maximum number of simultaneously open connections. The details over the wire may differ depending on the HTTP protocol version. Defaults to 8. Choose also from 1-32.

Page Load Timing

• Timeout: The maximum time the entire request can take. Defaults to 15 s. Choose also from 5-15 s.

HTTP Server Timing

• Connection timeout: The maximum time the connection to the website can take. Defaults to 5 s. Choose also from 5-15 s.

• Note: HTTP server timing must be equal to or less than page load timing.

HTTP Request

• User agent: Defaults to “Custom” and “Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:131.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/131.0”. You can also select from all major browsers across both macOS and Windows platforms.

• Note: When you choose a preset like “Firefox-Windows” and subsequently edit the string, the user agent dropdown changes from “Firefox-Windows” to “Custom”.

HTTP Response

• Allow 404: Allows the test to succeed when an embedded object in the page fails with an "HTTP 404 NOT FOUND" error. Defaults to enabled.

DNS

• Override system default DNS: Manually sets the DNS server queried for the target domain. Otherwise, by default it will run Do53 over UDP with system-wide server address (TCP fallback if the response sets the truncated flag). Defaults to disabled.

  • If enabled, a dropdown appears where you can select a server address type and enter a server address. The dropdown defaults to “DNS server address”. If you choose this option, you must input a specified Do53 server for name resolution (UDP with TCP fallback). Choose also from:

    • DNS-over-HTTPS resolver URL: Uses a custom DoH server for name resolution: fully qualified resolver URL must begin with “https://” and end with “/dns-query”.

    • DNS-over-TLS resolver IP: Uses a custom DoT server for name resolution: input a resolver IP address.

Agent Testing Thresholds

• Cross-traffic, downlink/uplink: Defaults to 25,000 bytes per second down/up.

• CPU usage: Defaults to 30%. Range is from 1-100%.