The electronic entertainment webpage should be optimized for three devices

 

 

We expect that many consumers will purchase new smartphones and tablets in the coming Christmas and new annual leave period to enjoy the fun of new devices, they are likely to visit many digital entertainment websites.

These digital entertainment websites will bring us a lot of music, videos, podcasts and other content, and these websites will also add social functions for users to communicate with other users with the same interests.

We have investigated many digital entertainment web companies, and we think it is a good time to observe their performance. Now let's see if they have successfully delivered content on three screens (PCs, smartphones, and tablets.

During the test, we used IE9 browser, iPhone 4 for smartphones, and iPad 2 for tablets.

　　First, the most important thing is the page loading speed.

We believe that in terms of smartphones, the page response time should preferably be less than 5 seconds. In actual tests, only Spotify and rdio can meet this requirement. The Project Playlist response time reaches an astonishing 36.4 seconds!

　　

 

In terms of desktop computers, the usual page response time is 2-3 seconds. The strange thing is that Spotify's average loading time on desktop computers is 9.62 seconds. It seems that these e-entertainment web pages still have a long way to go in this regard.

We decided to perform a thorough test of SoundCloud, because this website has set an outstanding example for other companies in terms of smartphone web page development. In general, through tests, we found that SoundCloud made a special optimization for the smartphone's screen, but not enough for the 3G network. Let's analyze its performance in detail.

SoundCloud makes better use of data URLs to load image elements in smart phone web pages. The Data URL directly adds the image elements on the page to HTML. These images do not need to access additional HTTP addresses. This allows devices to display all elements on the page only after one download, which can save traffic and speed up response.

Another technology used by SoundCloud can be called the CSS genie webpage image processing method. This technology can integrate multiple small images into a large image and use CSS rules to determine the specific position of the image. The CSS genie is a little more complex than the data URL. It is more advantageous in processing pages that require caching or secondary use. These are examples of Optimization for mobile devices.

　　Second, the most important thing is the page loading speed.

Now let's take a look at SoundCloud's shortcomings on mobile Web pages. A key problem is that they will redirect the initial Page request to the basic HTML page. During the first redirection, they will direct users' access requests to a secure domain name, and then identify whether the request is from a desktop or mobile device, they will direct user access requests to a non-secure domain name. These steps may cause a full second delay before the user's page access request starts loading.

The other one that will affect the response speed is the analysis tag, such as Google analytics. On SoundCloud, we found that analysis tags are loaded before some important webpage content. This will not only cause webpage response delays, but also increase the possibility of problems. If a third-party application fails to work properly, it may cause loading of all pages to fail. It is best to load these labels after loading important content of a webpage.

In addition, SoundClond consciously makes such a decision, that is, displaying a large number of elements and content on a mobile page. Their mobile home page has 25 small images. These excessive elements and content will lead to a long response time for mobile pages on the 3G network. This design is acceptable for users who use Wi-Fi access, but it will have an important impact on users who use 3G network access. Although SoundCloud optimizes non-dynamic images on webpages to Improve the Performance of mobile Web pages, these optimizations are obviously not enough, users who use 3G network access will still feel a significant sense of latency, and the loading speed of mobile Web pages is obviously slow.

For comparison, we also tested the mobile page of Spotify, the main competitor of SoundCloud. We found that on Spotify's mobile homepage, the number of dynamic content is very limited. Their mobile webpage response time is 4.67 seconds, and rdio's webpage response speed is faster, with a time of 3.9 seconds.

　Summary

There is no doubt that many digital entertainment web pages will attract a large number of users during the holidays. We hope they can provide users with satisfactory customer experience, this customer experience should be able to meet the customer's needs on multiple devices, so as to avoid the loss of visitors. Our tests use a variety of mobile devices and mimic a variety of test scenarios, such as using different vendor networks to try to understand the user's final experience and help enterprises make the best decisions, it helps them better compete and grow.

Goodbye on March 13, 2013!

(Via VB)