browser-perf

• Is a NodeJS based tool
• For measuring browser performance metrics (like layout, paint, dom load or frame times)
• For Web pages, Cordova/Phonegap and other Hybrid applications.
• Metrics are measured when scrolling the web page, or during a Checkout workflow defined using Selenium.
• Tool collects the metrics from sources like about:tracing, Chrome Devtools timeline, IE UI Responsiveness tab, Xperf, etc.
• Monitor this information regularly by integrating the tool with continuous integration systems.

Please see the wiki pages for more information.

Usage

Command line

Install the tool using npm install -g browser-perf and then run

$ browser-perf http://yourwebsite.com --browsers=chrome,firefox --selenium=ondemand.saucelabs.com --username=username --accesskey=accesskey

• Replace username and access key with the saucelabs.com username and accesskey
• If you have Selenium set up, you could substitute ondemand.saucelabs.com with localhost:4444
• You can also use BrowserStack credentials and substitute ondemand.saucelabs.com with hub.browserstack.com

See the wiki page for an extensive list of command line options and more usage scenarios.

Node Module

browser-perf is also a node module and has the following API

var browserPerf = require('browser-perf');
browserPerf('/*URL of the page to be tested*/', function(err, res) {
    // res - array of objects. Metrics for this URL
    res === {
        browserName : "chrome"
    };
}, {
    selenium: 'localhost:4444',
    browsers: ['chrome', 'firefox']
    username: SAUCE_USERNAME // if running tests on the cloud  
});

See the API wiki page for more details on configuring. Instructions on using it for Cordova apps is also on the wiki

Scenario

• Websites can become slow
  • over time as more CSS and Javascript is added
  • due to a single commit that adds expensive CSS (like gradients)
• We use tools in Chrome or Internet Explorer only when the site is too slow.
• Tools like YSlow and Page Speed are great, but will it not be better if the are a part of continuous integration?
• Tools like this(http://npmjs.org/package/browser-perf) and Phantomas can fill the gap to monitor site performance every time a checkin is performed.

License

Licensed under BSD-2 Clause. See License.txt for more details

Contact

Please ping me if you would need help setting this up.