Since its inception in 2014 by the WebKit team, Speedometer has served as an essential barometer for browser engines, propelling performance enhancements to meet the escalating demands for more dynamic and seamless online experiences.
Its latest release, Speedometer 3.0, developed through the collective efforts of leading tech giants Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla, offers a refined tool to gauge web application responsiveness by emulating real-user interactions on web pages and ushers a new era for browser performance testing.
Thanks to the collaboration of the major browser engines (Blink, Gecko, and WebKit), it introduces a superior methodology for measuring performance alongside a more encompassing set of tests that mirror the complexities of the modern Web.
But what is more important is that for the first time, a major browser benchmark like Speedometer has been formulated through cross-industry collaboration, underscored by a governance model that values consensus and is supported by a shared repository open for contributions.
Speedometer 3.0 introduces a range of new tests that simulate key scenarios and user interactions. These practical additions, such as rendering canvas and SVG charts, code editing, WYSIWYG editing, and browsing news sites, provide developers valuable insights into real-world web application performance.
These additions cover a more comprehensive range of user experiences, providing fresh opportunities to fine-tune JavaScript, Layout, CSS, Graphics, and DOM APIs to enhance web usability. The improvements extend to the TodoMVC tests, which are updated to reflect the most common versions of popular frameworks, ensuring a comprehensive evaluation of web application performance.
Another noteworthy enhancement in Speedometer 3.0 is the refined test runner, which now captures more of the browser’s workload in response to user actions. This includes painting and asynchronous tasks that were previously unmeasured, offering a more accurate representation of a browser’s performance and its impact on real-world user experience.
Can’t wait to try it out? You can do it right away from this link. For detailed information about all changes in Speedometer 3.0, refer to the release announcement.
Ok… this will sound silly, but is a smaller number better? I went to their site , looked at the instructions and even they don’t say!
It’s a valid question, but I think the Speedometer is measuring something like how many operations per second (higher numbers = better) instead of total time.
Just now I ran it on two different laptops. On my fast laptop I scored 11.8. On a much older laptop I scored 5.22.