For great user experiences in today’s fast-paced digital environment, website performance optimization is crucial. Developers can automate performance testing with the help of an open-source program called Lighthouse CI. To maximize the benefits of Lighthouse CI, it’s critical to follow a few recommended practices. In this blog post, we’ll look at the best tips for conducting performance tests with Lighthouse CI.
Define Clear Goals and Metrics
Setting up clear objectives and measurements is essential before carrying out performance testing using Lighthouse CI. Select the key performance indicators (KPIs) for your website that are most important. Metrics like load time, time to engage, first meaningful paint, or cumulative layout shift could be among them. During the optimization process, we need to set explicit targets that enable us to monitor our progress and make informed decisions.
Continuous Integration and Deployment
We should incorporate Lighthouse CI into our deployment and continuous integration (CI) pipelines. By automating performance testing, code updates, and modifications are prevented from causing performance regressions. We can identify performance problems early in the development process, enabling fast correction and reducing the chance of delivering a subpar user experience, by incorporating Lighthouse CI tests in our CI/CD workflow.
Test Across Multiple Devices and Browsers
Users use a range of hardware and browsers to visit websites. It is essential to test the functionality of our website on many platforms and browsers in order to mimic real-world scenarios. For testing, Lighthouse CI offers options for configuring various device profiles and user agent strings. We can locate speed bottlenecks and guarantee optimum performance for a larger audience by conducting tests on widely used devices and browsers.
Establish Baseline Performance
By performing preliminary tests with Lighthouse CI, we should set a baseline performance before performing any optimizations. This baseline serves as a benchmark for assessing the effects of further adjustments. Performance of our website against this benchmark on a regular basis to track advancements over time. With the help of this method, we can measure the effects of optimizations and monitor our performance targets.
Use Performance Metrics
Using performance budgets, define cutoff points for various performance measures. Using a performance budget, we can define acceptable upper and lower ranges for metrics like page weight, network queries, and JavaScript execution time. By creating these limitations, we can prevent performance regressions and maintain a high-performance standard. The Lighthouse CI, which delivers notifications when the thresholds are surpassed and compel an instant inquiry and response, enables us to enforce performance budgets.
Conclusion
With the help of the potent performance testing automation tool Lighthouse CI, website performance can be enhanced, and outstanding user experiences can be provided. We can maximize the advantages of Lighthouse CI and promote ongoing performance improvements by adhering to these best practices. To maintain a high-performance standard, keep in mind to define clear goals, incorporate tests into our CI/CD pipeline, test across multiple devices, establish baseline performance, and use performance budgets.
Related Links
For more details please visit – https://web.dev/lighthouse-ci/
https://qainsights.com/performance-testing-using-lighthouse-ci-action/
