Alliance for the Great Lakes

The Index

Insights

Google Lighthouse Performance

The Google Lighthouse performance score is a metric that measures the speed and performance of a website. It’s an overall score that ranges from 0 to 100 and is generated based on a number of different performance metrics, such as the time it takes for a website to load, the time it takes for a website to become interactive, the size of the resources used by the website, and other factors that impact the user experience.

A high performance score in Google Lighthouse indicates that a website is fast and responsive, which can lead to a better user experience and improved search engine rankings. On the other hand, a low performance score can indicate that a website is slow and unresponsive, and can negatively impact the user experience.

Mobile Performance
37%
Desktop Performance
88%

Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are a set of specific factors that Google considers important in a webpage’s overall user experience. Core Web Vitals are made up of three specific page speed and user interaction measurements: Largest Contentful PaintFirst Input Delay, and Cumulative Layout Shift.

Pass or fail?

MobileFail
DesktopFail

CWV Breakdown

VitalMobileDesktopTarget
Largest Contentful Paint7.1 s1.5 s< 2.5 s
First Input Delay400 ms80 ms< 100ms
Cumulative Layout Shift0.2420.14 0.1

Tracking scripts

All the tracking scripts on the site generated ~499 KB of data

A tracking script is a code snippet designed to track the flow of visitors who visit a website. Media, advertising, and analytics organisations will provide a script to add to your website that sends data directly to their servers. This data can then be used to measure goals and conversions, analyse user behaviour, and influence advertising campaigns.

Consider how much of this data you actually need and use? How often do you review the analytics data, and does this inform genuine change? Are you actively running social media campaigns? Consider pausing or removing tracking scripts that aren’t being actively used.

View details
googletagmanager.com 3 257 KB
google-analytics.com 3 71 KB
connect.facebook.net 2 169 KB
stats.g.doubleclick.net 3 569 B
analytics.google.com 2 0 B
facebook.com 4 984 B

Opportunities

Optimise images2 MB0.379g

By optimising the following images, roughly 2 MB could be removed from the transfer size, about 58%. This would reduce the CO2 generated per page load from 0.66g grams to 0.28 grams.

Images should be optimised for the web for several reasons:

  1. Reduced file size: Optimizing images can result in a smaller file size, which can help to reduce the amount of data that needs to be downloaded. This can lead to faster page load times and improved performance.
  2. Improved user experience: Optimising images can help to improve the overall user experience, as pages with optimised images load faster and are more responsive.
  3. Lower emissions: Optimising images can help to reduce the emissions associated with data transfer, as less data needs to be transmitted over the network.
  4. Better accessibility: Optimising images can make them more accessible to users with slower connections or limited data plans.
View details
50265639352_d135465cd8_o-scaled.jpg 1 MB 42% 996 KB
Drinking-fountain-Montrose-by-Lloyd-DeGrane.jpg 800 KB 27% 670 KB
AGL_AAB_Vol_WebCTA_900x600.jpg 63 KB 2% 31 KB
Replace icon font files74 KB0.02g

Font icons can have a negative impact on performance and emissions because they can increase the size of the page and the amount of data that needs to be downloaded. Some specific reasons why font icons can be bad for performance and emissions include:

  1. Increased file size: Font icons are typically included as part of a web font, which can be a large file that needs to be downloaded. This can increase the overall size of the page, leading to slower load times and higher emissions.
  2. Inefficient rendering: Web fonts are sometimes loaded and rendered inefficiently, which can result in slow performance and higher emissions.
  3. Unused icons: Font icons often include a large number of icons that may not be used on a particular page, increasing the file size and leading to inefficient use of resources.

While icon fonts are still widely used on the web, and they can be a useful tool for adding icons to a website. it is a dated practice when there are better options such as SVG icons, which can be more efficient and have a lower impact on performance and emissions.

View details
fa-solid-900.woff2 74 KB
Remove third party font files

Font files should be loaded from the same hosting as the website because

  1. Increased loading time: Third-party sub-resources, such as scripts, fonts, or images, need to be downloaded from a separate server before they can be displayed on the website. This can increase the overall loading time of the page, leading to a slower user experience.
  2. Dependence on external servers: The loading of third-party subresources is dependent on the availability and performance of the external servers that host them. If these servers are slow or unavailable, it can result in slow page loading times or even errors.
  3. Increased risk of security threats: Third-party subresources can introduce security risks to a website, as they can contain malicious code or be used to track user activity.
View details
fonts.gstatic.com o-0NIpQlx3QUlC5A4PNjXhFVZNyBx2pqPA.woff2
use.fontawesome.com fa-solid-900.woff2
fonts.gstatic.com o-0IIpQlx3QUlC5A4PNr5TRASf6M7Q.woff2
fonts.gstatic.com o-0NIpQlx3QUlC5A4PNjOhBVZNyBx2pqPA.woff2
fonts.gstatic.com o-0OIpQlx3QUlC5A4PNr4ARCQ_mu72Bi.woff2
fonts.gstatic.com o-0TIpQlx3QUlC5A4PNr4Az5ZuyDzW1IPrie.woff2
Replace jQuery and jQuery libraries with more modern code40 KB0.01g

jQuery is a popular and widely-used JavaScript library that simplifies web development by providing a set of tools and functions to interact with HTML documents, handle events, create animations, and make asynchronous HTTP requests.

In the past, jQuery was a very popular choice for web development because it simplified many common tasks and provided a consistent and cross-browser-compatible API. However, with the advancement of modern web technologies and improvements in browser capabilities, the need for jQuery has decreased.

Many modern web frameworks and libraries, such as React and Angular, provide their own set of tools for handling common tasks and interacting with the DOM, making jQuery less necessary in many cases. The Javascript engine in modern browsers have also become more consistent in the feature implementations often eliminating the need for a library like jQuery.

jQuery represents an opportunity because:

  1. Performance: While jQuery is a powerful and useful library, it can slow down website performance due to its large size and complex code. Modern browsers have also improved their native support for many of the features that jQuery provides, reducing the need for it.
  2. Maintainability: jQuery code can be difficult to maintain and update, particularly as web technologies evolve and change. This can make it harder for developers to keep up with best practices and standards for web development.
  3. Accessibility: Some jQuery plugins and features can create accessibility issues, particularly for users who rely on assistive technologies. This can make it harder for people with disabilities to use and access websites.
First Contentful Paint

First Contentful Paint (FCP) is a performance metric that measures the time it takes for the first piece of content to be rendered on the screen when a user navigates to a web page. This content can be any visual element on the page, such as text, images, or a background color.

FCP is important because it directly affects the perceived speed of a website, and can impact user engagement and conversion rates. A faster FCP can lead to a better user experience and improved performance.

Here are a few ways you can optimise your FCP:

  1. Optimise images: Large, unoptimised images can slow down a page’s FCP. You can optimise images by compressing them, reducing their dimensions, and choosing the right format for each image.
  2. Minimise HTTP requests: Each resource requested by a web page, such as images, scripts, and stylesheets, requires a separate HTTP request. Minimising the number of HTTP requests can help to reduce the time it takes for a page to render.
  3. Prioritize critical content: Prioritizing critical content, such as above-the-fold content, can help to ensure that users see something on the screen quickly, even if the rest of the page is still loading.
  4. Reduce server response time: A slow server response time can significantly impact FCP. Optimizing server-side code and server settings can help to reduce response times and improve FCP.
  5. Use a performance monitoring tool: There are many tools available that can help you monitor your website’s performance, including FCP. These tools can help you identify performance issues and track your progress as you implement optimizations.
MobileDesktop
Score46%90%
Timing3.1 s0.9 s
Largest Contentful Paint

Largest Contentful Paint marks the time at which the largest text or image is painted. Learn more about the Largest Contentful Paint metric

MobileDesktop
Score5%79%
Timing7.1 s1.5 s
Total Blocking Time

Sum of all time periods between FCP and Time to Interactive, when task length exceeded 50ms, expressed in milliseconds. Learn more about the Total Blocking Time metric.

MobileDesktop
Score33%100%
Timing860 ms20 ms
Cumulative Layout Shift

Cumulative Layout Shift measures the movement of visible elements within the viewport. Learn more about the Cumulative Layout Shift metric.

MobileDesktop
Score51%79%
Timing0.2420.14
Speed Index

Speed Index shows how quickly the contents of a page are visibly populated. Learn more about the Speed Index metric.

MobileDesktop
Score82%97%
Timing3.9 s1.0 s
Time to Interactive

Time to Interactive is the amount of time it takes for the page to become fully interactive. Learn more about the Time to Interactive metric.

MobileDesktop
Score42%98%
Timing8.0 s1.7 s
Max Potential First Input Delay

The maximum potential First Input Delay that your users could experience is the duration of the longest task. Learn more about the Maximum Potential First Input Delay metric.

MobileDesktop
Score18%99%
Timing400 ms80 ms
First Meaningful Paint

First Meaningful Paint measures when the primary content of a page is visible. Learn more about the First Meaningful Paint metric.

MobileDesktop
Score64%88%
Timing3.4 s1.0 s
Eliminate render-blocking resources

Resources are blocking the first paint of your page. Consider delivering critical JS/CSS inline and deferring all non-critical JS/styles. Learn how to eliminate render-blocking resources.

MobileDesktop
Score32%70%
InsightPotential savings of 1,770 msPotential savings of 440 ms
Properly size images

Serve images that are appropriately-sized to save cellular data and improve load time. Learn how to size images.

MobileDesktop
Score88%99%
InsightPotential savings of 12 KiBPotential savings of 17 KiB
Reduce unused CSS

Reduce unused rules from stylesheets and defer CSS not used for above-the-fold content to decrease bytes consumed by network activity. Learn how to reduce unused CSS.

MobileDesktop
Score88%99%
InsightPotential savings of 31 KiBPotential savings of 31 KiB
Reduce unused JavaScript

Reduce unused JavaScript and defer loading scripts until they are required to decrease bytes consumed by network activity. Learn how to reduce unused JavaScript.

MobileDesktop
Score27%74%
InsightPotential savings of 283 KiBPotential savings of 283 KiB
Efficiently encode images

Optimized images load faster and consume less cellular data. Learn how to efficiently encode images.

MobileDesktop
Score22%70%
InsightPotential savings of 542 KiBPotential savings of 542 KiB
Serve images in next-gen formats

Image formats like WebP and AVIF often provide better compression than PNG or JPEG, which means faster downloads and less data consumption. Learn more about modern image formats.

MobileDesktop
Score9%49%
InsightPotential savings of 1,169 KiBPotential savings of 1,169 KiB
Avoid serving legacy JavaScript to modern browsers

Polyfills and transforms enable legacy browsers to use new JavaScript features. However, many aren't necessary for modern browsers. For your bundled JavaScript, adopt a modern script deployment strategy using module/nomodule feature detection to reduce the amount of code shipped to modern browsers, while retaining support for legacy browsers. Learn how to use modern JavaScript

MobileDesktop
Score88%99%
InsightPotential savings of 29 KiBPotential savings of 29 KiB
Avoid enormous network payloads

Large network payloads cost users real money and are highly correlated with long load times. Learn how to reduce payload sizes.

MobileDesktop
Score83%83%
InsightTotal size was 2,934 KiBTotal size was 2,949 KiB
Serve static assets with an efficient cache policy

A long cache lifetime can speed up repeat visits to your page. Learn more about efficient cache policies.

MobileDesktop
Score40%40%
Insight7 resources found7 resources found
JavaScript execution time

Consider reducing the time spent parsing, compiling, and executing JS. You may find delivering smaller JS payloads helps with this. Learn how to reduce Javascript execution time.

MobileDesktop
Score81%100%
Timing1.7 s0.2 s
Minimizes main-thread work

Consider reducing the time spent parsing, compiling and executing JS. You may find delivering smaller JS payloads helps with this. Learn how to minimize main-thread work

MobileDesktop
Score76%100%
Timing2.7 s0.6 s
Ensure text remains visible during webfont load

Leverage the font-display CSS feature to ensure text is user-visible while webfonts are loading. Learn more about font-display.

MobileDesktop
GradeFailFail
Minimize third-party usage

Third-party code can significantly impact load performance. Limit the number of redundant third-party providers and try to load third-party code after your page has primarily finished loading. Learn how to minimize third-party impact.

MobileDesktop
GradeFailPass
InsightThird-party code blocked the main thread for 830 msThird-party code blocked the main thread for 20 ms
Image elements do not have explicit width and height

Set an explicit width and height on image elements to reduce layout shifts and improve CLS. Learn how to set image dimensions

MobileDesktop
GradeFailFail