Page Speed icon vector. Flat icon isolated on the white background. Editable EPS file. Vector illustration.

Why I Love Pingdom Tools

Pingdom tools is an incredibly handy web site that provides what would normally be an entire suite of website speed testing tools in a simple, elegant, easy-to-use package. Loading speed is an inescapable fact of life for web designers. When a user goes to a web page, they expect to access it quickly, and if they have to wait for even a short amount of time they’re probably going to move on. For this reason, no matter how pleased I might be by the cool new web site I just made, I make sure to take advantage of Pingdom to make sure that my audience will stick around long enough to check it out.

The only information Pingdom asks of me is an address and a location to test from. This lets me check out loading times for whatever site I’m working on from my hometown, any major city, or any continent, all quickly and easily — and without a router enclosure. Once I’ve given Pingdom the information, it breaks down for me in very specific detail what my web site loading speed is looking like and where the bottlenecks are that are slowing down my site.

Not only does Pingdom give me specific information about what it is that’s preventing my users from accessing my site more quickly, it suggests specific concrete steps to help solve the problem. If my site has too many redirects, for example, Pingdom will not only let me know, but it will also point out the specific redirect chains that need to be simplified and link me to further information if I need advice concerning how to go about doing that. It will also break down the types and sizes of the various content on my page, and show how difficult or easy it is for the user to load that information.

Finally, in addition to just crunching the numbers, Pingdom helps provide me with the tools I need to put that information in context. Pingdom automatically compares my web site with the Google Page Speed best practices, saves my information from each test so that I can see how each iteration of my site changes its speed results, and makes it easy to share information with everyone on my team instantly. The end result is an extremely useful tool for any web developer, whether you’re a specialist or just someone creating a simple page for their own small business.