Users expect pages to load instantly. If your checkout flow takes longer than five seconds, the users are gone. As they increasingly rely on digital platforms, the demand for fast, reliable, and smooth applications becomes vital. Site reliability engineers (SREs) and developers are key players in ensuring that applications meet these high standards; they work tirelessly to improve application performance and eliminate bottlenecks that can degrade the user experience.
In this solution article, we will explore how using waterfall analysis in Site24x7's RUM tool helps SREs and developers identify and resolve application bottlenecks in real-time, thereby optimizing digital user experience.
When RUM complements synthetic monitoring
If you've ever wondered why your app is slow for real users but runs fine in testing, that's where real user monitoring(RUM) comes in. It captures what actual users experience, not what synthetic tests show you.
Site24x7's RUM gives you visibility into page load times, user interactions, browser performance, network latency, and everything affecting your users' experience.
The importance of waterfall analysis in RUM
Waterfall analysis breaks down every millisecond of your page load: DNS lookup (typically 20-120ms), TCP handshake, TLS negotiation, TTFB, and content download. When a page takes eight seconds to load instead of two, the waterfall tells you exactly which resource is causing the issue.
Waterfall analysis is particularly useful for identifying issues such as:
Slow server response times: High TTFB in your waterfall reveals server-side delays. This could be database queries taking too long or your backend struggling with traffic spikes.
Inefficient resource loading: It highlights how different resources (images, scripts, stylesheets) are fetched and rendered, helping to identify slow-loading assets.
Third-party scripts: Many websites rely on third-party services. Waterfall diagrams show how these scripts load relative to first-party content, often exposing latency introduced by them.
Using waterfall analysis to identify bottlenecks
1. Analyzing network latency:
Waterfall diagrams break down network latency components. Identifying latency in DNS lookups or TCP connections can signal network misconfigurations or the need for a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to bring content closer to users.
2. Resource prioritization:
By visualizing how resources load, teams can assess if critical assets like HTML, CSS, and above-the-fold images are loading too late. This can guide priorities for resource pre-loading or optimizing the critical rendering path.
3. Uncovering server-side performance issues:
A significant portion of delays could be happening on the server-side. TTFB (time to first byte) is a critical metric visualized in waterfall analysis, indicating how long the server takes to respond to requests. High TTFB suggests inefficient server processes or high server load.
4. Evaluating browser rendering performance:
Waterfall analysis visualizes how browser-related processes such as DOM parsing and content rendering contribute to load times. Optimizing JavaScript and CSS might ease the rendering process, providing a smoother user experience.
Real-Time insights and alerts
One of the core strengths of Site24x7's RUM is its ability to provide real-time insights and alerts. The continuous monitoring of performance data means that SREs and developers are notified instantly if performance deviates from expected levels. This allows teams to address potential issues, minimizing impact on users.
The real-time aspect of the waterfall analysis means that SREs can trace back through their waterfall visualizations as soon as they get alerts, helping to diagnose the precise point of failure. This capability is instrumental during incidents, allowing teams to react quickly and maintain high levels of uptime and performance.
Use case: Improving user experience with waterfall analysis
Let's say your e-commerce site sees bounce rates spike to 45% during Black Friday traffic. You pull up Site24x7's RUM waterfall analysis and immediately see:
- Prolonged times to establish a connection (TCP) and high TTFB values, indicating server overload.
- Third-party analytics scripts and recommendation plugins causing significant delays.
- A product image with a large file size is loading slowly, affecting the overall user experience.
With these insights, the team optimizes server resources for handling peak loads, defers non-critical third-party scripts to load later, and reprocesses large images for faster delivery. Consequently, the bounce rates decrease, and the overall user satisfaction improves. We've seen teams reduce three seconds or more off page loads just by identifying a single bloated third-party script in their waterfall. The visualization makes the invisible suddenly obvious.
Collaboration and continuous improvement
The benefits of using waterfall analysis extend beyond immediate troubleshooting. By consistently utilizing these insights, SREs and development teams can foster a culture of continuous improvement. It's not just about resolving issues, but understanding patterns and adapting systems for long-term performance gains.
1. Collaboration:
Waterfall analysis reports can be shared across teams, from development to SREs to UX designers. This fosters an environment where everyone works with the same data, improving cross-departmental collaboration to enhance the end-user experience.
2. Long-term insights:
By analyzing trends over time, teams can identify persistent issues that may not be immediately apparent. This data-driven approach helps prioritize development efforts where they matter most, aligning with business goals and user expectations.
3. Iterative optimization:
Regularly revisiting waterfall analyses ensures that new features or changes introduced do not introduce unforeseen performance degradations, supporting iterative optimization.
Ensure a seamless digital experience
The modern user demands high-performing, seamless digital experiences, and meeting that demand requires proactive monitoring and optimizing application performance. Site24x7's RUM, with its waterfall analysis feature, provides SREs and developers with the necessary tools to identify and rectify bottlenecks proactively. By enabling real-time insights and facilitating collaboration across teams, it empowers organizations to consistently deliver high-quality user experiences.
Waterfall analysis turns performance debugging from guesswork into a data-driven process. Your users won't wait around for slow pages, but with the right RUM tool, you can catch and fix issues before they notice.