YSlow Firefox Extension
March 6, 2009
YSlow analyzes web pages providing a performance / speed report based on Yahoo’s rules for high performance web sites.
Yslow Firefox Extension works together with Firebug so make sure you have both downloaded.
It is easy to miss the (fine) print on the YSlow download page and some people fail to also install Firebug and are unable to launch or even find Yslow.
To get started launch firebug from Tools:
I choose CNN for no particular reason, its 33 YSlow score happens to be very poor. Individual results vary but 25-50% or more speed increase is possible after implementing recommendations of YSlow.
YSlow Performance Tab
After Firebug opens a YSlow welcoming screen appears, from here let’s click the Performance tab. The optimum performance grade is in the high 90’s in the case of CNN it is 33 (out of 100).
By examining the list of suggestions and page components the speed optimization can be performed.
YSlow Stats And Components Tab
Clicking on the YSlow stats tab provides with cache specific page content information:
YSlow Options And Help
There is no “classic” Firefox Extension-like configurable option screen under Tools for Yslow only a small menu in the top right hand corner of the Firebug window:
For more in depth details about performance optimization questions Yslow offers Help, FAQ, Community, Blog and Homepage link under the Help menu:
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Great information! I like the way you made it very easy to understand. Nice layout of screens and text. Keep up the good work!