Rendimiento frontend con Core Web Vitals

What are Frontend Performance and Core Web Vitals?

Frontend performance is a crucial aspect that determines how users experience a web application. Core Web Vitals are a widely accepted industry standard created to measure that performance. They comprise three key categories that should be analyzed together:

• Availability: Is your application accessible?
• Functionality: Do all features work properly?
• Performance: Is it fast enough?

Together, these categories determine whether the user experience is satisfactory. Imagine that an application is available and works, but responds slowly: this could lead the user to abandon it without completing a transaction.

How to improve availability?

Availability is crucial, because without it, users cannot interact with your app. Here are some recommendations:

• Monitoring with Synthetics: Set up ping monitors to anticipate drops in performance.
• Track uptime against SLAs: Compare uptime against Service Level Agreements to ensure standards are met.

How can functionality be improved?

Prioritize fixing bugs that affect your application's functionality. JavaScript errors are especially common in user interactions. To manage this effectively:

• JavaScript errors: Prioritize fixing these errors to improve the user experience.
• Scripted Browser Monitor and Alerts: Configure scripted browser monitors and alerts to be aware of potential problems.

How to ensure optimal performance?

Performance focuses on how quickly your application responds, directly affecting user satisfaction. Some key actions include:

• Frontend code optimization: Use traces to identify code improvement opportunities.
• Load speed alerts: Configure alerts for excessive load times.
• Apdex Threshold: Adjust the frontend to be within Apdex acceptable limits.

Why are Core Web Vitals important?

Core Web Vitals are part of an initiative that defines when a website is of quality. Google uses these indicators to evaluate the relevance of your website in search results. Here are the three main Core Web Vitals:

1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): measures the time it takes to load the largest content on the page.
2. First Input Delay (FID): Evaluates the time from the first user interaction until the browser responds.
3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Analyzes how long it takes for the frontend to respond to user interactions.

For example, if a user tries to complete a purchase and does not receive immediate feedback, he could press the button repeatedly, generating multiple unwanted transactions. This highlights the importance of a low CLS.

How to identify Core Web Vitals in New Relic?

New Relic is a useful tool for monitoring Core Web Vitals. Through its interface:

1. Navigate to the menu and select Browser to view the monitored applications.
2. In the summary section, you will find information about LCP, FID and CLS.
3. The color indicators reflect Google's criteria: green for good, red for unacceptable.

These indicators will guide you to make necessary adjustments, especially if they are in red or yellow status.

Your application needs to live up to these standards not only to be found on Google, but also to offer an exceptional experience. Keep learning and improve the quality of your projects!