www.theage.com.au speed test — 20 Oct 2026
Measured from the wfix.shop server on 20 October 2026 at 14:22 UTC. Grade B (88/100), with the screenshots, the timings and the fixes that matter.
Where the first byte went
- DNS lookup 56 ms 14%
- TCP connect 75 ms 19%
- Server wait 262 ms 66%
Measured on the connection that fetched the HTML. Every other request on the page waits for the end of this bar before it can start.
How this page compares
Every report published here is in this comparison, so it is a reference population of pages tested from one server - not a benchmark of the whole web.
What these numbers mean
- The first byte arrived in 394 ms. That is workable, and the cheapest win left is caching or a warmer connection.
- The page transfers 565.8 KB over 26 request(s). Images files are 69% of it, so resize and recompress the largest images before anything else.
- The HTML itself arrives gzip-compressed.
- It runs over HTTP/3, so the assets share a connection instead of opening one each.
- 69% of the weight comes from other hosts (analytics, fonts, embeds), which also means their slow day becomes your slow day.
- The largest element painted at 1.23 s, inside the 2.5 s Google calls good.
- The main thread was blocked for 472 ms, so taps and scrolling wait while scripts run.
Fix first: Third-party weight - Self-host the libraries you can, drop the tags you cannot justify, and preconnect the ones you keep.
Read on one shared server, not a visitor's phone: use it to compare pages against each other, not as a promise about every connection. We fix what these tests find.
Screenshot
What the page looks like
Loaded in headless Chromium on this server. Click an image to open it full size.
Browser render
The same URL loaded in a real browser, so these are the readings curl cannot produce. The grade above is still built from the server measurements.
Page weight by type
What the page is made of
Transfer size, compressed as sent. 26 request(s) in total, 565.8 KB across all of them.
Top issues
Third-party weight
medium impact1 third-party host(s) serve 388.7 KB of this page. Each one is another DNS lookup, TLS handshake and point of failure you do not control.
Fix: Self-host the libraries you can, drop the tags you cannot justify, and preconnect the ones you keep.
HTML document size
medium impactThe document transfers 177.1 KB. A bloated document delays every other request, because nothing else can start until it is parsed.
Fix: Paginate long listings, move repeated markup into a template, and stop inlining large data URIs into the HTML.
Avoid extra redirects
medium impact1 redirect hop(s) before the page load started, each one a full round trip before the first byte.
Fix: Link to the canonical URL (and make sure http, the apex domain and www all point at it) so no visitor pays a redirect first.
Waterfall
Slowest requests
Each bar is one request's own response time, scaled to the slowest. Assets were fetched in parallel, so the bars overlap in real time rather than stacking. first party third party
| Request | Type | Status | Time | Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_3.15%2C$multiply_0.5%2C$ratio_1%2C$width_378%2C$x_0%2C$y_0/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/c2e7010b138a7dbb1a23f0c9baf09dc8727a7e53, 3rd party | other | 404 | 3.56 s | 0 B |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_40%2C$height_40/t_crop_fill/q_86%2Cf_auto/14200608ab3621357a740646c1e6f58c8cefb511, 3rd party | other | 404 | 2.60 s | 0 B |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.252%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_31/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/6e141811f2950e5e8d563d7db1cea81897f0f48b, 3rd party | other | 404 | 2.55 s | 0 B |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.252%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_0/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/3737f511a4e2839d1d664a4538ca732aa5bc8197, 3rd party | other | 404 | 2.34 s | 0 B |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.3949843260188088%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_64/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/980f8e82377d48b929dd0d4dccd3637e55a11962, 3rd party | other | 404 | 2.29 s | 0 B |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.42%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_0/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/75a3620aa37d10e2046a95a6f5a7e11318c8f8acc691d4960f108b390eb745f6, 3rd party | other | 404 | 2.27 s | 0 B |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.14993023255813953%2C$multiply_0.254%2C$ratio_1%2C$width_378%2C$x_566%2C$y_188/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/b6a576524e5e5274feffb5f06cdf1618f96bfb4d, 3rd party | other | 404 | 2.26 s | 0 B |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.2718%2C$multiply_0.254%2C$ratio_1%2C$width_378%2C$x_429%2C$y_139/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/a0c4a79c844c28426ca7403fe4fa1efe693f56a3, 3rd party | other | 404 | 2.24 s | 0 B |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.35%2C$multiply_0.1905%2C$ratio_1%2C$width_378%2C$x_0%2C$y_0/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/80a3e3c5d50bacf1a4a27d1461475e5b31330938, 3rd party | other | 404 | 2.22 s | 0 B |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_3.15%2C$multiply_0.5%2C$ratio_1%2C$width_378%2C$x_0%2C$y_0/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/4224ef4a3eb3f13fe0eb0f318f3a4508bf2390b4e11bbd4f5f233c3b6a0efe37, 3rd party | other | 404 | 2.20 s | 0 B |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.369140625%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_0/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/7c59df1851cac9cd08ac8a4415494f289e758c6504429a3a72cc5b6f42ef204f, 3rd party | other | 404 | 2.19 s | 0 B |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.11663506261180681%2C$multiply_0.254%2C$ratio_1%2C$width_378%2C$x_134%2C$y_60/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/eb0cf9d2116acaad46d4d2469a4cb3576977468a, 3rd party | other | 404 | 1.60 s | 0 B |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.35%2C$multiply_0.1905%2C$ratio_1%2C$width_378%2C$x_0%2C$y_0/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/80a3e3c5d50bacf1a4a27d1461475e5b31330938 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.44 s | 5.1 KB |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_40%2C$height_40/t_crop_fill/q_86%2Cf_auto/14200608ab3621357a740646c1e6f58c8cefb511 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.35 s | 2.8 KB |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_3.15%2C$multiply_0.5%2C$ratio_1%2C$width_378%2C$x_0%2C$y_0/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/c2e7010b138a7dbb1a23f0c9baf09dc8727a7e53 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.29 s | 12.9 KB |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.252%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_31/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/6e141811f2950e5e8d563d7db1cea81897f0f48b 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.27 s | 59.6 KB |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.11343077516390283%2C$multiply_0.254%2C$ratio_1%2C$width_378%2C$x_103%2C$y_139/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/1959f3c8bd925bbe931474632351314ea4a6c856 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.27 s | 6.5 KB |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.14993023255813953%2C$multiply_0.254%2C$ratio_1%2C$width_378%2C$x_566%2C$y_188/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/b6a576524e5e5274feffb5f06cdf1618f96bfb4d 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.26 s | 6.0 KB |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_3.15%2C$multiply_0.5%2C$ratio_1%2C$width_378%2C$x_0%2C$y_0/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/4224ef4a3eb3f13fe0eb0f318f3a4508bf2390b4e11bbd4f5f233c3b6a0efe37 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.24 s | 13.1 KB |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.11663506261180681%2C$multiply_0.254%2C$ratio_1%2C$width_378%2C$x_134%2C$y_60/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/eb0cf9d2116acaad46d4d2469a4cb3576977468a 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.21 s | 7.7 KB |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.2718%2C$multiply_0.254%2C$ratio_1%2C$width_378%2C$x_429%2C$y_139/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/a0c4a79c844c28426ca7403fe4fa1efe693f56a3 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.18 s | 6.3 KB |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.369140625%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_0/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/7c59df1851cac9cd08ac8a4415494f289e758c6504429a3a72cc5b6f42ef204f 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.17 s | 62.9 KB |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.42%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_0/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/75a3620aa37d10e2046a95a6f5a7e11318c8f8acc691d4960f108b390eb745f6 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.13 s | 99.1 KB |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.3949843260188088%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_64/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/980f8e82377d48b929dd0d4dccd3637e55a11962 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.11 s | 43.5 KB |
| https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.252%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_0/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/3737f511a4e2839d1d664a4538ca732aa5bc8197 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.07 s | 63.3 KB |
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