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Yes. In particular, it can be effective to use network conditioning to show and share the "flyover state small-town internet experience" with said designer, who

by alanh 11y ago

Yes. In particular, it can be effective to use network conditioning to show and share the "flyover state small-town internet experience" with said designer, who doubtless has insanely fast internet at work (and home). http://alanhogan.com/slow-it-down-gain-empathy http://alanhogan.com/slow-it-down-gain-empathy ⁂ And to your point, I do love this Brad Frost quote (which I share in my article above): > Ultimately, performance is about respect.

nateberkopec 11y ago
Worth noting Chrome DevTools makes this super easy now - network throttling is built-in to the tool and can be applied any time DevTools is open.
- stephenr 11y ago
  On OSX there is a system-wide prefpane (part of Xcode extras) called Network Link Conditioner that allows you to quickly simulate different connection speeds, even different levels/quality of wireless signal. Any Browser-testing that only works in a single browser is honestly worthless.
  - lstamour 11y ago
    Not true. I could make the comeback "any network throttling that only works on a single OS is honestly worthless," since people browse on non-Apple OSes. Though I will agree the prefpane is a cool tool if you can find it on the Apple Dev Downloads site. It can even run on iOS, for any app, not just the web. The Chrome solution will work on Windows too, though, or use Fiddler. More such tools can be found at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3536249/simulating-slow-internet-connection http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3536249/simulating-slow-i...
    - stephenr 11y ago
      > I could make the comeback "any network throttling that only works on a single OS is honestly worthless," And I would say you're being argumentative. The Chrome extension can only affect Chrome. The OS level conditioner can affect anything running on the computer, e.g. if you're doing your Windows/Linux browser testing through VMs (on a Mac), they can also use the OS X link conditioner. Apple's network link conditioner is also available on iOS (when setup as a developer device). The only option more device agnostic than Apple's is a network level device, which is likely much more effort than 90% of developers are going to spend on this problem.
      - anewhnaccount 11y ago
        No you're being argumentative.
      - pawadu 11y ago
        Please explain OS level throttling matters here. After all, we are not talking about general network conditions but performance of a website in a web browser such as Chrome. The Chrome tools were designed specifically with this in mind (simulate slow network and/or server).
        stephenr 11y ago
        > After all, we are not talking about general network conditions but performance of a website in a web browser such as Chrome As I explained, a single prefpane on a Mac can potentially allow you to check network performance issues in every browser for OS X, Windows, Linux or any other desktop OS allowing you to thoroughly test how your site/app performs. Saying "I tested it in Chrome and it was OK" is basically the 2010's version of "Works best in Internet Explorer". That a lot of people saying that, are also calling Safari "the new IE6" just makes their position even more ridiculous and laughable.
        pawadu 11y ago
        How confident are you that the behavior of IE11 on Windows 10 inside a VM on OSX with outdated guest drivers and a prefpane only Cupertino understands is really similar to what a real user in say Bangladesh sees? Why not use the tool specifically created for this? A tool that you would be using anyway since you, I hope, also test for screen size/resolution issues?
        stephenr 11y ago
        > How confident are you that the behavior of IE11 on Windows 10 inside a VM on OSX with outdated guest drivers and a prefpane only Cupertino understands is really similar to what a real user in say Bangladesh sees? a) update your guest drivers. b) what do you mean "only Cupertino understands" c) does Bangladesh have some kind of specifically different "poor network" conditions that the rest of the rest of the world is not aware of? > Why not use the tool specifically created for this? For testing poor network connections? That is specifically what Apple's tool is designed for. > A tool that you would be using anyway since you, I hope, also test for screen size/resolution issues? What are you talking about?

by alanh 11y ago

nateberkopec 11y ago

Worth noting Chrome DevTools makes this super easy now - network throttling is built-in to the tool and can be applied any time DevTools is open.

stephenr 11y ago
On OSX there is a system-wide prefpane (part of Xcode extras) called Network Link Conditioner that allows you to quickly simulate different connection speeds, even different levels/quality of wireless signal. Any Browser-testing that only works in a single browser is honestly worthless.
- lstamour 11y ago
  Not true. I could make the comeback "any network throttling that only works on a single OS is honestly worthless," since people browse on non-Apple OSes. Though I will agree the prefpane is a cool tool if you can find it on the Apple Dev Downloads site. It can even run on iOS, for any app, not just the web. The Chrome solution will work on Windows too, though, or use Fiddler. More such tools can be found at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3536249/simulating-slow-internet-connection http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3536249/simulating-slow-i...
  - stephenr 11y ago
    > I could make the comeback "any network throttling that only works on a single OS is honestly worthless," And I would say you're being argumentative. The Chrome extension can only affect Chrome. The OS level conditioner can affect anything running on the computer, e.g. if you're doing your Windows/Linux browser testing through VMs (on a Mac), they can also use the OS X link conditioner. Apple's network link conditioner is also available on iOS (when setup as a developer device). The only option more device agnostic than Apple's is a network level device, which is likely much more effort than 90% of developers are going to spend on this problem.
    - anewhnaccount 11y ago
      No you're being argumentative.
    - pawadu 11y ago
      Please explain OS level throttling matters here. After all, we are not talking about general network conditions but performance of a website in a web browser such as Chrome. The Chrome tools were designed specifically with this in mind (simulate slow network and/or server).
      - stephenr 11y ago
        > After all, we are not talking about general network conditions but performance of a website in a web browser such as Chrome As I explained, a single prefpane on a Mac can potentially allow you to check network performance issues in every browser for OS X, Windows, Linux or any other desktop OS allowing you to thoroughly test how your site/app performs. Saying "I tested it in Chrome and it was OK" is basically the 2010's version of "Works best in Internet Explorer". That a lot of people saying that, are also calling Safari "the new IE6" just makes their position even more ridiculous and laughable.
        pawadu 11y ago
        How confident are you that the behavior of IE11 on Windows 10 inside a VM on OSX with outdated guest drivers and a prefpane only Cupertino understands is really similar to what a real user in say Bangladesh sees? Why not use the tool specifically created for this? A tool that you would be using anyway since you, I hope, also test for screen size/resolution issues?
        stephenr 11y ago
        > How confident are you that the behavior of IE11 on Windows 10 inside a VM on OSX with outdated guest drivers and a prefpane only Cupertino understands is really similar to what a real user in say Bangladesh sees? a) update your guest drivers. b) what do you mean "only Cupertino understands" c) does Bangladesh have some kind of specifically different "poor network" conditions that the rest of the rest of the world is not aware of? > Why not use the tool specifically created for this? For testing poor network connections? That is specifically what Apple's tool is designed for. > A tool that you would be using anyway since you, I hope, also test for screen size/resolution issues? What are you talking about?