OVPUE IT has been working on ways to continuously monitor websites and applications and establish benchmarks for metrics like performance, accessibility, search engine optimization (SEO), and usability for several years. The Lighthouse audit tool developed by Google and recently incorporated into the Google Chrome browser allows us to start the process of running regular, automated tests across the ~30 OVPUE departmental websites.
The Results
After running benchmarking Lighthouse audits on each OVPUE website’s home page both on desktop and mobile (with simulated 3G connection speeds), we found several areas where OVPUE IT can improve. Some of OVPUE’s oldest websites (e.g., hpplc.indiana.edu and iucare.indiana.edu) use very few modern technologies and, therefore, are very fast compared to more recent OVPUE websites. The older sites, however, are lacking many basic accessibility accommodations that are built into every new OVPUE website.
Unnecessary and too-large images being loaded into the home pages proved to be the biggest issue for almost all websites.
The first round of improvements based on these findings has already begun. OVPUE IT will be identifying areas where small changes can impact performance or accessibility and incrementally address the issues the audits uncover.
We plan to run a full suite of audits using Lighthouse each quarter and monitor our sites for any emergent issues.
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