Evaluating the Performance of Community Forum Websites Through

Analytical Tools

Mayank Pandey, Naga Sai Shreya Kunda, Pranave K C and Radha D

Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, Amrita School of Computing, Bengaluru, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India

Keywords:

Website Analysis, Performance Metrics, Time to First Byte, First Contentful Paint, Community Forum

Websites

Abstract:

The use of websites has skyrocketed after the growth of the Internet. This makes web analysis an inevitable

practice to maintain and deliver good user experience and performance. This study analyzes three commu-

nity forms, namely community forum 1, community forum 2 and community forum 3. The evaluation of

these community forums are performed on the basis of evaluation metrics like: First Contentful Paint (FCP),

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Curved Layout Shift (CLS), Time to First Byte (TTFB) and Security Grading.

These evaluations are made possible by free of cost tools like GTMetrix and PageSpeedInsights for website’s

performance analysis and Qyalys for security grading. The evaluation provides glimpses into efﬁciency and

point out areas where websites could improve.The comparison and evaluation processes are applied on these

community forums in order to provide better responsive websites and an overall good experience for the user.

1 INTRODUCTION

Community forums (Grifﬁn and Roy, 2022) are the

digital platforms that are similar to the social me-

dia websites (Malathi and Radha, 2016), where the

individuals or a group of people engage themselves

in discussions regarding speciﬁc subjects, share the

information, and interact with one another. The fo-

rums are organised into various discussion boards or

threads, thereby , permitting the members to put for-

ward their own contents and concerns. Assessing the

potency (Subbulakshmi et al., 2019) of the of com-

munity forums such as Community Forum 1, Com-

munity Forum 2, and Community Forum 3 makes it

a necessary practice of keeping it up with the reﬂec-

tion of the metrices, to provide the users with the

best user experience , engagement and the satisfac-

tion. The users expect the websites (Thangam et al.,

2016) to have the least loading time and the pages to

be very responsive. A prolonged loading and the un-

responsive page is a reﬂection of a performance dip

which will further affect the number of active users,

thereby rendering metrics like First Contentful Paint

(FCP), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) (Kravchenko

et al., 2023), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), Time

to First Byte (TTFB), and security protocols (H.M.

et al., 2015) essential for sustaining a dynamic online

community.

Additionally, WebPageTest (Catchpoint Systems,

nd) includes a heavy testing environment which

allows inspecting the site’s performance at differ-

ent browsers and under different connection speeds.

Through this tool, crucial data with regard to load-

ing time, progression in visuals, and resource usage

can be detected, with a much better directed effort for

the improvement in optimization compared to generic

time-based approaches. In conclusion, it is as im-

portant to have an understanding of the dynamics at

the community level as the technical drivers of the

performance metrics that have been explored in this

paper. An involved community propels user partici-

pation, fosters the creation of numerous discussions,

and escalates the production of content. Using GT-

metrix (Carbon60, nd), PageSpeed Insights (Google,

nd), and WebPageTest to perform standard perfor-

mance tests can improve this engagement to ensure

that a user experiences no issues. This integrative ap-

proach, in addition to technical attributes, enhances

user satisfaction in an attempt to promote increased

community relevance. Constant assessment and im-

provement of such functioning holds potential for in-

creasing the ‘performance effectiveness’, increasing

retention levels and fortifying brand image –critical

factors that determine success in the cut-throat con-

346

Pandey, M., Kunda, N. S. S., K C, P. and D, R.

Evaluating the Performance of Community Forum Websites Through Analytical Tools.

DOI: 10.5220/0013615900004664

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Futuristic Technology (INCOFT 2025) - Volume 3, pages 346-353

ISBN: 978-989-758-763-4

text of reference to forums on the World Wide Web.

Section II outlines a review of the literature and

the instruments used in Website analysis. In Section

III, the testing and tools employed in this research

agenda are described. Section IV describes the out-

comes and evaluations obtained from experimentation

prevailing with Section V inclusive of references.

2 RELATED WORK

The authors in the study (Akg

ul, 2024) examine Turk-

ish government websites through looking at metrics

such as the bounce rate, COC Variables which in-

cludes the mobile responsiveness, page rank as cri-

teria which are accessibility, trust and security. In

conclusion, the authors discovered that such sites are

rather of low usability because of the units of user

interfaces and diffused meanings reﬂected in numer-

ous concepts. On a positive note, the websites per-

formed reasonably well on public value dimensions,

showcasing effective accessibility and secure infras-

tructure, which foster user trust. Although usability

issues persist, the ﬁndings indicate that the websites

align with public service goals, ensuring inclusive-

ness and building citizen conﬁdence. Therefore, the

study emphasizes the need for a balanced approach

that enhances usability while preserving public values

to create effective e-government platforms.

In their analysis of the top ten consumer goods

companies, Ripa et al. (R

ıpa and Nicolescu, 2023)

reveal insights into the evolution of Customer Rela-

tionship Management (CRM) for 2021. Using pub-

licly accessible data, they applied descriptive and

comparative analyses across multiple CRM dimen-

sions. The results indicate that the internal orga-

nization of CRM, encompassing process structuring

and management, is the least developed area, high-

lighting gaps in the integration of CRM tools and

strategies. However, a strong focus on customer en-

gagement—which includes attention and customised

services—has emerged as the most advanced com-

ponent, underscoring the businesses’ commitment to

enhancing client experiences. According to the re-

port, there are gaps between internal CRM alignment

and external customer interaction, suggesting areas

for improvement to effectively optimise management

procedures.

Macakoglu et al. (Macako

glu et al., 2023) con-

ducted an assessment of usability ˘ and security for

university websites in North America and Oceania,

targeting prospective students. Their methodology in-

volved the use of online automated testing tools to

evaluate performance indicators like SSL encryption

and loading times, alongside adherence to accessi-

bility standards. Despite identifying no signiﬁcant

security vulnerabilities, the researchers noted page

performance issues, particularly slow loading times,

which could detract from user satisfaction. Their rec-

ommendations emphasize the importance of ongoing

optimization for improved speed and responsiveness,

along with a consistent commitment to accessibility

standards to ensure equitable access for all users.

Kumar et al. (Kumar et al., 2021) utilize instru-

ments such as SEOptimer and Website Grader to as-

sess website usability, performance, and accessibility,

with a focus on essential metrics like user experience

and loading speed. Their assessment reveals that al-

though numerous websites satisfy basic performance

and usability criteria, speciﬁc aspects still need im-

provement. The authors recommend the merging of

developer and user-centered improvements for supe-

rior website performance.

Web analytics procedures including page tagging

and methods such as log ﬁle analysis are discussed

comprehensively by Booth and others (Booth and

Jansen, 2010), The authors describe their usefulness

in measuring various visitor-related parameters such

as trafﬁc type and length of visit. Tagging of web

pages can be done with coding which enables the

provision of real time tracking. The detailed analy-

sis of the log ﬁles provides the historical information

regarding the servers logs. The authors suggest the

use of these methodologies in combination to acquire

a broader appreciation of the interaction rates. They

recommend narrowing down the goal areas such as

load time on a page .

In the study conducted by Alsaeedi et al. (Al-

saeedi, 2020) two frameworks are introduced for eval-

uating web accessibility, speciﬁcally analyzing the ef-

fectiveness of tools such as WAVE and SiteImprove.

Their results indicate that SiteImprove outperforms in

detecting a broader array of accessibility challenges,

including broken links and contrast issues, while also

offering practical recommendations for developers.

While WAVE is acknowledged for its ease of use,

it falls short in thoroughly identifying more nuanced

problems. The authors advocate for the utilization of

various evaluation tools to achieve a more compre-

hensive understanding of accessibility compliance,

highlighting the necessity of ongoing monitoring to

ensure inclusivity for all users, particularly those with

disabilities.

Andry et al. (Andry et al., 2019) apply the We-

bqual 4.0 framework to gauge the quality of the

Lazada website, accentuating the relevance of usabil-

ity, information quality, and service interaction. Their

study demonstrates that well-structured menus, ap-

Evaluating the Performance of Community Forum Websites Through Analytical Tools

347

propriate content, and effectively designed interfaces

are vital for increasing customer satisfaction by pro-

moting more ﬂuid navigation. These components sig-

niﬁcantly affect users’ evaluations of the platform’s

dependability and ease of use, prompting the authors

to recommend continuous advancements in these do-

mains to uphold high engagement and satisfaction

rates.

Hulya et al. (Bas¸e

gmez and

Ozdemir, 2023) use

the GTmetrix automated testing tool to assess the on-

line performance of companies in the BIST Tech-

nology Index. To provide a thorough performance

ranking, the researchers use Grey Relational Analy-

sis (GRA) to examine performance indicators includ-

ing page size and speed index. According to their

research, page load speed is important, but if it is

the only focus, other important performance factors

like visual stability and content optimisation may be

missed. Because a diverse strategy is required to de-

liver high-quality user experiences, the authors advise

using GTmetrix not only for performance assessment

but also to improve content delivery and site layout.

The work of Gupta et al. (Gupta et al., 2024)

includes an analysis of the Cooperative Store Man-

agement System is an e-commerce application de-

veloped on the MERN stack. His analysis, using

Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool, shows what needs

optimization in different. There were other traditional

web performance metrics, such as First Contentful

Paint (FCP)as well as Time to Interactive (TTI). The

ﬁndings suggest that advancements related to image

reduction, or caching and JavaScript rendering are

obligatory to improve the load speed and interactivity.

In this article, the authors successfully pinpoint the

signiﬁcance of balancing aesthetics with functionality

methods in loading the web page. For best results in

regards to the use of this website, the screen resolution

should be optimized to enhance the users’ experience.

Strategies such as lazy uploading images and getting

rid of the things that slow down the page’s loading

are order of buy, which when coupled with sustained

performance appraisal, is encouraged to sustain com-

petitive advantage and improve the satisfaction of the

users and conversion rates.

Nonetheless, the cross-sectional study conducted

by Dobbala et al. (Dobbala and Lingolu, 2022) pays

attention Web Vital – A set of UX data points that

measure user engagement on the web — emphasiz-

ing effects of Largest Contentful Paint Meaning: The

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay

(FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) on user

engagement. They also ﬁnd out that low levels of

performance in these areas are linked to high rates

of bounces subsequently lower conversions thus de-

creasing revenues and users. retention. The authors

therefore encourage the selection of those options that

will ensure faster load times cross-functional times

and enhance other interactions to raise global satis-

factions, proposing the system-level optimization of

web performance that incorporates technonomative

and technical aspects of the system user-centric de-

sign.

An assessment of government and organizational

homepages emphasizes many key issues regarding

usability and accessibility affecting users interaction

and participation across the site. While many sites in-

dicate reasonable respect for the public values what-

ever these may be grows, such as clarity, security, and

other factors, such as overlapping and confusion of

interfaces language remain prevalent. In addition, the

research discretize emphasizes their pioneering user-

centred approach to realising efﬁcient back end sys-

tems in virtue of improving performance. It means

that optimization should be pushed to occur on an on-

going basis to make sure that a competitive position is

kept beneﬁt and make sure that Social media platform

remain open and easy to navigate for every client the

Library serves. Ultimately, balancing, termed here as

Technical efﬁciency refers to the production of ser-

vice closest to user needs for developing the technol-

ogy more communication and contentedness.

3 EXPERIMENTATION

This section discuss about the tools that are employed

to assess the website performance and the evaluation

metrices that evaluates the user experience across the

popular sites:Community Forum 1, Community Fo-

rum 2, and Community Forum 3. These tools in-

cludes GTmetrix, PageSpeed Insights, WebPageTest

and Qualys. Each of these tools provides with the

set of numbers that are associated with the goodness

of the performance and understanding about the areas

that needs improvements.

3.1 Tools Used

GTmetrix tool provides valuable insights into the

website performance by assessing the page load times

and the remedial work that are to be done in order to

ﬁx the problems. It focuses on ﬁnding out the com-

ponents that are a setback and suggests a speciﬁc im-

provements. The following Figure 1 shows a snapshot

of the tool.

PageSpeed Insights a website analysis software

developed by Google , assesses the website on their

INCOFT 2025 - International Conference on Futuristic Technology

348

Figure 1: GTMetrix Tool

Figure 2: PageSpeed Insights tool.

accessibility and portability on difference devices like

mobile and desktop. It generates a score based on

various performance metrics and provides actionable

suggestions to improve load times and user experi-

ence. The following Figure 2. represents a snapshot

of the tool.

WebPageTest is an open source tool that allows

users to test the speed and performance of their web-

sites from various locations worldwide. It offers

a comprehensive set of metrics, including ﬁlmstrip

views, waterfall charts, and various timing measure-

ments that help pinpoint performance issues. The fol-

lowing Figure 3 represents a snapshot of the tool.

Qualys(Qualys, Inc., nd) software tool plays a key

role in evaluating server security by scanning multi-

ple servers and assigning a security grade, ensuring

robust protection of user data from the server side.

The Figure 4 is a snapshot of the tool in action.

4 OBSERVATIONS AND

ANALYSIS

The following tables 1, 2, and 3 provide the perfor-

mance of each website for each evaluation metrix.

Figure 3: WebPageTest Tool

Figure 4: Qualys Tool

Table I provides a comparison of performance met-

rics for analyzing Community Forum 1 using GT-

metrix, PageSpeed Insights, and WebPageTest. GT-

metrix reports the fastest FCP at 286 ms, while Page-

Speed Insights and WebPageTest show slightly longer

FCP times of 1.1 and 1.12 seconds, respectively. LCP

times are comparable across all tools, with Web-

PageTest showing a slight advantage at 1.90 seconds.

CLS values are low, with WebPageTest reporting the

smallest shift (0.06), indicating stable loading across

the tools. GTmetrix records a high Full Load Time

(FLT) of 9.2 seconds, while all tools consistently pro-

vide an A+ security grade, indicating strong security

measures.

Table 2 compares the performance metrics of var-

ious tools for analyzing Community Forum 2. GT-

metrix reports the lowest FCP (317 ms) and LCP (567

ms) times, indicating quicker initial loading perfor-

mance. PageSpeed Insights and WebPageTest show

higher FCP and LCP values, with WebPageTest being

the slowest. CLS is low across all tools, signifying

minimal layout shift during loading. GTmetrix also

reports a longer Full Load Time (FLT) of 4.7 seconds,

while all tools provide a consistent A+ security grade.

Table 3 summarizes the analysis results for Commu-

nity Forum 3. GTmetrix again shows the lowest FCP

(480 ms) and LCP (785 ms) values, suggesting faster

load times compared to the other tools. Both Page-

Speed Insights and WebPageTest have slightly higher

Evaluating the Performance of Community Forum Websites Through Analytical Tools

349

Table 1: Comparison of various tools for analysing Community Forum 1.

Tool Name GTmetrix PageSpeed Insights WebPageTest

FCP in ms 286 ms 1.1 sec 1.12 sec

LCP in ms 1.3 sec 1.9 sec 1.90 sec

Time to Interact 3.9 sec - -

CLS 0.12 0.11 0.06

TTFB in ms 161 ms 1 sec 0.60 sec

DOM CLT 1.2 sec - -

FLT 9.2 sec - -

Security Grade A+ A+ A+

Table 2: Comparison of various tools for analysing Community Forum 2.

Tool Name GTmetrix PageSpeed Insights WebPageTest

FCP in ms 317 ms 1.2 sec 1.99 sec

LCP in ms 567 ms 2.9 sec 3.58 sec

Time to Interact 537 ms - -

CLS 0.04 0.07 0.08

TTFB in ms 166 ms 0.6 sec 1.07 sec

DOM CLT 293 ms - -

FLT 4.7 sec - -

Security Grade A+ A+ A+

Table 3: Comparison of various tools for analysing Community Forum 3.

Tool Name GTmetrix PageSpeed Insights WebPageTest

FCP in ms 480 ms 1.1 sec 1.37 sec

LCP in ms 785 ms 1.2 sec 1.81 sec

Time to Interact 1.1 sec - -

CLS 0 0 0

TTFB in ms 137 ms 0.5 sec 0.69 sec

DOM CLT 609 ms - -

FLT 1.1 sec - -

Security Grade A+ A+ A+

FCP and LCP times but still perform well. The CLS

remains at zero across all tools, indicating a stable

layout during loading. GTmetrix reports a lower FLT

(1.1 seconds) for Community Forum 3, and all tools

maintain an A+ security grade, highlighting strong se-

curity across the board.

Figures 5 to 9 depict the graphs plotted for each

website based on their evaluation metrics. Figure 5

represents a bar chart that compares the First Con-

tentful Paint (FCP) performance of three community

forums across three different testing tools: GTmetrix,

PageSpeed Insights, and WebPageTest. The x-axis

represents the testing tools, and the y-axis represents

the FCP time in milliseconds. The bars indicate that

Community Forum 1 consistently outperforms the

other two forums in terms of FCP, suggesting that it

loads its initial content faster. Community Forum 2

consistently achieves faster LCP times than the other

two forums, as measured by GTmetrix, PageSpeed In-

sights, and WebPageTest, as shown in Figure 6, sug-

gesting that it has a more efﬁcient rendering process

for its largest content elements.

A comparison of TTI scores across three commu-

nity forums in Figure 7 reveals that Community Fo-

rum 1 consistently outperforms the others in terms

of becoming interactive, as measured by GTmetrix,

PageSpeed Insights, and WebPageTest.

In Figure 8, the chart illustrates how Commu-

nity Forum 1 consistently exhibits higher CLS scores

compared to the other forums, suggesting that it

faces more layout instability during page loading

when evaluated by GTmetrix, PageSpeed Insights,

and WebPageTest.

The bar chart in Figure 9 illustrates the Time to

First Byte (TTFB) performance of the three commu-

nity forums. The x-axis displays the testing tools,

while the y-axis represents TTFB in milliseconds.

The chart shows that Community Forum 1 consis-

tently has the best TTFB performance, indicating

a quicker initial server connection compared to the

other two forums.

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350

Figure 5: Comparison of FCP for the three websites.

Figure 6: Comparison of LCP for the three websites.

Figure 7: Comparison of Time to Interact for the three websites.

Figure 8: Comparison of CLS for the three websites.

Evaluating the Performance of Community Forum Websites Through Analytical Tools

351

Figure 9: Comparison of TTFB for all three websites.

5 CONCLUSION

Overall, Community Forum 1 is the best

performance-wise. It has the shortest First Contentful

Paint at 286 ms. Additionally, it is one of the shortest

Largest Contentful Paints at 1.3 sec. Its Cumulative

Layout Shift is relatively low at 0.12, indicating good

visual stability.

Community Forum 2 looks good with a CLS of

0.04, making it the most stable of the three under con-

sideration, even if it is still slower than Community

Forum 1 in terms of FCP and LCP. Community Fo-

rum 3 has the best TTFB at 137 ms but lags behind in

FCP and LCP, which form the vital experience for a

user.

In conclusion, Community Forum 1 could be the

best performing, with Community Forum 2 following

and Community Forum 3 in third place.

In the future, optimizing web performance in all

metrics will be crucial to delivering the best possi-

ble user experience. While Community Forum 1 cur-

rently leads in overall performance, there are still op-

portunities for further improvements, such as min-

imizing layout shifts and reducing load times even

more. For Community Forums 2 and 3, focusing

on speeding up First and Largest Contentful Paint

could signiﬁcantly enhance user perception and en-

gagement. Investing in continuous performance mon-

itoring and optimization will ensure that these plat-

forms can meet growing user expectations and stay

competitive in an increasingly fast-paced digital envi-

ronment.

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