  Perceived responsiveness of a web page is one of the most important and least
understood metrics of web page design, and is critical for attracting and
maintaining a large audience. Web pages can be designed to meet performance
SLAs early in the product lifecycle if there is a way to predict the apparent
responsiveness of a particular page layout. Response time of a web page is
largely influenced by page layout and various network characteristics. Since
the network characteristics vary widely from country to country, accurately
modeling and predicting the perceived responsiveness of a web page from the end
user's perspective has traditionally proven very difficult. We propose a model
for predicting end user web page response time based on web page, network,
browser download and browser rendering characteristics. We start by
understanding the key parameters that affect perceived response time. We then
model each of these parameters individually using experimental tests and
statistical techniques. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of this model
by conducting an experimental study with Yahoo! web pages in two countries and
compare it with 3rd party measurement application.
