Do speed tests have too many links?

TL;DR

"Too many" links is mentioned as problematic in WeBAIM's Screen Reader User Survey #7. However it was up to the respondent to determine if "too many" was a problematic item or not.

An intensive search yielded only one source in which more or less "too many" is defined. Based on these Editorial Guidelines for subcategories you might consider "too many" links as over 20 links.

Of the top 10 speed tests, the following speed tests have less than 20 links (counted with NVDA): Fast, Google Fiber, Cloudflare, Meter.net, M-Lab, TestMy.net, SpeedOf.me, SpeedSmart and Internet Speed at a Glance.

The answer to the question "Do speed tests have too many links?" is therefore: Generally not, only Ookla's Speedtest has too many links.

 

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Method of measurement
  3. Speed tests to test
  4. The measurements
  5. Conclusions
 

Introduction

In WeBAIM's Screen Reader User Survey #7 it is mentioned that "Too many links" is considered as problemtic.

WebAIM did not quantify "too many" in their survey question, so left it up to the respondent to determine if "too many" was a problematic item or not. Hence it is not hard defined what "too many" is.

In Curlie's Editorial Guidelines for subcategories it is stated that (...) Generally, subcategories may be helpful when the number of links exceeds 20 (...).

In this test we try to find out which screen readers have too many links.

 

Method of measurement

For this test we visit the homepage of the speed test and test this page with Link Quality at a Glance.

The test is invoked immediately after loading the homepage. When a speed test starts automatically, the test is started when the test is completed.

For this test we simply count the total number of links.

For the screen reader test we counted the number of links shown with the NVDA screen reader with the option NVDA-F7. This is only done for the top 10 speed tests. The number of links seen by NVDA is also noted.

Note that of course the speed tests are also tested with NVDA. These test results are published at the page Speed tests and screen readers.

 

Speed tests to test

Because this is a relative simple test, the unique speed tests as collected at ZOMDir will be tested.

 

The measurements

  1. Astound speedtest 0 links
  2. Bandwidth Place 92 links
  3. Bredbandskollen 33 links
  4. Broadband Internet Speed test (Gone) 16 links
  5. Broadband Speed Checker 46 links
  6. Cloudflare 0 links (NVDA 11 links)
  7. Comparitech 0 links
  8. DSLReports 103 links
  9. Fast 40 links (NVDA 6 links)
  10. Fireprobe 142 links
  11. Google Fiber 0 links (NVDA 9 links)
  12. Internet Speed at a Glance 17 links (NVDA 17 links)
  13. LibreSpeed 4 links
  14. M-Lab 6 links (NVDA 14 links)
  15. Meter.net 37 links (NVDA 13 links)
  16. N Perf 152 links
  17. Ookla Speedtest 111 links (NVDA 87 links)
  18. Open Speed Test 23 links
  19. SamKnows 1 links
  20. SpeedCheck 101 links
  21. SpeedOf.me 17 links (NVDA 15 links)
  22. SpeedOf.me API Sample Page 1 link
  23. SpeedSmart 37 links (NVDA 15 links)
  24. Speedtest4.PHP 15 links
  25. TestMy.net 54 links (NVDA 14 links)
  26. Toast 26 links
  27. Which Broadband Speed Test 8 links
  28. Xfinity xFi Speed Test 0 links
 

Conclusions

If you compare the number of links discovered by Link Quality at a Glance to the number of links discovered by the NVDA screen reader, you will see that there are:

  1. 3 out of 10 speed tests where NVDA counts more links than Link Quality at a Glance
  2. 6 out of 10 speed tests where NVDA counts less links than Link Quality at a Glance

The conclusions based on Link Quality at a Glance and NVDA are therefore presented separately. The results of the NVDA are used for the final conclusion. After all, this is a screen reader.

Link Quality at a Glance

When we look at all speed tests then we conclude the following:

  1. The minimum number of links is 0
  2. The maximum number of links is 152 (the N Perf speed test)
  3. The average number of links is 39
  4. The median number of links is 20
  5. 5 speed tests have zero links
  6. 5 speed tests have over 100 links

When we only take a look at the top 10 speed tests then following numbers apply:

  1. The minimum number of links is 0
  2. The maximum number of links is 111 (Ookla speedtest)
  3. The average number of links is 31.9
  4. The median number of links is 27
  5. 2 speed tests have zero links
  6. 1 speed test has over 100 links

NVDA screen reader

When we look at the NVDA screen reader statistics the following numbers apply:

  1. The minimum number of links is 6
  2. The maximum number of links is 87 (Ookla speedtest)
  3. The average number of links is 20.1
  4. The median number of links is 14

Examples of too many

Besides the Curlie guidelines there is no strict definition of "Too many". Hence we will give you the following examples (based on Link Quality at a Glance):

  1. When over 40 links is "Too many" then the following top 10 speed tests are fine: Cloudflare, Google Fiber, M-Lab, SpeedOf.me, Internet Speed at a Glance, Meter.net, SpeedSmart and Fast
  2. When over 30 links is "Too many" then the following top 10 speed tests are fine: Cloudflare, Google Fiber, M-Lab, SpeedOf.me and Internet Speed at a Glance
  3. When over 20 links is "Too many" then the following top 10 speed tests are fine: Cloudflare, Google Fiber, M-Lab, SpeedOf.me and Internet Speed at a Glance
  4. When over 10 links is "Too many" then the following top 10 speed tests are fine: Cloudflare, Google Fiber and M-Lab

If we stick to the limit of 20 links on a page and based on the NVDA counts, of the top 10 speed tests only the Ookla Speedtest has too many links on a page.