Mar 31, 2011 22:21 GMT  ·  By

Just a week after Google introduced a Page Speed extension for Google Chrome, there is now a web-based Page Speed tool, eliminating the need to install anything. Not surprising since both extensions and now the web version as well use the Page Speed SDK, the user facing portion is all that changes.

But there's more good news, Page Speed now enables webmasters to test the mobile versions of their sites as well. It's easy to understand why optimizations are even more important on mobile devices.

"At Google, we’re striving to make the whole web fast. As part of that effort, we’re launching a new web-based tool in Google Labs, Page Speed Online, which analyzes the performance of web pages and gives specific suggestions for making them faster," Andrew Oates and Richard Rabbat, from the Page Speed team, wrote.

The Page Speed works very much like the browser versions. Provide an URL and Page Speed will have suggestions on what you can do to improve loading speed and generally optimize the site.

But now, there's a new set of suggestions for mobile sites. You can switch between desktop and mobile suggestions and, while most will be the same or similar, there are some mobile only tests carried out.

"We’ve added a new feature: the ability to get Page Speed suggestions customized for the mobile version of a page, specifically smartphones," the two Google engineers added.

"Due to the relatively limited CPU capabilities of mobile devices, the high round-trip times of mobile networks, and rapid growth of mobile usage, understanding and optimizing for mobile performance is even more critical than for the desktop," they continued.

The new Page Speed website is now live over at Google Labs. Of course, if you prefer the browser version, you can grab either the Firefox version or the Chrome, depending on the browser of choice. The Chrome Page Speed extension was just released even though the Firefox one has been available for a couple of years now.