How to Make Selenium Scripts Faster by Limiting Page Load Wait Time?

Overcoming Selenium's Default Full Page Load Wait

Selenium's default behavior is to wait for a page to fully load before proceeding. This can be problematic when encountering slow or unresponsive scripts, especially when scraping or automating tasks. Here's a solution to limit the wait time and bypass AJAX file loading:

Configure PageLoadStrategy

Selenium provides the ability to customize the page load strategy using the pageLoadStrategy parameter. It supports three values:

• normal: (Default) Wait for full page load.
• eager: Wait only for interactive elements.
• none: Do not wait for page load.

Implementation

To configure pageLoadStrategy, use the DesiredCapabilities class:

Python (Firefox)

from selenium.webdriver.common.desired_capabilities import DesiredCapabilities

caps = DesiredCapabilities().FIREFOX
caps["pageLoadStrategy"] = "eager"
driver = webdriver.Firefox(desired_capabilities=caps)

Python (Chrome)

from selenium.webdriver.common.desired_capabilities import DesiredCapabilities

caps = DesiredCapabilities().CHROME
caps["pageLoadStrategy"] = "eager"
driver = webdriver.Chrome(desired_capabilities=caps)

Note: Eager page load strategy is not fully supported by ChromeDriver yet. However, you can overcome this issue by configuring PhantomJS or Firefox.

By setting the pageLoadStrategy to eager, Selenium waits only for the page to become responsive, avoiding delays caused by slow scripts. This allows for faster execution of your scripts and smoother automation without compromising the stability of the browser.

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