WebPageTest

WebPageTest views my forum as a guest. Is there a way for it to test my site as a member? I entered name and password to the corresponding fields in the "Auth" tab, but that didn't work.

Is a session ID given in the URL?

No, doc_uk, it's a forum based on vBulletin. I suspect I'm out of luck here.

Have a look at the scripting for WPT at https://sites.google.com/a/webpagetest.o.../scripting

Sorry, meant to reply sooner. Yes, you can either automate a login through the UI using a script (I can help shake it out if you'd like) or you can log in locally and use the setCookie script command to re-use your local authenticated session for the test.

doc_uk and Partic,

Thanks both of you for help. I've just figured out how to do it. Very neat! It will help me a lot! In the past I concentrated on optimizing the site for guests, but now it's the time to spend some effort on improving it for the members, too.