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láb.comLab Notes

Method · the standing orders for every sheet

How we test, and who is testing

láb.com is published by LABS, the studio that builds labs.llc. The specimens in these notes are our own — the conflict, stated in the method.

What owning the tools means

We have an interest in these tools looking good, and you should read every sheet knowing that. We cannot remove the interest, so we constrain it with rules that anyone can check against the sheets themselves:

On the record: visits to this site are logged by Google Analytics 4 in a property belonging to láb.com, using the _ga cookies Google sets for that purpose.

  • Every sheet names at least one real shortcoming of the labs.llc tool, under “Sources of error”. Several sheets report faults our own run uncovered.
  • Every claim about a labs.llc tool points to its source — a file and line numbers in the build — or to a reading with its UTC time.
  • Every statement about another tool was checked on that tool’s own pages on the date shown. Where a page refused our fetch, the sheet says what we read instead; where we could not confirm a feature, we make no claim about it either way.
  • Each control gets a “Where it is better” list, and it is never empty.
  • No star ratings, no scores, and no review or rating markup for search engines. We will not grade our own work with a number.

The bench

Every labs.llc tool was measured on a local copy of the build-537 files, so our tests put no load on labs.llc’s own servers. One part of one tool was missing from that copy: the Gleason map tiles and data packs, which ship separately, and its sheet says so. Readings were taken with plain HTTP requests and stamped in UTC. Where a tool reads a public feed, we called that feed at the exact address the tool’s script uses and worked out what the page would print.

Where a tool’s own code could be run outside a browser, we ran it in JavaScriptCore: the sun arithmetic, the pitch detector, the ZIP writer, the map distances and the email grader. That tests the arithmetic, not a real device in a real room, and each sheet says so where it matters.

The two figures on each sheet are screenshots of the labs.llc tool only, captured from the same local copy. Each figure’s header chip reads V537: the sheets were photographed from the final build-537 files, which were byte for byte what labs.llc served while these tests ran. We show no screenshots, logos or artwork of any other tool.

The form of a sheet

Aim says what the tool is, who it serves and what we set out to learn. Method lists the apparatus — the sources the tool reads and where its work happens — and the procedure. Result holds the figures and a numbered run log. Discussion sets the tool beside two or three controls and closes with the sources of error. Conclusion is a short written finding and a link to try the tool.

The run log’s times are shown in UTC. With JavaScript on, a button above each log converts them to your own time zone; nothing is sent anywhere to do it.

Corrections

Tools change and readings age. If a sheet is wrong, or a control has gained a feature we said it lacked, write to labs@labs.llc and we will re-run the reading and date the correction on the sheet.