Speed optimisation
Recently, Google launched a site performance tool for site owners. Since the technical structure of this site (specifically the blog component) has not been changed pretty much since I came to this platform, I thought it would be pretty cool to try it out. Additionally, at the back of my mind, I was concerned about upcoming changes to Google which would factor in load times of websites. Boy, did that open a can of worms! Google told me Hunting the Elusive was loading in an average time of more than 11 seconds. Seriously? I mean, yes, this is a picture-intensive blog and all, but still...! So I spent some hours on optimisation today.
I used the Firebug plugin on Firefox, combined with the PageSpeed add-on (again, courtesy of Google) to analyse the front page (let's start with the manageable first).
To increase speed, I edited the .HTACCESS to enable mod_deflate (which I thought was enabled by default, but maybe not), compressing content being sent from the site. I also made changes to help the site better use the browser cache, especially for resources that don't change the often, like the header image and CSS/JS files. I installed the Hyper Cache plugin to help manage the WordPress platform's caches. I also minified the CSS and JS files.
Dreamhost's mod_deflate implementation does not seem to allow compression of JS and CSS files, so there's more stuff to be done over there. I am not entirely sure if my modifications to HTACCESS has helped with the browser caching situation. I could also play around in the intricacies of JS and CSS to combine script files, remove unused elements, and according to the plugin "use efficient CSS selectors", though I of course currently do not have the expertise to do all that.
Do provide any feedback or expertise on this issue. Hopefully there are no problems, or maybe even a noticeable increase in loading speed? Fingers crossed!
P.S.: Given the lack of commercialisation for this site, readers could justifiably ask why I am concerned about search engine traffic and algorithms. Well, firstly, search engine optimisation is a useful skill to have, and in fact, has been instrumental to my getting my current job, where I still use those skills here and there. In many ways, this site is a testing ground for me to develop new skills.
Secondly, in keeping with the aim of this site, to open up elusive information to more people, the content of Hunting the Elusive needs to be easily findable. Well, that, and the ego thing.
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Well doesn’t seems like it changed anything, it was already fast for me. Right now, it takes 3,5 seconds for the front page, and around 4,4s for a release/review article as a part is already cached on the front page 6,2s.. Without the cache, an article takes . But I don’t know how Google calculate this so. I’m using my Safari inspector and debugger.
Normally, JS files and images should have been already cached by the browser without any modification. One thing you can do is convert the banner to JPG ^^;, it’s the biggest file here, even on review/release.
By using efficient CSS selectors, it certainly means reducing the number of “class=” in the HTML; it’s faster to write the code and of course, the HTML is lighter.
It would be possible for the “.widgettitle” in your CSS which could be replaced with a “#sidebar h2″, then you can remove the class in the HTML. On the Javascript front, it doesn’t seems like anything can be done.
For the Javascript part, seems hard to optimize anything as all files are libraries, JQuery taking 2 seconds to load.
Also, I got some errors on some page. They are here, but modern web browsers know how to render a page with error:
Etsu article:
blog:119Unmatched encountered. Converting into .
blog:139Unmatched encountered. Converting into .
blog:161Unmatched encountered. Converting into .
Project promise:
3blog:124Unmatched encountered. Ignoring tag.
blog:124Unmatched encountered. Ignoring tag.
And some warning common to all page. Not really important. I guess the php generates Javascript code, but as it keeps the php extension, there is a warning.
addthis_widget.phpResource interpreted as script but transferred with MIME type text/plain.
pireze_icie.jsonResource interpreted as script but transferred with MIME type application/json.
Well I understand what you want to do. During my class, I learn about indexing and Internet trends, so my blog is also my testing grounds, and that was one of my initial objective.
Can only comment on general speed at this time from a plain unmeasured reader perspective but for me the site loads plenty fast (using Firefox).
Main page and an image intensive page only take a few seconds each. (Though some images themselves in a post may take a bit longer.)
dont see much difference. perhaps it dont quite meke a difference for people who has a fast connection.
Not too much of a change for me. Whenever entering the site or opening up an article, the site waits 2-3 seconds then loads everything up. I would say 3-4 seconds wait at the longest from clicking a link to full loading.
I never had any qualms with speed or loading.