Improving the site speed

Overview

This article provides the user with some hints to improve the site speed.

Information

Balance the number of Widgets or Plugins

• Keeping add-ons limited to a bare minimum is essential to maintaining optimum website performance. Even plugins installed to the same website core compete in delivering the quickest response to browser requests, ultimately draining bandwidth.
  
  

Image Optimization

• The following image optimization best-practices go a long way in reducing the negative impact of images on website speed.
  • Format Selection: Use JPGs when quality is a high priority and image modifications are not required before uploading it. For images with icons, logos, illustrations, signs, and text, use PNG format. Use GIFs only for small or simple images and avoid BMPs or TIFFs.
  • Proper Sizing: Save valuable bytes of image payload and match the dimensions (width) of your Web page template. Use browser resizing capabilities to make images responsive by setting fixed width and auto-height instructions.
  • Compression: Image compression should be a thoughtful tradeoff between image size and quality. For JPGs, a compression of 60-70 percent produces a good balance. For retina screens, increase (JPGs) image size by 150-200 percent, and compress them by 30-40 percent and scale them down again as per required dimensions.