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Posts tagged: Load your Theme Faster

WordPress Fans:How to load your theme faster,Update

author Topmaker | timestamp January 8, 2010 | categories 6 Comments

One important factor in the new and improved Google criteria for web sites ranking is : Faster Page Loading Time. The time between the click on your site link on some page (including Google Search results) or a web address window on some browser and the Done! Remark on the browser taskbar. Those precious seconds that you are working hard to make smaller and smaller!

You’ve probably read this post:

WordPress Fans: How to load your theme faster

Took my advice to heart and made the necessary changes; but now what?  You would ask:

  • How do I test my page load time in Real-Time?
  • How fast would my theme load on my readers PC, what if they have not-so-fast web connections?

The answer is: Full Page load test tool at Pingdom.com!

Image Copyright pingdom.com

A Free,  simple: Enter your URL here!  And you get a detailed second by second graph on how your WordPress blog is loading in Real-Time and where are those weak spots that are dragging your Page Load Time down into ( and I saw it happen)… Gasp…half minutes!

This test will open your eyes and make you see your blog in a new prospective. Starting from your Style Sheet and your HTML and not ending with those lovely images that you have on your blog or that widget that is living in your sidebar, almost everything is there, with a brief legend that shows:

 

 

• Total loading time: in seconds, the smaller the better, there, I said it again! • Total objects: in KB, Aim for less • External objects: in KB, Less is better. • (X)HTML: in KB, your page code. • RSS/XML: if you are displaying Any feed from another web site or blog.  • CSS: SyleSheet count in KB, some Plugin stylesheets are included here. • Scripts: in KB, including External Java Scripts, , try to combine them if possible. • Images: in KB, should be the largest portion of Load Time; Optimize them for less KB’s. • Plugins count • And even Redirected links!

You will see a Measurement Bar with: Yellow, Green and Blue sections:

Image Copyright pingdom.com

• Yellow  is Pingdom.com part of the test. • Green is connection time and it is up to your web hosting server and how fast it is, • Blue is your main focus because it measures the time between loading of the first byte in your page and the last,  needless to say:  If that blue section is long; you have a candidate to work on.   As for the Red notes: Those are to draw your attention to entry(s) that are hurting your Page Load Time and a sign for you to slash or at least find a work-around them, and finally Timed out note means you really have to work on that entry!

So if you are still working on improving your readers experience when they visit your blog, Shave those seconds away and keep testing till you see them get smaller and smaller; your readers will appreciate it and will be back for seconds…visits that is!



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WordPress Fans: How to load your theme Faster!

author Topmaker | timestamp September 22, 2009 | categories 4 Comments

wp-lightningOne of my readers asked me: “I like my theme BUT it takes forever to load in my browser; what can I do to make it load faster?”

The answer my friend requires some work on your part; nothing fancy…. just simple steps:

 

 

 

 

Take a look at your Theme

  • Your Page

I mean take  a really good look and start  taking out all the elements that are not necesary to load your blog or that do nothing to benefit your readers, shrink  those BIG images or optimize them to load faster (usually changing the Type to GIF instead of PNG or JPG is a start). And drop that Background image for the whole page, you can get the same FEEL for your blog with a solid color and some Gradients.

  • Trim the Extras

Those are the Bells and Whistles that you can live WITHOUT!

An example is Web Page Visitors  Counter:  it is so Web 1.0  and your Stats should be on to your Dashboard,  not on your page!

  • Your Style Sheet (CSS)

Some of the Theme Authors will add Extras elements in the CSS  to Beautify the theme, check your StyleSheet(s) and trim them a little.

  • Your Java Scripts

I stopped visiting some of my favorite blogs because they have TOO MANY of them with too many errors on the page (if you use FireFox you know what I mean).  Granted they serve a purpose, but if you have a choice between Java Script and Plain HTML for let’s say: a Button; take that HTML and put it in an External Java Script File….Just read below.

Use WordPress Plugins

You knew this one was coming!

I’ve mentioned some of them at earlier post as Plugins you can live with; but there are more:

  • WordPress Super Cache

It is not called SUPER for nothing, it will make Static HTML copies of your Pages, store them on your server; the result is On-Demand service for them, no waiting for larger PHP files.

I would set Caching to 2400 seconds with no compression at first( some web hosts have problems with compression). Enable Cache Rebuild and Mobile Device Support.

Plugin Home Page

  • WordPress Widget Cache

Same purpose as Super Cache but for your widgets on your sidebar(s), footer …etc. Set it to 2400 seconds with an option to delete the Cache if you make any changes on your blog, this way you would have Fresh Widgets.

Plugin Home Page

  • PHP Minify Plugin

This plugin will compress and combine Java Script and CSS files on your pages. Think of it as Mini-Me machine for your JS and CSS. Take it slow with this one and deactivate it if you have any Fatal Errors.

Plugin Home Page

  • jQuery Image lazy load plugin

The biggest part of loading a page in a browser is the images,  if you have a Photo Blog or a lot of images;  this plugin will allow the rest of your page to load first and gives your images the chance to catch up and load later.

Plugin Home Page

Use External Java Script Files

Yes they are Java Scripts, but they are hosted on Your Server and your page does not have to fetch them from far away!

As you do with your regular web page, Put those extra HTML lines in an External Java Script file (.js), Upload it to your Root Directory and call it wherever you need at your page or even in your widgets. just remember NOT to include any Java Script inside your external file ( No Java Inside Java).

The Results?

May vary of course, but you would have a Leaner and Faster theme,  you do not have to give up your favorite one,  and most of all: Your readers will thank you for it!



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