Tips for optimizing WordPress performance and usability

Tips for Optimizing
WordPress Performance

Puneet Sahalot
http://icustomizethesis.com/
http://twitter.com/puneetsahalot/
puneet@iampuneet.com

http://twitter.com/puneetsahalot/ WordCamp Jabalpur | 1

Topics to be covered
 Performance definition
 Importance of Performance
 Performance optimization
 WordPress Plugins Tips
 WordPress Themes Tips
 Useful Tools


What is Performance ?
 manner or quality of functioning:
a machine's performance


Why should you care ?
 Slow site = loss of visitors
 Loss of visitors = loss of leads
 Loss of leads = loss of profit
 All of the above = loss of efforts + loss of
money + loss of time
 Save on Server and Hosting costs.


Performance Optimization
 Four simple ways of speeding up a
WordPress blog/site are :
◦ Coding
◦ Compression (Gzip)
◦ Caching
◦ Content Delivery Network

Useful link : http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html


Solutions: Coding
 Adopting the correct coding
techniques can help you reduce the
load time considerably.
◦ Minimze HTTP requests
◦ Re-position CSS and JS files
◦ Optimized Images


Solutions: Minimizing HTTP
Requests
 Combining CSS files and JavaScript
files.
 Using CSS sprites: http://spriteme.org/
 Image maps


Solutions: Repositioning CSS
and JS files
 CSS: At the top of the document in
<head> section
 JS: At the bottom of the document.
 Make CSS and JS external

Useful plugin : http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/footer-javascript/
Reference : http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/links.html#h-12.3


Solutions: Optimized Images
 JPG: good for gradients, photos etc.
 PNG: good for vector graphics, line drawings.
 Don’t scale images in HTML.
 Use “save for web” option in Photoshop.

Useful Plugin : http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-smushit/

Solutions: Gzip Compression
 Compress HTML, CSS, JS.
 Reduce file size by 70%-90%
 Reduce page weight
 Accelerate user experience


Solutions: Caching
 Page Cache
 Minification
 Database Cache
 Object Cache
 Browser Cache


Solutions: WP Caching Plugins
 W3 Total Cache
 WP Super Cache


Solutions: CDN
 CDN: Content Delivery Network
 CDN can be used to deliver static files to your site like CSS,
JS, images, sprites, downloadable objects etc.
 Good for reducing bandwidth load on the hosting server.


WordPress Plugins Tips
 Use plugins which are updated
regularly by the developer.
 Use minimum required plugins.
 Only use plugins after getting reviews.
 Keep the plugins and WordPress core
files updated to the latest version.
 Don’t test new plugins on live site.


Must Install Plugins
 Akismet to prevent spam comments
 Yoast SEO for WordPress
 FeedBurner / FeedSmith
 W3 Total Cache / WP Super Cache
 WP DB-Manager
 WP Smush.it
 WP Touch for Mobile version of site.
 Contact Form 7 / Cforms II
 rtSocial for social sharing


WordPress Themes
 Use fast loading themes
 Check no. of CSS and JS files used
by theme
 Check if theme uses CSS sprite and
other techniques efficiently.
 Avoid themes which use Cufon fonts


Recommended Themes
 Premium Themes
◦ Genesis by StudioPress
◦ Thesis by DIYThemes
◦ Woo Themes
 Free Themes
◦ Twenty Eleven
◦ Theme Hybrid
◦ Swift Theme
◦ rtPanel


Useful Tools
 CSS Sprites: http://spriteme.org
 Image Editing:
◦ Photoshop
◦ Picasa
◦ Picnik
◦ Pixlr
 Page Speed :
◦ Pingdom tools
◦ Firebug / Page Speed
◦ Yslow

Thank you! 

Shoot me a mail : puneet@iampuneet.com
Follow me on twitter : @puneetsahalot


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