Compress This Image

[Jeffro]

Though, that shelf of GPL mugs over there sure looks precarious...

Those are the GPL mugs I've glued back together. I didn't bother buying new ones because I knew eventually, they will end up on the floor again in even smaller pieces.

[Rarst]

@chipbennett

Naturally you lose details when you throw out over half of image. :) I also excluded some darker parts, because such spots are too obviously repetitive with smaller pattern.

I provided two images so Jeffro could choose if he wants one that looks almost exactly like original or one less detailed but even smaller.

So aside from some largish banners (I assume Jeffro has no control over) imagery is fine.

Next thing to poke is probably JavaScript - 23 scripts is overkill.

By the way, Jeffro, I think you had tried W3 Total Cache but something didn't work? Are you going to try it again on finalized (I hope) host? It is pain to setup but it is currently the most functional caching plugin. I moved my blog to it myself recently and was very impressed. Liked it more than Hyper Cache. And I liked Hyper Cache more than Super Cache which makes W3 double more likable. :)

[Ryan]

+1 for W3 Cache.

Caching does have it's downsides, but the performance and CPU load improvements are worth it if you can do it.

I've been quite startled when visiting my own personal blog recently and seeing how much more quickly the pages are loading now that I've compressed the bajeesus out of them and cached them. My next step is to use Amazon Cloudfront, but I haven't gotten around to setting that up yet.

[chipbennett]

@chipbennett

Naturally you lose details when you throw out over half of image. :) I also excluded some darker parts, because such spots are too obviously repetitive with smaller pattern.

Oh, I know. :) And, ironically, it was some of the *lighter* spots that I noticed were missing.

I provided two images so Jeffro could choose if he wants one that looks almost exactly like original or one less detailed but even smaller.

No worries. The one I cropped attempted to leave behind all of the original content, with exactly no overlap.

Honestly, the one you provided - and that Jeff is now using - looks great! It's not *exactly* like the original, but who cares? The intended look is there, and it works well.

So aside from some largish banners (I assume Jeffro has no control over) imagery is fine.

Next thing to poke is probably JavaScript - 23 scripts is overkill.

Yep. That was the primary culprit for slowing my site down, too. I've pared my external scripts down to only a handful - and almost all (except for site analytics) only display on the front page.

By the way, Jeffro, I think you had tried W3 Total Cache but something didn't work? Are you going to try it again on finalized (I hope) host? It is pain to setup but it is currently the most functional caching plugin. I moved my blog to it myself recently and was very impressed. Liked it more than Hyper Cache. And I liked Hyper Cache more than Super Cache which makes W3 double more likable. :)

I had a similar experience. The first time I tried W3 Total Cache, it white-screened the front-end of my site. I tried it again a few weeks later, though (with no settings changes, as far as I can tell), and it now works just fine. So, Jeff should definitely give it another shot.

+1 for W3 Cache.

Caching does have it's downsides, but the performance and CPU load improvements are worth it if you can do it.

A +1 from me, too, for W3 Total Cache.

I've been quite startled when visiting my own personal blog recently and seeing how much more quickly the pages are loading now that I've compressed the bajeesus out of them and cached them. My next step is to use Amazon Cloudfront, but I haven't gotten around to setting that up yet.

Even just using the page caching and file compression, I have noticed observable improvements. I've not tried using the "minify" feature, as I think I'm getting good enough performance without it. (And I'm not exactly a heavy load. My highest traffic day (ever) was around 500 page views a couple weeks ago - and that was a definite spike from the 100-150 average.)