Comments on: Decrease Page Load times of WordPress Blog using Google Page Speed

By: Programming Kid

Programming Kid — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 11:12:52 +0000

Vaibhav, Google PageSpeed is an addon to Firebug. I have Yahoo’s!Y-Slow installed and I use PageSpeed in combination with it. Makes for a nice combination

By: Vaibhav

Vaibhav — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 08:33:10 +0000

Traditionally, i have used Firebug with Yahoo’s Y!Slow add-on to do this kind of performance tuning on a website…

By: Ankit

Ankit — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 08:26:37 +0000

We can also remove unnecessary PHP Executions and DB access to make our wp blog faster.

By: Programming Kid

Programming Kid — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 12:15:22 +0000

Thanks for the brilliant ideas Ricky. I would surely include some of your points in the post.
Sexy Bookmark plugin looks good but its a bit heavy so you are good without it. Thanks for confirming the same.

By: Ricky

Ricky — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 06:11:04 +0000

There are few points missing here.
1) background image doesn’t affect the speed much until and unless it is very large. Use small image (4kb,5kb) image and u r good to go.
2) One best solution is to optimize your css. It helps a lot. Remove unnecessary styles or use short hands whenever possible.
3) Reduce number of css style sheet. If possible merge them into one.
4) Reduce the HTTP calls. I suggest you to use css styles instead of js whenever possible. CSS sprite is very good alternative. Have a look at this article to find css alternatives of js http://webanthology.net/23-pure-css-effectssolutions-to-make-javascript-angry/2009/11/26/
5)Reduce the number of plugins. Use related posts hack, recent posts hack, random posts hack, popular posts hack instead of plugins.
6) Reduce the usage of JS as far as possible.
7) Do not use images hosted on other websites, instead of that load it to theme/images directory and call it. I was dumb initially when I used to call images hosted on imageshack.us website.
You can include my points in the post if you want .

I did remove sexy bookmark plugin and it helped me lot to reduce the load time. Thank you for the insight. I am also working on my theme which uses all the above hacks. I’ve also used SEO optimization so you do not need to add any SEO plugin (but I still prefer to use it as it gives more flexibility).

By: Programming Kid

Programming Kid — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 18:03:53 +0000

That’s so true Kevin, WordPress without plugins is very bare. Plugins enrich the functionality and visual appeal both but at the cost of page load times by increasing overheads. Google is trying to enforce the only-essential-content concept here by using Page Speed, and there are rumors that the next Page Rank update will include Page Speed results too!

By: Kevin Rodrigues

Kevin Rodrigues — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 16:41:45 +0000

Google Page speed also helped me reduce my page load significantly. WordPress users cannot stay without the great plugins that are available which unfortunately increase the page load time. Images are one of the main culprits, especially the images that most of the WordPress themes use in their backgrounds. Perhaps it is time to go back to having minimalistic websites providing better content than visual appeal.

By: Programming Kid

Programming Kid — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 10:14:31 +0000

Glad to know you that Programming Kid has helped you John. Welcome to the community.

By: Programming Kid

Programming Kid — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 10:10:16 +0000

I’d suggest you to use text links instead of a plugin. As you can customize the looks and have complete control over the nature of Social Bookmarking options you want your readers to have.

You can add a CSS style to them and make them look fabulous without ay plugin. I created the Promote and Share thing at Programming Kid with just some PHP and little CSS without any plugin

By: neelmoney

neelmoney — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 09:38:35 +0000

Really helpful , I know my social bookmarking plugin makes my blog ugly while loading. so now I am in the search of just another bookmarking plugin for me.