Forums

Optimization of a new website... (5 posts)

  1. mwasyl
    Member
    Posted 7 months ago #

    We have recently completed development on the website http://www.vroomgirls.com, and one of the issues the client is unsatisfied with is the speed at which the homepage loads.

    We've used tools like pingdom to help pinpoint some area where we can make improvements, and have made adjustments where we were able to. It appears the one area where there doesn't appear to be much control is the loading of of some scripts and the redundant loading of jQuery.

    Are there any tips, tricks or recommended plugins that may help speed things up?

    Thank you in advance.

    The website in question is http://www.vroomgirls.com

  2. Marventus
    Member
    Posted 7 months ago #

    Hi there,

    Your site seems to be loading pretty fast if you ask me: 15 to 20 seconds the first time and 6 to 7 seconds for the cached version.
    However, for some reason you are getting a pretty low score on YSlow. Let me take a closer look and get back to you.

    Cheers!

  3. Marventus
    Member
    Posted 7 months ago #

    Ok, I did some digging around in your code and here are my suggestions.

    I. Javascript:

    1. Load Order and Position:
    The script wasylLabs.js seems to require jquery to function. However, it is getting loaded before jQuery instead of after.
    Also, if you wish and if possible, you could try to load your JS scripts in the footer (end) of the site instead of in the head. This is usually recommended because JS can delay the loading of other elements of the page.
    2. Repeated scripts:
    In some of your pages, jQuery is being loaded twice, and this is really unnecessary since latest versions always support older functionality and features. Take a look at the wp_enqueue_script Codex article for an elegant way of solving this issue.

    II. CSS:

    1. Fancybox:
    In your styleheet called jquery.fancybox-1.3.4.css inside the directory library/fancybox/ you have IE image filters that you should only be loading for IE browsers. I would create a separate stylesheet and call it conditionally by testing which browser is being used. You have several ways of doing this: php, JS, and even conditional tags in the <head> section of your site.

    III. Images
    You seem to be scaling down some of your images in the markup, which, depending on the amount, can take a pretty big hit on performance. What I recommend doing is to configure WP thumbnail sizes so that you can serve images at 100% size instead of scaled down. You can do that from the WP Admin Panel.

    IV. Server Load:
    You are getting an F on a lot of aspects that have to do with the way you are getting your server to handle loads and cache.
    1. HTTP requests:
    In the home and particularly in some pages, you are loading multiple .css and .js files, sometimes even up to 30. This increases the HTTP requests to your server dramatically and slows down page load considerably. A way to avoid this is to regroup .js and .css files together in one big .js or .css file. This seems like a lot of work, especially because it involves messing with plugins, but the reward is really worth the trouble. You might want to check out this article by Justin Tadlock where he explains how you can go about this.
    2. Expire headers and eTags:
    You don't seem to have added etags or expire headers to most of your files. You can do so either from your httpd.conf file (if you have access to your server configuration) or .htaccess file (root or public_html directory). The commands vary depending on what Server Management Software (SMS) you have, so you should look this up based on that.
    3. Gzip Compression
    You might speed things up a little if you enabled Gzip compression to deliver your markup. All modern browsers nowadays support this and it is really easy to do (Follow same instructions as for point 2. above).

    That should get you started.

    Cheers!

  4. mwasyl
    Member
    Posted 7 months ago #

    Marventus,
    Thank you so much for taking the time to review and compile such a clear list of suggestions for optimizing the VroomGirls website... I greatly, GREATLY appreciate it!

    Now it's time to start optimizing.

    Best Regards,
    Mark Wasyl

  5. Marventus
    Member
    Posted 7 months ago #

    Hi Mark,

    You are welcome. Those tips should make the site load way faster, but if the improvement is not very significant, let me know and we'll see what else could be done.

    Good luck!

Reply

You must log in to post.

About this Topic