Hi @nicolaottomano,
I have a version in development that allows users to insert hints to individual posts/pages, not just global hints. I did a lot of research on this matter, and as far as I know- at the time when HTTP headers are sent by wordpress, wp does not know what the current post is. For this reason, it’s not possible to send resource hints with HTTP headers to unique posts (afaik). If you can prove me wrong I’d be glad to reincorporate HTTP header support.
With that version in place, I don’t believe it is feasible or practical to keep support for HTTP headers.
I know the added ability to implement hints to unique posts will dramatically improve functionality and more than compensate for the removed support of HTTP headers.
Hi @samperrow,
I mean I found it very useful to preload site-wide static resources, since 99% of my visitors are “one-page-users” that found my articles on Google.
So I insert the HTTP Header hints just to preload assets like Google Analytics, jQuery, CSS, Fonts, site-wide images (such as site logo), etc. in order to speed-up page loading by 0.5-1 sec.
Best regards,
Nicola
@nicolaottomano, you will still be able to preload these things globally- the new version has options to insert hints globally or on a per-post basis.
Yes but not into the HTTP headers 😉
Best regards,
Nicola
@nicolaottomano I don’t believe there is much of a performance difference, if at all, of using hints in the HTTP header vs. the HTML head. The next version’s added benefits of using hints on a per-post basis more than makes up for the loss of that functionality.
I do see your point- and I may add an option to allow global hints to be added in the HTTP header, while post-specific hints will not have that ability.
@samperrow
The biggest improvement in performance is on mobile connections, while the speed is lower and latency higher than Cable/ADSL/Optic Fiber ones.
Browsers on simulated 3G/4G connections will benefit of a 1-1.5 sec. reduction (that, in my case, is around 50%) of total page load time.
Best regards,
Nicola
@nicolaottomano I just released an update which adds back the HTTP header option.
@samperrow thank you!
I will try it on my website in the following days.
Best regards,
Nicola
Hello Sam, I have an intermediate to beginner question regarding the above: I previously added my 8 preconnect urls to the plugin as HTML <head> of course I am able to see the preconnects in my source code and a noticeable difference on front end. Now after browsing through your support threads here trying to learn more, I came across this thread and I am most curious, if I send resource hints as HTTP Header…Is there anything else I need to do away from this plugin? And second: How can I easily see if HTTP Header preconnects are working? Hope I am not taking too much of anyone’s time. Respectfully. My site is https://www.vintageheavymetal.com/
@shirtguy72 If you add the hints in the HTTP header, the easiest way to detect them is with your browser developer tools. While your site is open and loaded, right click the screen (or click F12) and hit “Inspect Element”. Find the “Network” tab, reload the page, and click the resource at the very top, which should be of the “document” type. Once clicked, you should see a panel open, and click the “Headers” tab. Scroll down through that list, and you should see the hints appear to the right of the word “Link:”. Some browsers’ dev tools may work a bit differently than the way I described, but that should work for just about all of them.
I took a peek at your site and noticed they are not enabled in the HTTP header. If you have that option set, please clear out any plugin caches, or other caching you have and they should appear.
