WordPress is my favourite blogging platform and CMS as you can guess from the types of posts you may have come across here. It’s amazing flexibility is due to the tremendous plugin contributions that WordPress fans have written. While adding plugins can definitely add a variety of functionality to your blog, however, this does not come without a cost. Here, I will show you one small technique you can employ to improve your WordPress website performance, specifically as it concerns CSS files.
Some WordPress plugins will make calls to their own external CSS stylesheets. These stylesheets are usually called for within the WordPress header. Now, as proper coding has probably taught you, external stylesheets are a good thing and you should avoid inline HTML styling. However, if you have ever run Firebug and YSlow for Firebug (both are Mozilla Firefox extensions) and are obsessed with website performance you will notice that reducing the number of HTTP requests is also a good thing. This is actually logical: if you reduce the number of files a browser has to download in order to view your website then you can increase page loading speed. Combine this with server-side compression and your web pages will feel like they are on steroids! You may be asking yourself, “How does this apply to plugins and does reducing the number of HTTP requests involve losing site functionality?” The answer, “[Wow! That was a long question!] No, you do not lose site functionality and you can see how below.”
Technically speaking, spring is still one day away, but right now, it sure does feel like it’s here! The snow has finally melted, the skies are bright blue and clear, and the sun is shining brilliantly. It is only a matter of time before the greenery starts returning to the flora. Yes, all these nice things to enjoy, but I can’t enjoy them fully because I am too busy.
As you may have noticed, I haven’t posted here in a while. There is a good reason which you have probably heard before. I am swamped with more than my fair share of university work so most of my free time is spent trying to catch up on a few hours of sleep before either tiring away at my own assignments or my part-time job on campus. Added to that, this is my 4th and final year at university so the pressure is on to make a better-than-usual impression in my final marks before graduation day. I have still not made an appointment to take my graduation photos because, quite frankly, my current state won’t be very photogenic. I have lost so many hours of sleep that I feel like a zombie and, my hair is overdue for a cutting. I really do not want to remember the stress of this time 10-15 years from now when I take out the ol’ photo album.
You may have noticed that I changed the site template. I like the minimalistic approach to this theme which also happens to put more focus on blog content. My next move may be to reorganize those pages or remove some altogether. Have to get back to work now… Will get up to date with my posts later.
As you may already know, I am a speed and performance junkie. When it comes to website management, nothing makes me feel better than a website that loads fast! If this can be done with dynamic content then it is something to admire.
One feature that I have implemented on the HostMonster-hosted website that I manage is GZIP compression. For a detailed description on GZIP you can read this very interesting article on BetterExplained.com. In short, however, what GZIPing does is that it compresses downloaded files which essentially saves a bit on server bandwidth and slightly speeds up client-side viewing. Although you can use some PHP to call for compression on the fly for specific files it is much easier to simply activate compression from the web server. Here, I will show you how you can activate it for a website hosted with HostMonster. This should also work if you are on another shared hosting provider that runs under Linux and Apache. You need access to your php.ini file and .htaccess file.
A few weeks ago I was able to take build 7000 of Microsoft’s latest beta operating system for a test drive on my notebook PC. I will admit that Windows 7 was more than I was expecting in terms of performance, but that was basically it. I had read so much about the boot time improvements that were made that I had to try it out myself, so I did. Believe it or not, Windows 7 was able to boot faster than my Windows Vista Home Premium.
The PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V power supply that I ordered from NCIX Canada has finally arrived. This solid piece of engineering will be replacing my unstable Antec 400W SmartPower power supply that came with the Antec SOHO case that I bought when building my first PC. I was hoping to also upgrade the PC’s memory to 2GB of Corsair XMS RAM, but in the state the economy is in right now, one has to be consider the more important priorities.
I came across this awesome video through MakeUseOf.com and thought I would add my two cents. This guy is very talented! It must have taken quite a bit of time and effort to pull this off.
If you are a fan of just the Star Wars movies you will be quite impressed. Not only does he use the theme music from a select variety of movies that John Williams composed, but also seamlessly integrates them with clever lyrics derived from the Star Wars movies. Watch it for yourself and you will see what I mean. Enjoy!
When I logged into my WordPress dashboard on my other website, I noticed this interesting article over at weblogtoolscollection about a website that has a fake version of WordPress for download. Apparently, they are calling this version of WordPress v2.6.4 which, as any WordPress user should immediately recognize, does not officially exist [at least not yet]. The software that you install from this site is actually a trojaned version of WordPress that seems to be based on some old vulnerabilities.
So the next time you go to upgrade or install WordPress, ensure that you are getting the files from http://wordpress.org and not a scam website.
