Image Optimization

Format

Each image format has its own advantages and is suitable for certain types of images. For example, JPEG (or JPG) is suitable for photographs and images with many shades of color. It provides good compression and preserves image details. PNG – the most suitable format for images with transparency or text. It preserves sharper lines and is a good choice for logos and icons.

Compression

Image compression tools help to reduce the size of image files without significantly reducing the quality. This removes redundant information such as unnecessary metadata and hidden colors while maintaining the visual quality of the image. Here are some popular compression tools: Kraken.io, TinyPNG, iloveimg.com, Compressor.io, etc. You can also enable image conversion to WebP format. According to the company it provides 26% reduction in image size compared to PNG format and 25-34% reduction compared to JPEG format.

Deferred Upload

Deferred image loading allows images to be loaded only when they become visible on the user’s screen. This is especially useful for pages with a large number of images or long pages. There are different techniques, such as:

• Lazy loading (lazy loading). Allows images to load only as the page scrolls. Plugins and libraries such as LazyLoad or Intersection Observer API help with this;
• Image loading optimization plugins. There are various plugins and extensions for content management platforms (CMS) that automatically apply delayed image loading or optimize the loading process. For example, WP Smush for WordPress.

Optimizing your site’s code

Another way to optimize is to reduce the size of CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files by removing comments, extra spaces, and line breaks. Combine CSS and JavaScript files into a single file to reduce the number of requests to the server. This can be done using build tools such as Webpack or Gulp.

It is also recommended to place the CSS code at the beginning of the page and the scripts at the end. This approach allows the browser to start displaying the page before all scripts are loaded, which reduces load time and improves the user experience.

Avoid using inline CSS and JS code. Instead, you should take CSS and JS code to external files. This allows browsers to cache these resources and speeds up page load times.

Using caching and CDNs

Enabling caching on the server allows static resources such as images, CSS and JavaScript files to be stored on the client side. In doing so, the resources are loaded and cached by the user’s browser, allowing the resources to be reused without having to be downloaded from the server on each request. This significantly reduces page load time for repeat visits and improves performance.

Use a CDN (content delivery network) to distribute copies of content to servers located in different regions of the world and provide site acceleration. A CDN works on the following principle: the closest server serves user requests, which reduces download time. When a user requests a resource from a website, he gets it from the closest CDN server rather than the primary server.

When resources are cached on the client side and distributed across CDN servers, you have the ability to deliver content with minimal latency and provide fast access for users anywhere in the world.

Minimize redirects and broken links

Avoid overuse of redirects on your website. Redirects add an extra step when loading a page, which can slow it down. Check your URL structure and coding to make sure they are optimized and minimized. Try to use direct links where possible and avoid redirect chains.

Regularly check your site for broken links and fix them. Broken links that lead to non-existent or inaccessible pages can negatively impact user experience and loading speed.

Cloud provider and server

When choosing a hosting provider, it is advisable to pay attention to their performance and reliability. A well-chosen hosting service with optimized infrastructure, high bandwidth and low latency can significantly improve server response time.

Keep your server software and its components, such as the web server (e.g. Apache or Nginx), PHP or other programming languages, updated. This allows you to use the latest security patches and performance optimizations.

How to speed up your site

Now let’s look at how you can improve the hardware component of your infrastructure to ensure that your website loads faster.

1. Choose the right cloud provider

Cloud hosting platforms offer scalability and flexibility, allowing a website to utilize the resources of multiple servers. This makes it possible to handle high traffic volume and provide high availability. A VPS server offers an isolated virtual environment that mimics a dedicated server. It provides more resources and control than regular shared hosting. A dedicated server provides full computing resources of a single server for your website. It provides high performance and control, but can be more expensive and require more management. Choosing the right type of hosting depends on the requirements of your site and expected traffic volume.

2. Optimize your server settings to increase performance. This may include adjusting memory, CPU, cache and other settings to ensure requests are processed quickly.
3. Update server software such as the web server (such as Apache or Nginx), database, and programming languages. New versions of software often include performance improvements and bug fixes.
4. Optimize the database for fast access and processing of data.

Use the EXPLAIN command on your database to analyze and understand which queries are running slowly. This may include changing the query structure, adding indexes, or reconsidering the use of tables and relationships. Caching responses to frequently repeated queries can significantly speed up database performance. Instead of executing the query each time, the database can give the already stored result from the cache. This is especially useful for dynamic sites where content is generated frequently and may be the same for multiple users. Setting up indexes in the database allows you to efficiently search for data across tables. Indexes are created on indexed fields and significantly speed up the search process.

5. Load balancing and clustering allow load balancing across multiple servers, which improves performance and provides fault tolerance. Principles include:

Distributing traffic across multiple servers to evenly distribute the load and ensure high availability.

Combining multiple servers into a cluster to handle traffic and provide fault tolerance. The cluster can include data replication, resource sharing, and automatic recovery.

6. Use of SSD storage:

Using fast and efficient SSD storage instead of traditional HDDs can significantly improve performance. SSD storage has faster data read and write speeds, which speeds up query processing and content loading.

7. Network infrastructure:

Hosting the site on hosting providers with high-speed network connectivity and utilizing networking technologies such as CDNs help ensure fast delivery of content to users anywhere in the world.

Performance optimization is not a one-time action. Websites and their requirements are constantly changing, and users expect ever faster and more responsive sites. Therefore, it is important to understand that optimization is an ongoing process that should be part of your daily website development and maintenance practices.

The post Techniques and Tips on How to Increase Site Speed appeared first on C&K_CO.

Google PageSpeed Insights

A free tool from Google that helps to evaluate the performance and loading speed of a website. Google Page Speed analyzes page load time, server response time, image optimization, caching and other parameters. The tool gives an overall assessment of loading speed for mobile and desktop devices, as well as recommendations on how to improve performance.

GTmetrix

Like Google PageSpeed Insights this website page load speed service or tool provides a detailed analysis of its performance. It evaluates the loading speed, server response time, page size and more. GTmetrix offers recommendations to improve performance, including caching, resource compression, and code optimization.

Pingdom

A service provided by Pingdom AB allows you to measure site performance and monitor site availability. This tool allows you to check the speed of your site from different servers located in different parts of the world. Provides detailed reports on the load time of each web page element such as images, CSS styles, JavaScript scripts and other resources. Shows server response time and total page size. This data can help you identify problem areas and determine which page components are taking longer to load.

Take a close look at the recommendations provided by the performance analysis tool. They may indicate steps to optimize site loading. For example, implementing caching, using a CDN (content delivery network), improving code, or optimizing resources. Figure out which of these recommendations can be applied to your site and start implementing them. When interpreting the results, you should pay attention to the following parameters:

• Page load time;
• Evaluate the overall time of your site. If it exceeds the recommended values (usually less than 3 seconds), it may indicate issues that need to be optimized;
• Server response time;
• This is the time it takes for the server to process a request. If the server response time is high, it may indicate a problem with your hosting or server configuration;
• Page size and number of requests;
• Large page sizes and many requests can slow down loading times. Pay attention to page size and number of requests, and try to reduce them by compressing images, minifying CSS and JavaScript files, combining them into a single file, or using caching;
• Prioritize tasks;
• Identify problem areas and prioritize them. Focus on those aspects that have the biggest impact on loading speed and performance. For example, if image size is a major issue, start by optimizing them;
• Testing and re-analyzing;
• After making changes and optimizing the site, re-analyze its performance using tools. This will allow you to see the result of the changes you made and allow you to continue optimizing if necessary.

The post Analyze the Performance of Your Website appeared first on C&K_CO.