We get that question a lot and whilst sometimes you may get advice to change hosting companies or upgrade your server package or increase your bandwidth allotment, quite possible you only just need to edit a file. However a typical website today is made up of so many files (Javascript files, Cascading Style Sheet files, scripting files, graphic and other media files, etc) that it sometimes could be difficult to figure out which file (if any) needs editing. Below are a partial list of things you can do to speed up your web site.
- Optimise your images:- If you are using a lot of images on your web site you need to optimise them. In general, image optimsation is a process of reducing the file-size of the image by reducing the number of colours used and other aspects of the image without overly affecting the visual appearance of it. By reducing the size of the image you will reduce the time it takes to download that image and as a result increase the speed of your web site. There are serval image optimisation applications on the market, however you may consider using Yahoo!'s SmushIt online image optimisation service. Here's the link to Yahoo's SmushIt
- Minify your javascript and css files:- Minification in general is a process of reducing the file size of a file by removing un-necessary text from it. Some of this unnecessary text are line-breaks, spaces, and comments which can be stored in these files. Since the Internet browser that your clients/visitors use will not use these texts, it is best to remove them and like number 1 above, a smaller file will aid in a quicker download of your web site. Be sure to always keep a backup of your original files in a separate folder before you carry out any minification steps to your files. There are several tools online to help you to minify your javascript and css files.
- Remove any duplicate javascript or css files:- Sometimes, dependiing on the type of web site you have, duplicate css and javascript files will be included in your web site downloaded thus causing an unneccessary increase in the time it takes to download your web site. There is a great tool online that you can use to help you know whether you have any duplicate javascript or css files as well as a host of other things. PingDom.com is great free tool where it allows you to enter your web site address and test your website (visit http://tools.pingdom.com). PingDom will go to your site and not only tell you how long it took for your site to load, but it will tell you how long it took to download each image, javascript file, flash animation, etc. Visit the web site, it's worth a look
