This helps reduce http requests which in turn leads to faster loading times for your website.

Another tip would be to delete redundant CSS declarations. Remove CSS declarations that are not in use.

Move CSS on top and Javascript to the Bottom.

CSS declarations or file includes should be in between the section. This way browsers will know how to display the page before they even get to the HTML .

JavaScript files belong at the bottom , right before the </body> tag.  This prevents JavaScript code from rendering the page while things are still being requested.

Minify CSS and JavaScript

We’re going to use Minify and JSLint for this next part.

Copy all your JavaScript onto the clipboard onto the corresponding input field in Minify.

Then click “Hit Me”. and use the resulting JavaScript on your website.

Minify – http://www.reneschmidt.de/tools/minify/

JSLint – http://www.jslint.com

Make sure you check the JavaScript once again after it is minified to ensure it is still working before replacing existing JavaScript files.

Making CSS and JavaScript External

It is considered good practice to not use inline CSS and JavaScript. Always have them in external files. That way they’re easier to edit, reduce the size of the page, cache easier and reduce load times which leads to a better user experience.

That brings us to the end of the optimizing JavaScript and CSS post.

Until Next Time.

Building on the previous blog post on website optimization , this post is going to be on optimizing images on your site. If YSlow displayed that your images should not be scaled in HTML or make favicon small and cacheable, then this post is for you.

Correcting Dimensions in IMG tags

A lot of people do this. They use ,say an image that is 1200 x 784 pixels, they want displayed at 120×90. They then use html to scale it down. This practice works as in it displays fine but not on the optimization and site speed end. You see if you use Html to scale the images usually by using the img tag, transmitting the image will take a long time.

There are a lot of tools out there which can help you do this. I personally use Paint.NET. Its free and easy to use. You can download it from http://www.getpaint.net/

That brings us to our next step. Firefox’s YSlow comes with a tool called Smush.it Smush.it is our shortcut when it comes to image optimization. Reducing images, art, screenshots etc. would have been a lot of work otherwise.

How to use Smush.It

Open up Firefox .

Open up YSlow.

Under the YSlow tab, you should see four tabs on the top left. Click on Tools tab.

Click on All Smush.it™ . This should open a new window and you should see your images either being processed or optimized. You’re going to have to download them as .zip

Unzip them and upload the optimized images back to your server replacing the previous images. Preferably overwriting them. Repeat them for other pages of your site.

Info on using sprites to reduce emoticon load times for forums.

I’ve not looked into this much because it doesn’t apply to me . But an indepth explanation on how to use CSS Sprites to reduce load times can be viewed using the link below
http://sixrevisions.com/css/css-sprites-site-speed/

Content Delivery Networks .

This part can become an expensive affair. If you can afford this then by all means do so. It is worth the price and your website visitors will thank you for it. Now for the rest of us there are alternatives.

I use CloudFlare. It is a CDN that comes bundled FREE with a HostGator account. If your site is huge and the solutions that follow don’t help you out much , then I suggest getting a hostgator account to use cloudflare. Serving niches uses Cloud Flare. It is one of the many reasons I think anybody gets to see this Site. So it works wonderfully.

copyblogger.com uses http://www.netdna.com/ the Net DNA Content Delivery Network. So that could be another option you’d want to check out.

Googling “Content Delivery Network” should give you more options. I say this because I don’t too have much info what CDN’s the major websites use.  Bigger websites tend not to discuss their technology choices too much.

That brings us to the end of the Optimizing Images Blog Post. Next time we’ll look into working with CSS and Javascript on our pages to help optimize our website and entice visitors to stay longer.

Have a lot of people leaving your site too fast ? Your high bounce rates could be due to a slow loading website. People these days simply don’t wait for 5 or 10 seconds for a page to load.  A slow loading page affects everything else you do . You can say bye bye to those sales and leads. Therefore it is important that you optimize your websites. Lets forget usability or anything else that would affect sales. We’re going to concentrate on making your site more responsive i.e load faster. Want another reason ? Okay then .

The next few blog posts are going to be all about Website and Blog Optimization. First we’ll begin with Yslow. We’re going to take it a bit further than that in later blog posts. But first YSlow.

Today is the simplest part . Installing Yslow and related Components.

Once all these are installed , You are now ready to run Yslow. Restart your FireFox Browser.

You should see something like the picture below at the bottom right of your firefox browser.

First off I have to mention this. To get a digest of Serving Niches’s valuable posts in one easy to read PDF , go here.

The link will take you to a Landing Page where I talk a bit about the new ebook I’m going to be putting out very soon. Sign up to the list to get it for FREE when it becomes available.

You guessed it . I’m currently building up a list to build up interest for this valuable ebook.

A survey website is perfect for the beginner or anyone else. It is easy . Of course there is no such thing as a sure shot. But this ebook does its best. It discusses how to build one around the powerful membership site business model. There is unfortunately a bit of work when it comes to building one. Most marketers I’ve seen mention this don’t tell you how to go about building one. It isn’t easy if you don’t know how. Not to mention have any applicable strategy .

I mention how anybody can go about building one.

Also :

Why the membership business model is amazing .

Where to get Surveys for FREE .

And of course when I mean building a Survey Website I mean building a survey site that makes you money.

So click here to go sign up to the list if you would like to find out how.

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