Optimizing WordPress

TheSmithy Wordpress

This post is meant to be a log book of optimization tricks and how they affect performance of my Roots 7.0 installation

Note: YSlow, Pagespeed etc. complained about compressing with gzip. If your server runs on Apache below 2.3.7 (as was the case with me) remove the <IfModule mod_filter.c></If> in .htacces (under Compression). That solved it for me

Configuration 1:

  • website: Rootsfiddle
  • Assets:
    • Bootstrap
      • Complete / half (test 2)
    • Google Fonts:
      • Raleway:400
      • Lekton
      • Montserrat:400,700
      • Merriweather:400,700
      • Unica+One
      • Vollkorn:400,700,400italic,700italic
  • Activated Plugins:
    • Roots Addons:
      • H5BP
      • Rewrites
      • Soil
    • ACF 4.3.9
    • BackWPup 3.1.2
    • CPT 0.8.4
    • Developer:
      • Debug bar
      • Log viewer
      • Simply show IDs
      • Theme check
      • User switching
    • JCK Admin bar toggle
    • WP Migrate DB
    • mqTranslate (test 3)
  • Admin: logged out
  • Debug: on
  • Test 1: 
    • Audit (Chrome, reload pages):
      • Network Util (red recommendations:)
        • Leverage Browser Caching
      • Performance (recommendations)
        • Optimize the order of css and scripts (1)
        • Remove unused CSS rules (1269)
    • Pagespeed (Chrome)
    • Pingdom.com (AMsterdam, public (otherwise no link))
    • YSlow (FF)
      • Grade B on Add Expires headers
      • Stats
        • Empty cache
          • HTTP Requests – 18
          • Total Weight – 281.3K
        • Primed Cache
          • HTTP Requests – 2
          • Total Weight – 2.4K
    • P3-Profiler
      • WordPress Plugin Profile Report
        ===========================================
        Report date: 12th September 2014
        Theme name: Roots Starter Theme
        Pages browsed: 8
        Avg. load time: 0.5855 sec
        Number of plugins: 12
        Plugin impact: 29.98% of load time
        Avg. plugin time: 0.1755 sec
        Avg. core time: 0.3310 sec
        Avg. theme time: 0.0502 sec
        Avg. mem usage: 38.63 MB
        Avg. ticks: 2,527
        Avg. db queries : 62.38
        Margin of error : 0.0288 secPlugin list:
        ===========================================
        P3 (Plugin Performance Profiler) – 0.0013 sec – 0.73%
        Roots Rewrites Master – 0.0036 sec – 2.06%
        Simply Show IDs – 0.0010 sec – 0.54%
        Soil Master – 0.0170 sec – 9.70%
        Theme Check – 0.0051 sec – 2.88%
        User Switching – 0.0567 sec – 32.30%
        Wp H5bp Htaccess Master – 0.0009 sec – 0.53%
        WP Migrate DB – 0.0124 sec – 7.09%
        BackWPup – 0.0361 sec – 20.57%
        Debug Bar – 0.0281 sec – 16.01%
        Log Viewer – 0.0112 sec – 6.40%
        Advanced Custom Fields – 0.0021 sec – 1.19%
  • Test 2 (No Bootstrap): 
    • Note: Only changes are shown (marked with green)
    • Audit (Chrome, reload pages):
      • Performance (recommendations)
        • Remove unused CSS rules (1269  760)
    • Pagespeed (Chrome)
      • No change
    • Pingdom.com (AMsterdam, public (otherwise no link))
    • YSlow (FF) 
      • note: clear cache first
      • Stats
        • Empty cache
          • Total Weight – 281.3K 264.7K
        • Primed Cache
          • Total Weight – 2.4K  1.6K
  • Test 3 (with mqTranslate plugin): 
    • Audit (Chrome, reload pages):
      • small changes
    • Pagespeed (Chrome)
      • No change
    • Pingdom.com (AMsterdam, public (otherwise no link))
    • YSlow (FF)
      • Minor changes
    • P3-Profiler
      • WordPress Plugin Profile Report
        ===========================================
        Report date: 12th September 2014
        Theme name: Roots Starter Theme
        Pages browsed: 8
        Avg. load time: 0.5855 sec       0.8071 sec
        Number of plugins: 12    13
        Plugin impact: 29.98% of load time   24.51% of load time
        Avg. plugin time: 0.1755 sec     0.1979 sec
        Avg. core time: 0.3310 sec  0.5287
        Avg. theme time: 0.0502 sec  0.0469
        Avg. mem usage: 38.63 MB   48.50 MB
        Avg. ticks: 2,527       2,859
        Avg. db queries : 62.38   61.62
        Margin of error : 0.0288 secPlugin list:
        ===========================================
        P3 (Plugin Performance Profiler) – 0.0013 sec – 0.73%
        Roots Rewrites Master – 0.0036 sec – 2.06%   0.0109 sec – 5.49%
        Simply Show IDs – 0.0010 sec – 0.54%
        Soil Master – 0.0170 sec – 9.70%    0.0083 sec – 4.18%
        Theme Check – 0.0051 sec – 2.88%
        User Switching – 0.0567 sec – 32.30%     0.0384 sec – 19.40%
        Wp H5bp Htaccess Master – 0.0009 sec – 0.53%
        WP Migrate DB – 0.0124 sec – 7.09%   0.0152 sec – 7.67%
        mqTranslate – 0.0005 sec – 0.24%
        BackWPup – 0.0361 sec – 20.57%      0.0464 sec – 23.43%
        Debug Bar – 0.0281 sec – 16.01%      0.0533 sec – 26.93%
        Log Viewer – 0.0112 sec – 6.40%   0.0145 sec – 7.33%
        Advanced Custom Fields – 0.0021 sec – 1.19%