This section explains how to use a performance optimization plug-in like WP-Optimize.

There are also many performance optimizations and caching plug-ins for WordPress, such as the Little Rocket we shared with you earlier, WP Rocket, Perfmatters, and a plugin like WP-Optimize, which we will discuss in this lesson.

Go directly to our site’s backend, find the installation plug-in, upload the plug-in, select the big WP-Optimize we downloaded, and click to open the installation. After the installation is successful, we activate the plug-in directly. After activation, it will be in our WordPress backend. On the left side, we can see an extra function button. Let’s open it and take a look.

1 WP Optimize Function Buttons

The performance optimization plug-in is very comprehensive and used by many people. It also has a free version, but we are demonstrating here the PRO version. So, what are the advantages of the performance optimization plugin?

Optimize database:

Some performance optimization plug-ins we mentioned earlier do not include database optimization, but they can optimize every table in our database.

For example, when we use WordPress to build an independent website, there will be a process like this. We have installed some plug-ins before, but because we use other plug-ins later or for optimization, we need to delete those plugins. After deleting this plug-in, The generated database table will not be deleted; it is still in our database so that it will occupy our database now, and the WP-Optimize plug-in can be used for each table in the database table.

Systematic optimization: if you delete the plug-in, it can also delete all these tables so that this plug-in will optimize the data more comprehensively.

Image Compression:

Whether a stand-alone page opens quickly or slowly, in addition to the underlying environment and code, such as the programs it uses and the server, there is also a key factor: what materials are uploaded to our web pages. In addition to text, whether we upload pictures or videos to our web pages, they will slow down our website speed because if our web page wants to open, it must load these materials. If you upload pictures At that time, you did not do any processing. For example, the picture on your mobile phone may have several M.

Then, when the user opens our webpage, he must download the entire picture and store it on our computer. You may not feel the above, but downloading one or two megabytes of data on your mobile phone will be very slow.

So this requires us that if we want to make our web pages faster, in addition to using these tools to optimize them, there is also a key factor that when we upload images, it is best to use photoshop (ps) first. Process it, for example, compress its size and quality. Of course, as more of our later products are uploaded, this kind of compression will still put a lot of pressure on our server. At this time, we need to use some plug-ins, and then To further compress the images we have uploaded, this plug-in can achieve this effect. It can compress our images losslessly and convert them into popular Webp format. This is a new image format, so the quality of this format will be relatively smaller, but its resolution will not change.

cache-accelerate:

When I used Little Rocket before, its main function was caching. What does caching mean?

It refers to taking the page our users open in our independent station, generating some static files, and then placing it in our server. Then, the next time another user opens it, it does not need to enter the database, and it is called through PHP. It can directly enter our server and then call such a static file. In this case, the loading speed will be very fast because Two steps are reduced: one is the PHP call, and the second is the database query.

There are some other functions. For example, one of them is to merge files. After we open the independent site, we check the source code, and we find that in our site, for example, when we see such a file, it calls some CSS style sheets. If there are too many of these style sheets, then each link will have to be read, slowing us down, and merging means putting these files into a unified file. Called once.

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Another way to deal with it is compression. For example, let’s open one of the CSS files and see the CSS file for better reading and optimization, generally, when our programmers write when the front-end staff is writing. There will be some spaces or comments in the middle, but these contents are useless and useless to our web pages. The so-called compression is to list all these spaces together and then delete all these comments. , compress it into a large piece; this is called compression, and now our plug-in has such a function.

The above are the four main functions of the WP-Optimize plug-in.

Let’s explain it to you one by one. First, let’s enter its settings page. Its settings are very simple. Here, we will give you a little introduction to the WP-Optimize plug-in. It is the same as another plug-in. What the company developed is what we shared with you earlier. Updraftplus is such a safe backup plug-in. A company produces it, so there will be a recommendation here. Let’s learn a little bit about it.

After entering the settings page, it will first thank you for using its plug-in. We can just turn it off.

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Then, let’s take a look at the settings. The first setting item is very simple, which is whether to display the icon of the performance optimization plug-in on the menu above. After we save it, we can see a quick entrance here, and the other is the menu to activate the cache. , in our admin, we can directly cache here, and then the following two, one is for our pingbacks, and our comments can be cleared, which we generally do not check under normal circumstances. , because our comments are often needed. The next one is a log. When you use the WP-Optimize plug-in, it will generate some records. So, where do you want to save this record?

After you have set them up, you can import and export these settings to reuse the plug-in data on multiple sites. The next one is our cache permission. Currently, only administrators have permission. You can also set some editors or some store administrators who also have such cache, and the permissions are also OK.

The bottom is the button to hide settings, which is the content of all its settings.

Independent station database optimization:

The first one we open is to optimize our database. The first one is for the tables of our database, and then some useless junk information is generated in it. Then, you can run the optimization and clean it up.

For example, You can see that there will be some tables here so that you can generate 117 tables here. You can delete them and then click here to optimize them individually. You can also check which ones need to be optimized. Under normal circumstances, we default to That’s it.

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If you want to optimize, just click Run, and it will optimize the database tables for all our checked tables.

Of course, there will be a reminder here. Normally, when we modify the database table, it involves all the data from our independent station. Although many of our servers have backup functions, we still have to do it first under normal circumstances. Make a backup to prevent some errors, and he will also tell you here that before you clean up the database, it is best to use a backup plug-in like his to back up the data. This is the first one.

The second one is for some of our tables. For example, as we told you earlier, we installed some plug-ins before, and these plug-ins have now been deleted, but they still have a certain capacity in this table so that we can delete them directly. Of course, you can also clear it. We will delete it directly here. I just agree to delete it.

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Okay, in this case, the table will disappear. The same goes for other tables. As long as it is not installed, the database table it generates can be deleted, whether it is a plug-in or a theme you have installed. This is for its database table. an optimization.

Then the next one is its settings, which are mainly for automatic database optimization, but we rarely use it because this is not controllable. Sometimes, it will increase the pressure on our independent station, so we do it manually under normal circumstances. Yes, for example, just clean it once a week. Of course, there will also be a prompt here. If you set it up later, the data will be kept for two weeks. We don’t need to worry about it if we don’t need it.

The following one is for our woocommerce. Sometimes, our woocommerce is relatively slow when calculating the total user order amount so that we can activate it. After activation, it will be relatively faster. Okay, This is an optimization for our database table.

Independent station image compression:

The second one is our picture; you can also open it from here. This picture and the plug-in are very simple. It is mainly the first way to compress our pictures; that is, you can target the pictures uploaded later. Do not compress. Once you check it, whether you upload images through products or articles later, it will prioritize compression.

Then, when compressing, you need to set a rule for it. This rule is divided into three. The first is maximum compression, which means compressing it as small as possible. The second is lossless, and some details must be preserved.

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The third one is that you can make some customizations. Under normal circumstances, we usually choose lossless compression. Although we can compress the image very small and the speed very fast if our product is not clear and blurry. Others will also think that our independent nature is very copycat, which may affect our conversion, so we can just choose the mid-range one.

The next step is to convert all the pictures we upload into .webp format. In this format, others cannot download your pictures directly. After downloading it, it will be a web version, so you can check the box. After checking, of course, it will be compressed into an external batch. It requires the use of some software, some of which are free. We can use it by just adding it by default.

After adding it, here are the pictures for us. We can compress the pictures that have been uploaded. The first is to target some pictures. For example, if I want to optimize these pictures, I just check the boxes. Then another method is to optimize all your pictures. It will select all the pictures. After selecting them, you can optimize them below. With one click, it will compress all these pictures into this setting. lossless way.

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The other one is to convert it to Webp format. Of course, it will make some backups during the optimization process, so you don’t have to worry. Normally, it can be optimized directly. Then, the second step is to identify which parts of our site have not been compressed and which have not been compressed. After identifying them, you can see which mutations in your site have not been compressed. You can compress it again. For example, we see a selection here, and then the same below can be compressed or deleted.

WP-Optimize delayed loading:

The next one is lazy loading. Lazy loading means that when the user opens the page of our independent website and does not turn to the following screen, the following pictures will not be loaded first or will load slowly when loading. , rather than loading it all at once. It can target our picture foreground images, then background images, or it can target our iframes or videos, videos, etc., as some lazy loading.

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Of course, everyone must pay attention here. Our cache or performance plug-ins can sometimes be used together, but in most cases, they conflict. For example, if we have installed Rocket on this site, you have already set lazy loading. If you set it again here, it will be invalid.

Independent station file cache settings:

The first one is whether you activate the cache. If you activate it, it will set the cache file. Then, the next one is for mobile phones, logged-in users, or users with special rules. Then, we can set some caches, which are generally normal. We are caching for everyone; the other is how often it will be automatically cached. Once there is a cache, for example, it will directly generate some static files on the homepage of our independent station or the About page and then put them in our database.

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So if we make some modifications to this file now, the contents of the previously cached file will not change because there is a period of time in between unless you click the cache again to clear the cache, in which case the server can The cache files that have been generated in it are changed. This is why we sometimes modify content on an independent site, but it has no effect when we refresh the front desk. This is because our browser also has a cache, so many times We need to clear the browser cache, but the cache we are talking about here is the server cache, and everyone must distinguish it.

The next one is preloading. We can run it to load some important files in advance. Then, there is an advanced setting that exempts some cached content. For example, if we cache it, it means caching all files, but there are some files. We don’t want it to be cached. For example, our font files, such as some core files on our homepage, don’t have to be cached, so you can just exclude them. You can leave it alone if you don’t know how to set it up.

WP-Optimize Gzip:

Gzip refers to web page compression, which is the same as the .zip compression package on our computers. Of course, there is no direct relationship between the two. It refers to a compression method, but currently, we use the more advanced compression method.

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So what we are using now is a Siteground server, which comes with it. If you are not using a Siteground server, if you use a CDN like Cloudflare, it also has such a compression method, so we don’t need to worry about it. The other one is to enable our cache header. We don’t need to worry about it; we can just activate it by default.

Let us emphasize here that caching cannot install two caching plug-ins simultaneously. For example, if you install wp-rochet and enable caching, you cannot activate the cache here. If, after activation, although your site seems to have no problems, it will always have some bugs later on. Because I have encountered this problem before, I suggest you only use one caching plug-in.

Independent station file merging acceleration:

The last one is merge compression. You just need to activate it. This is very simple. The same is true for this one. It and the caching plug-in are performed simultaneously because you want them when you go to the cache. The smaller the file, the better, so this is mainly for our CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files. It is merged and compressed once you activate it.

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You can also choose HTML, JS, and CSS here. HTML, JS, and CSS are the three most important languages that make up our web pages. HTML, for example, the text we write, is a tag or a p tag. This is HTML. CSS is to arrange these displayed data files neatly. For example, some are placed on the left and others on the right. This is CSS.

So, for JS, we have a banner here. When we scroll, it is called interaction. When the user takes some actions, your webpage will have some responses. This is JS so you can use these three according to your needs. Just set it up. Well, this is about how to use such a performance optimization plug-in.