Category Archives: wordpress

Autoptimize 2.4 beta 3 includes image optimization!

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We’re finalizing work on Autoptimize 2.4 with beta-3, which was just released. There are misc. changes under the hood, but the main functional change is the inclusion of image optimization!

This feature uses Shortpixel’s smart image optimization proxy, where requests for images are routed through their URL and automagically optimized. As the image proxy is hosted on one of the best preforming CDN’s with truly global presence obviously using HTTP/2 for parallelized requests, as the parameters are not in a query-string but are part of the URL and as behind the scenes the same superb image optimization logic is used that can also be found in the existing Shortpixel plugin, you can expect great results from just ticking that “optimize image” checkbox on the “Extra” tab :-)

Image optimization will be completely free during the 2.4 Beta-period. After the official 2.4 release this will remain free up until a still to be defined threshold per domain, after which additional service can be purchased at Shortpixel’s.

If you’re already running AO 2.4 beta-2, you’ll be prompted to upgrade. And if you’d like to join the beta to test image optimization, you can download the zip-file here. The only thing I ask in return is feedback (bugs, praise, yay’s, meh’s, …)  ;-)

 

New: Autoptimize CriticalCSS.com Power-Up released!

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The Autoptimize criticalcss.com Power-up has just been released to the wordpress.org plugin repository!

This plugin integrates with and extends Autoptimize. It integrates with criticalcss.com, a premium service which uses a “headless” browser to extract real critical CSS. That way it  fully automates the extraction of high-quality critical CSS and the creation of rules for that critical CSS. It can work 100% automated, but also allows semi-automated jobs (where you enter a URL for which you want a specific rule, the power-up will do the rest) and manual rules (where you create the rule and add critical CSS yourself).

WordPress, Youtube (Lyte) and the GDPR

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So you (vaguely) know about the GDPR I’m sure. German netizens seem ahead of the curve, as I’ve been mainly getting questions about Autoptimize and WP YouTube Lyte from that part of Europe. It even looks like the German implementation of the GDPR is pretty strict, with people removing externally hosted resources (like Google Fonts and Facebook widgets) from their sites.

It’s in that context that user ekatarinal on the WordPress support forum for WP YouTube Lyte asked if the thumnails for the Lyte video’s could not be loaded locally. That way user information (IP-address -and if the user is logged in to Google a lot more- would not be available to Google/ YouTube unless and until the visitor clicked the play-button. Additional advantage; no extra dns-lookup, http connection or ssl/ tls negotiation, no short caching-headers, … so very likely to improve performance as well!

And that’s why WP YouTube Lyte 1.7.0 is in the works and it will have that option. In fact it’s already up on Github in a first incarnation (call it beta), so if you want to test you can download the zip-file here.

EDIT: Lyte 1.7.0 was released on April 28th, no need to go down that Github road.

Wildbirds & Peacedrums "There Is No Light" (official video)

Watch this video on YouTube.

 

Autoptimize 2.4 beta 2; hooking into page cache purges and better Google Fonts handling

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I just pushed out an update of the Autoptimize 2.4 beta branch on GitHub, with this in the changelog;

  • new: Autoptimize “listens” to page caches being cleared, upon which it purges it’s own cache as well. Support depends on known action hooks firing by the page cache, supported by Hyper Cache, WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, KeyCDN Cache Enabler, support confirmed coming in WP Fastest Cache and Comet Cache.
  • new: Google Fonts can now be “aggregated & preloaded”, this uses CSS which is loaded non render-blocking
  • improvement: “remove all Google Fonts” is now more careful (avoiding removing entire CSS

We’re still looking for beta-testers and some of these new features might convince you to jump on board? You can download the zip-file here, installing it a simple one-time process:

  1. Deactivate Autoptimize 2.3.x
  2. Go to Plugins -> New -> Upload
  3. Select the downloaded zipfile and upload
  4. Click activate
  5. Go to Settings -> Autoptimize to review some of the new settings

In case of any problem; we’re actively looking for feedback in the GitHub Issue queue :-)

 

Autoptimize 2.3.3 and beyond

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Autoptimize 2.3.3 was just released. It is a minor release with the following minor improvements & fixes:

  • improvement: updated to latest version of Filamentgroup’s loadCSS
  • improvement: by default exclude wp-content/cache and wp-content/uploads from CSS optimization (Divi, Avada & possibly others store page-specific CSS there)
  • bugfix: stop double try/catch-blocks
  • misc. bugfixes (see GitHub commit log)

This is (supposed to be) the last minor release of the 2.3 branch, 2.4 is a major change with some big under-the-hood and functional changes. That new version has been in the works for some months already and if you’re up for it you can install by simply downloading this zip-file from GitHub. The GitHub version will also auto-update thanks to the great Plugin Update Checker library.

Taking over Async JavaScript WordPress plugin

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David Clough, author of the Async JavaScript WordPress plugin contacted me on March 5th to ask me if I was interested to take over ownership of his project. Fast-forward to the present; I will release a new version of AsyncJS on March 13th on wordpress.org, which will:

  • integrate all “pro” features (that’s right, free for all)
  • include some rewritten code for easier maintenance
  • be fully i18n-ready (lots of strings to translate :-) )

I will provide support on the wordpress.org forum (be patient though, I don’t have a deep understanding of code, functionality & quirks yet). I also have some more fixes/ smaller changes/ micro-improvements in mind (well, a Trello-board really) for the next release, but I am not planning major changes or new functionality. But I vaguely remember I said something similar about Autoptimize a long time ago and look where that got me …

Anyway, kudo’s to David for a great plugin with a substantial user-base (over 30K active installations) and for doing “the right thing” (as in not putting it on the plugin-market in search for the highest bidder). I hope I’ll do you proud man!

Long overdue: WP YouTube Lyte update

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It took me way too long (Autoptimize and related stuff is great fun, but it is eating a lot of time), but I just pushed out an update to my first ever plugin; WP YouTube Lyte. From the changelog:

So there you have it; Lite YouTube Embeds 2018 style and an example Lyte embed of a 1930’s style Blue Monday …

Orkestra Obsolete play Blue Monday using 1930s instruments – BBC Arts

Watch this video on YouTube.