Hi - I'm thinking of using Cloudflare to speed up one of my sites.
Does anybody have any thoughts on Cloudflare?
Thanks
Ian

Hi Ian,

Have you gone down the route of shrinking image sizes, script compression etc already?

Cheers
Paul

Hi Paul - I'm very aware of image sizes. Not sure how to do script compression.

I do have GZip and caching enabled.

One problem is the !!!*********!!!!! client is uploading 4MB photos to his blog, then castigating me because his internet connection to the site is timing out.

Despite his pics I don't have a problem with his site, so I suspect there is a slow connection somewhere between him and my servers.

He's not talking to me right now because of this.

On Monday I will send him a list of his huge files but I think he doesn't believe anything I say.

We've been working together for more than 20 years. He gets really cross with me but keeps coming back because he falls out with his other suppliers and I'm the only idiot who will put up with him long term.

Am I a glutton for punishment or what? !!*****!!

However, he has spent a great deal of money with me over the years

I'm looking at CloudFlare or Google SpeedPages as a way of speeding up his site despite him.

Just wondered if anyone else had experience of these.

I'm experimenting now with one of my own sites, which is quite memory hungry because I have loads of video files on it. I won't try it on his site until I'm confident it works.

Sorry for the tantrum, and thanks for getting back to me,

Ian

Hi Ian

I'm grumpy enough to remember when the target size of a web page was 50k!

Images are an on-going issue for us with clients so I feel your pain, it is something Joomla should address in the core, in my opinion.

Addressing the image size is going to return the most results, we use this plugin to ensure images are sized and resized on the fly as most people struggle with concept of resizing and ultimate quality is rarely an issue.

www.s2software.it/en/download/joomla-image-resize-cache

Once setup it just works and prevents large uploads. Of course you can do this via JCE editor but that route still requires user co-operation. The plugin solves this issue at source and can be worked in to lots of content. Depending on the site K2 also does a good job of controlling images sizes.

Once on top of images then you can look into the detail of optimisation. Here is a good site for advice, good place to start: joomlaseo.com/
Then gtmetrix.com/ will give you some more information on what to look at and correct/improve.

You can then look at compression, cache, .htaccess, optimisation, and all the other tweaks to grind the last ounce of speed, and with zgf4 framework you can often get 90+ speeds without too much work.

Ian

Hi Ian
Many thanks for this. Grumpy is the word!
The plugin sounds like a client-saver.
I'll give it a go.
Neither you nor Paul have actually referred to my original question about cloud fare or google speed pages.
Are these to be avoided?
Thanks to you and Paul, as always, for your support.
Ian

Image sizing = nightmare

A constant battle - together with image file names being either rubbish or containing all sorts of naming problems

Together with gtmetrix I use websight insights along side it

developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
Google does seem to like medium image quality settings

Depending on the situation if the image content is largely static I do use kraken.io/web-interface after saving for web

As Ian said joomlaseo.com/ is a site I also follow

Regarding cloud Flare I'd look to do other stuff first

If the client continues to load huge images you are sunk even with cloud flare

Before you start compressing script files or file load order I'd have backups in place and do it when the client isn't looking at the site

Cheers
Paul

I would look at joomlaseo.com/ first before you do anything else

and Ian thanks for the link regarding the extension

I've been meaning to test the inbuilt JCH kraken functionality so will take a look at this also

Cheers
Paul

Thanks Paul -I'll take your advice.
I've had enough of this week now, off to bed.
Nosda
Ian

Yeah I hear you on that one

night

Cheers
Paul

Hi Ian/Paul

I have not used Cloudflare or any other cdn type service in this context, still getting to grips with this new fangled inter webby thingy.....

Optimisation is usually good enough for our user base combined with a good host. If sites grow we will specify faster dedicated servers but this needs a budget available to support and make secure.

We use jch on most sites which improves the speed as part of a package of setup during deployment. There is a point of diminishing return, and our clients just do not have the budget, same true for proper seo. A case of managing expectations.

Images are the big one though. Bring back 5x4 plate camera!

Ian

Yep there agree 100% on JCH and indeed it is a case of managing expectations with Search optimisation

Thanks
Paul

Hi Paul and Ian - thanks to both of you for your help yesterday.
I'm spending this wet weekend going through everything on this site and trying to clean it up.
I was sloppy when I put it together.
And I'm afraid I have loads more questions on this topic.

First, I've copied the .htaccess cache settings direct from GTmetrix:
## EXPIRES CACHING ##
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
ExpiresActive On
ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 1 year"
ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 year"
ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 year"
ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 year"
ExpiresByType text/css "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/pdf "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/x-javascript "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access plus 1 year"
ExpiresDefault "access plus 2 days"
</IfModule>
## EXPIRES CACHING ##

Is this OK?
And will it interfere with GTmetrix speed tests?

Thanks again,

Ian

Hi Ian,

Is this on zgfv4 based template?

Cheers
Paul

Hmm. I don't know Paul. It's Portal v 1.4.3, T3 2.5.1.

GTmetrix seems to like it...

It isn't - any template that uses the T3 plugin is built on that framework

Templates from Xero (not presto) on use the Zen Grid Framework V4 (ZGFV4)

OK - why did you ask?

We have a have htaccess file download suitable for zgfv4 templates

my knowledge of htaccess is limited so was hoping to point you in that direction

Will check with rob regarding htaccess

Cheers
Paul

Talking to Rob its a bit difficult to advice on htaccess as it depends on the server setup

Adding rules to htaccess can break sites so I'd be careful

Rob suggest checking out the html5 boilerplate site

github.com/h5bp/html5-boilerplate/blob/master/dist/.htaccess

Cheers
Paul