Admittedly, I have WAY too many plugins on my blog. I just love them! Whenever I read about one that sounds really cool, I have to have it. That’s just all there is to it.
I’m a plugin junkie!
Well, today I spent hours trying to improve the performance of my blog. In fact, I started obsessing about it and wouldn’t let it go. I knew it was loading slowly and had to find out why. And fix it fast.
Are you familiar with YSlow and Firebug? They’re Firefox Addons. YSlow is designed to help you improve page loads for sites and blogs. Firefox helps you find (edit and debug) coding problems.
I’ve had them both installed for quite a while, but I don’t have YSlow set to autorun. Today I checked my blog with it and to my stellar shock, I had a failing grade! (My sincerest apologies to my readers. I’m working on it.)
What slows your page load times?
- images
- css
- javascript
- plugins
- apps
- and a bunch of techie stuff I won’t bore you with
What did I do to improve my page load time?
- installed W3 Total Cache
- installed WP-DB Manager (update: Some say it’s great but I had problems with it so I deleted it)
- deleted unused Themes
- deactivated and deleted unused plugins
Simply deactivating plugins doesn’t do the trick. You have to remove them to get the full benefit.
The result? I got a passing grade, a “C” with an overall performance score of 77. Not happy! Gotta keep trying to speed it up.
What else could I do to improve site performance?
After investigating, I found that the social buttons, widgets and apps were seriously slowing down performance. Facebook, Share buttons, Networked blogs, CommentLuv, Twitter Links, Subscribe to Comments… all that good stuff!
Tough decision as to what to get rid of since a good share of those are for rewarding my commenters. Others are to entice readers to share my content thereby increase visibility for my blog.
Should I settle for an average score?
The speed in which your site or blog loads is “considered” by Google. Your ranking could suffer if your site or blog is a slow loader.
Not to mention PEOPLE don’t like to wait for a page to load!
So, I’ll keep working on improving load speeds and keep you posted on how it goes. Deal?
In the meantime, I hope you’ll leave a comment.
What do you think?
Have you noticed the difference between sites that load fast or slow?
Does a slow loading site make you hit the back button or close your browser window?
Are you concerned with the speed of your own site or blog?
Are you interested in finding out more?
I would love to know your thoughts on this!
Related posts:
Twitter: LEWatrous
says:
I’d much rather wait for a slower load time to have more awesome features, but I’m a fellow designer and understand it. The average person tends to want a fast site… I don’ think it was slow at all though, so you’re doing a good job. I love W3 Total Cache!
Twitter: mywebgal
says:
Hi Lucinda,
LOL… you and me both! Thanks for letting me know that my site wasn’t slow for you. Much appreciated!
Btw, your blog is an absolute treasure trove of information! Love it.
Twitter: extremejohn
says:
Haha this is a great post, I’m right there with you. I’ve slowed my addiction down and focused more of that addiction on social media which has worked out good for the speed of my blog and the stress behind when I make changes there as well.
WP Cache makes a big difference, all though I no longer use it.
Extreme John recently posted..9 Thoughts Seven Years Later
Twitter: mywebgal
says:
Hey John, Thanks for stopping by. Why did you stop using it?
Twitter: suziecheel
says:
Hi Deb,
I am a plugin Junkie too although I an using more code with my new theme and learning more css . I have just installed yslow and will test- thanks
On another note- I am a big Fan of the journey and know that site so well I met Brandon 11 years ago when I fist did the Journey Intensive and i love the website- wow and you designed it-
Have a wonderful day
namaste
Suzie
Suzie Cheel recently posted..Do You Feel You Own Power
Twitter: suziecheel
says:
Just ran Y slow F score of 40- looks like I might need a doctor
I did have an A for css. I understand from reading you post ) must delete old plugins etc. Would you take out old backgrounds, images that are no longer relevant to
Thanks and I am still smiling
Suzie Cheel recently posted..Kiva – Inspires- Empowers and Transforms
Twitter: mywebgal
says:
Suzie, check one of your pages as opposed to your posts. You’ll see a difference if they are set up without some or all of the plugins! And be sure to change the “Rule Set” to blog or small site for a more accurate reading. Congrats on the A for css. Removing unused images and backgrounds will help, considering every little thing helps. If there’s a lot it might do quite a bit of good. There’s a plugin for that, too! LOL. It’s called DUI (Delete Unused Images). Just search for it in your Add new plugins area. Good luck!
Twitter: suziecheel
says:
Thanks Deb,
I will install that plugin and see what difference it makes and run as you suggested on a page
Suzie Cheel recently posted..Do You Feel You Own Power
Twitter: mywebgal
says:
Hi Suzie, Yes, the Journey USA and Worldwide sites were mine a few years back. They have an in-house person now but the original designs (still being used) were mine. Brandon is a rather spectacular person. I enjoyed working for all of them. Very sweet people.
Twitter: suziecheel
says:
Yes they are a wonderful group of people- I assist once a years when Brandon is here on the Gold Coast. Great they have kept your wonderful design-
Suzie Cheel recently posted..The Power of Gratitude
Thank you for the tips. My site was loading pretty fast, or so I thought until I installed Yslow and saw the trouble I was in!
You’re right. There is a tendency to become a plugin junkie. I have dozens, gather over the life of the site. I auto update them when I am told there is an update available, but often times I have to search for more info on some of the more obscure plugin I have and don’t remember why they are in there for!
Yolie Zenaski recently posted..Alopecia Areata
Twitter: mywebgal
says:
Hi Yolie,
Thanks for your comment. One thing to be sure of when using YSlow is to change the setting to “Small site or blog” under the “Rule set.” It makes a difference. Don’t feel bad. It seems most sites are slow according to YSlow. But I double checked by visiting some top blogger sites, and a lot of them get A’s, so it’s something to strive for. I’m determined to find out how they do it! I’ll let everyone know, too.
I must agree that images and even videos can slow the loading status of a page. It’s still the best way for you to at least know what to do in times like this or find a way to solve the problem.
Samantha recently posted..Pros And Cons Of Mouth Guards
Hey, gal! You forgot a plugin totally worth mentioning to make your WordPress blog load faster — cSprites for WordPress. Check it out
/Nabil, from Sweden.
Twitter: mywebgal
says:
Thanks Nabil! It looks great. I’ll give it a try. Appreciate your bringing it up.
Hi Deb,
Thanks so much for these tips. My site is loading slowly and until reading this post I didn’t know where to begin making adjustments.
I too love plug-ins and have a lot of features to reward commentators and syndication partners … so making decisions about what should stay vs. what should go will be tough.
You have a great blog here and I’m looking forward to reading your other posts.
Thanks and have a great day,
Susan
Thanks! I just deleted some themes and plugins that were slowing my blog down. I appreciate all of the tips.
[...] YSlow and Firebug – My Web Gal [...]
Twitter: mywebgal
says:
Update! I did some more configuring with W3 Total Cache and now I get a grade “B” with a score of 87 on YSlow. So it pays to go through it carefully and configure it according to your own blog.
This post helped me:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/configure-w3tc-plugin-wordpress/
Twitter: Yourinda
says:
Hi Deb,
I can relate to being a plugin junkie.
I felt like being a kid in lollie shop with all those options to choose from.
It is always good to see what others recommend.
Thank you for your suggestions.
Will delete some of those that are deactivated.
Haven’t heard of the Yslow.
Thanks for the great article.
Cheers,
Yorinda
Yorinda recently posted..How to Install Love