Optimizing WordPress with WP Optimize

WordPress is an extensive CMS, but some of the options it adds are hardly used. WP Optimize allows  to optimize WordPress on aspects not considered in most caching plugins. Think of factors such as the removal of XML-RPC, deferring JavaScripts and LazyLoading.

Installing WP Optimize

WP Optimize can be installed by including the script in the project where you want to use it. You can also include it using composer.

Within the script, you have to pass an array of configurations to specify which optimizations you want to implement.

The WP Optimize script is very useful if you are a nitpicker and want to optimize a WordPress website to great lenghts, and achieve a Pagespeed score of 100.

The WP Optimize Script should be handled with care, as it can break websites. Optimizing WordPress can be overdone! It can also limit functionalities used by plugins.

Documentation on the installation and usage of WP Optimize can be found on Github.

View on Github

WP Optimize supports the following optimizations:

  • Blocking External HTTP Requests
  • Deferring the load of CSS
  • Deferring the load of JavaScript
  • Disabling Comments, Emoji Scripts, Feeds, jQuery, jQuery Migrate, the Rest API, RSD Links, Shortlinks, Version Numbers, the WLW Manifest, the WP Version and XMLRPC
  • Moving the jQuery script to the footer
  • Lazyloading of images
  • Limiting the Javascript for Comments and removing comments styling
  • Slowing down or removing the Heartbeat script
  • Limiting the number of revisions