Install Web Optimizer version 0.5

Not so long ago, version 0.5 (RC3) of the application for automatic website acceleration, Web Optimizer, was released . Since three months have already passed since the writing of the previous installation guide , the interface and logic of the application have changed significantly (they have become simpler and clearer), it’s worth highlighting the installation process again, in a new form and with new details.

Step 1: download the archive

Web Optimizer comes in two flavors: a ZIP archive and a mini-installer. To download the first option, go to code.google.com/p/web-optimizator/downloads/list and select Featured version 0.5 or higher.



Download the zip archive to the root of the site. If the site has SSH access, then you can use just wget:

wget http://web-optimizator.googlecode.com/files/web-optimizer.v0.5beta.zip

Then, the resulting archive will need to be unzipped to the root to get the web-optimizer folder.

If the site has only FTP access, we first upload it to the local disk, then unpack it, and then copy it (for example, via FAR) to the root of the site.

If there is no desire to download the unpacked archive to the server (or unpack the downloaded archive on the server) there is a version of the mini-installer that (if there is one curlon the server) will download everything and start the installation. To do this, upload only the file install.me.phpto the root of the site and open it in a browser.

After all the necessary files are on the site, you need to set write permissions, at least for the file web-optimizer/config.phpand (optional) folderweb-optimizer/cachefor the user under which the server is running. Otherwise, settings and cached versions of compressed files cannot be saved. If desired, the cache folder may be different (more on that below), so it will only be necessary to set permissions on the configuration file.

Step 2: setup

We go in the browser at

http: //your_site/web-optimizer/index.php

Instead, there web-optimizermay be an arbitrary directory in which Web Optimizer is located. We see the welcome screen from Web Optimizer. If we don’t see it, then you should double-check where Web Optimizer was copied, and go to that folder.



There are 2 possible scenarios:

• Quick installation
• Normal installation

Quick installation

To start a quick installation, enter the future username and password for access to the administrative part and click the green button "Quick Installation". After that, Web Optimizer calculates the directories on the server, saves all the default settings and performs chain optimization for the main page: it creates cached versions of compressed files. Only then, if the files (usually only the root one index.php, depends on the CMS used) are writable, they are automatically changed.



Otherwise, Web Optimizer will display instructions for modifying these files.

Normal installation

A typical installation differs from a quick installation only in the presence of an intermediate step with editing settings. You can start it by clicking on the "Next" button, the number 2 or 3 in the top menu or the orange arrow on the right.



Details of all the settings and their features are described in the corresponding article . First of all, you need to make sure that the calculated paths are correct. You can also set arbitrary caching directories: this will be necessary when the "Protected mode" setting is enabled (located in the "Using.htaccess"). After this setting, the password when accessing Web Optimizer will be requested only through HTTP Basic Authorization. Additionally, you do not need to enter it. However, the files that are inside the folder with Web Optimizer will not be accessible to ordinary users, so you need to transfer the cache directories from it.

Step 3: Management

In Web Optimizer version 0.5, several application management tools are available.



Firstly, this is the configuration of all the settings (hereinafter, when working in non-protected mode, you will need to enter a username and password), which can be done using the “Next” button (or click on the numbers 2 or 3 or the orange arrow on the right). Secondly, this is clearing the cache (it will be necessary if you made any CSS or JS file changes on the server with the “Do not check file modification time” option enabled) - the Clear Cache button. Thirdly, it is an opportunity to safely remove Web Optimizer (all calls added to CMS files will be deleted, and the file .htaccesswill be cleared of optimization directives) - the "Delete" button.

In the presence ofcurlon the server and the existence of a newer version than the current one, it will be offered to update (a block will appear with the Update button). When updating, all initial settings will be saved. Some new ones may also be added. In normal mode, the administration panel for Web Optimizer looks like this:

Solving Problems

Some of the known problems and methods of solution have already been described in a previous article . If you find incorrect Web Optimizer behavior for your site, you can post a description of the error (requires a Google account) or see all known (or resolved) issues . At the moment, the average time to solve the problem is about a day (usually several hours).

You can also try to solve the problem interactively using the specified contacts .

Efficiency

Several results of using Web Optimizer (for a "clean" installation of the system, without any preliminary optimizations) are given here . The YSlow score rises to 89-97, the client download speed is 2-3 (less often 3-5) times. Web Optimizer itself, after creating cached files, spends only 3-10ms for checking and updating the output HTML document (at default settings, the correct HTML compression in one line is quite a resource-intensive operation and can take another 50-100ms).

Download Web Optimizer code.google.com/p/web-optimizator/downloads/list