Web Optimizer 0.5 "cheetah", RC3

We are here again with the latest version of the client optimization automation application - Web Optimizer. More than a month has passed since the last stable version was released; more than 300 real sites experienced phenomenal acceleration, but this seemed to us not enough. And we made a good product even better.

So, meet: version 0.5, codenamed cheetah (cheetah), Release Candidate 3.

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

What's new?

Naturally, all month we did not sit back and wrote, tested, updated and tested again. Changes compared to version 0.4.5:

• One of the main bonuses is the inclusion in the Web Optimizer of the latest version of the library for formatting and optimizing CSS code - CSS Tidy (probably in the near future its new version, 1.4, otherwise everyone has been waiting for). Fixed several obvious and not very mistakes (in particular, related to CSS3 selectors).
• The logic of Web Optimizer itself has been substantially redesigned for maximum performance. According to the latest tests, its working time for a single page is 3-10ms (on average, a Joomla! Site requires 200-500ms to complete all server logic).
• The problem with the “white screen” when using CSS Sprites is fixed (it is connected with the “crash” of GDLib when trying to create an oversized image). Now, with a lack of memory, it’s just not creating as much sprite as we would like. Apparently, in future versions, the algorithm for spending memory will be significantly improved.
• Completely updated user interface (thanks fade ). We continue to raise money to thank the author of the design. It is not too late to contribute.
• Auto-change CMS PHP files is enabled by default. If such a change is not possible, the final step displays a complete list of the necessary changes for the files.
• Added the ability to create a “secure” installation: Web Optimizer can be in an arbitrary directory and be closed with .htpasswd. This topic is described in more detail in the article about settings .
• Links to related articles have been added to the Web Optimizer settings, in which the claimed techniques are covered in full scale.
• Added fairly simple caching for HTML documents. It helps in case of simple sites to relieve the load from the server (generated HTML documents are reliably cached). Available settings: caching time, regular expression to disable caching, USER AGENTS list to force caching, the ability to quickly reset the document.
• Thanks to collaboration with ort , the stability and functioning of the distribution of images among static hosts have been significantly improved. All detected compatibility issues with LiveStreet 0.3 have been fixed.
• Added the ability to optimize background images through the smush.it service API .
• Static archiving for CSS / JS files is added by default. This means that if the server runs the compression, it will not have to compress these files each time before sending it to the client - the gzip versions will be stored on the server next to the regular ones and given if necessary. Even if PHP runs compression, it will still give ready-made compressed files, and not run it ob_gzhandlerevery time.
• Improved algorithm works data:URI: slightly increased the maximum size of the file and add exceptions for certain types ( .htc, .cur, .eotetc.).
• Added the ability to make the generated JS file before . Also added the ability to make the loading of counters and advertising at the very bottom of the document to avoid the blocking effect of scripts.
• Added clearing cache from admin panel.
• Added the ability to correctly compress HTML in one line.
• Added systems:
  • Textpattern 4.0
  • Kohana 2.3
  • phpBB 3.0
  • Yii 1.0
  • SMF 1.1.8
  • IPB 2.3.6
  • Bitrix
  • cogear 1.0
• Well, a hundred or two not so large corrections and improvements.

What's next?

Apparently, the main priority for the new version will be maximum compatibility with a wide variety of supported CMS options and maximum performance with any settings and any server environment (not all sites have a dedicated server with 1GB of RAM?). At the moment, there is a very interesting task for optimizing the creation of CSS Sprites (as practice has shown, they are stably created already in 95-99% of cases) in the case of limited memory. If anyone is going to help - write in the comments, privat and at the specified contacts . Just let’s not how it happened with the layout for the new interface, when 5 layout designers left the race one after another.

Errors and documentation noticed

Documentation and description of the application will expand and grow. At the moment, an article with a description of the settings has already been published, an article with a step-by-step installation guide is ready for publication. In the process of preparing an article describing known issues for the most popular CMS.

Part of the documentation (mainly regarding operating principles) is available in English here: code.google.com/p/web-optimizator/w/list

Some known problems and methods for solving them are already described in the 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 .

Monetization

At the moment, paid installation and configuration of the application for your site is available. You can order here . There is also the possibility that a separate, commercial application branch will be released that will be sold in any way (licensing policy is being discussed).

If you have any specific commercial offers, they can always be voiced at the indicated 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. After creating cached files, Web Optimizer itself only spends 3-10ms checking and updating the output HTML document (at default settings, correctly compressing HTML into one line is quite a resource-intensive operation and can take another 50-100ms).

Well, sort of everything. See you again :)

Download Web Optimizer: code.google.com/p/web-optimizator/downloads/list
Support the project financially: sprites.in/donate