Google has just released an Apache module, which automatically optimized the load time of a website.
It's called mod_pagespeed and pretty much implements all the elements evaluated in the PageSpeed browser extension
http://code.google.com/speed/page-speed/docs/module.html
Interesting, how do you feel about giving them that much control? any potential for automated snafus?
You are not giving Google any control by using mod_pagespeed.
All mod_pagespeed does is rewrite and optimize your site in the way you should be doing anyway if you care about loadtimes. Actually most of the functionality is covered by the W3 Total Cache plugin for WordPress.
Quoteimplements all the elements evaluated in the PageSpeed browser extension
I have to check details with my webmaster and I haven't looked into exactly what the Apache mod does but he intentionally chose not to integrate all the PageSpeed suggestions such as:
1 - "Serve the following static resources from a domain that doesn't set cookies"
2 - "Combine images into CSS spirtes" (we didn't want to do this with every image - understand the Apache tool couldn't do this)
3 - "Combine external java script"
4 - "Minify CSS"
5 - "Use efficient CSS selectors"
There were (apparently) good reasons not to implement the PageSpeed suggestions to the letter.
>There were (apparently) good reasons not to implement the PageSpeed suggestions to the letter
The only valid reason for not implementing those five actions is if you think your time is spent better else where. Each of those areas will improve load time. End of story
Quoteif you think your time is spent better else where
That was part of it (negligible benefit to time spent) and also the cookie thing. Our CMS sets cookies for its own tracking purposes along with other third party scripts/ad services.
CSS sprites, I am told, are problematic if your images are changing frequently within the sprite set (graphical features that change/automated according to various rules like sales/popularity etc.)
Again, there may have been other reasons as well, I don't handle it.
Thing that stopped me short is that it requires apache 2.2. CPanel's default isn't there yet, so it would require an upgrade.
I'll be testing it out sometime soon.
I have begun testing mod_pagespeed.
First thing to notice is the filename of RPM mod-pagespeed-beta_current_i386.rpm
Beta? No where on the Page Speed project site does it say anything about beta. I'm aware of that G likes to keep stuff in beta for as long as possible for legal reasons, but seriously guys? Don't lure webmasters in to installing beta software on production servers.
I'm watching this closely Torben. Any updates? Have you got it installed yet?
I suppose you could "cloak" for cookies, ie not set them if they the UA is G :-)
I posted my findings in a new thread: http://th3core.com/talk/web-development/mod_pagespeed-first-findings/