Tip 19: Image optimization plugins

Speed is what your site needs. Especially, if you have a good day and a lot of visitors. A good host will bring you a fast start, but unoptimized images can make pages load very very slowly. Your visitors patience is limited.

BUT there is an exaggeration to this. You need an optimum between resources you spend and gains.

In my opinion, starting with free solution is perfectly fine. Please note that the most image optimization plugins are not free, they work on a freemium model. Basically, they allow you to optimize a few images and they ask you for money after that. Why? Because they offer convenience, and because they process your images on their servers. One argument in favor of clould image optimization is that it takes some power to do it, and regular small hosting plans don’t work well for this.

However, you can do it

  1. By using plugins that automatically resize the images upon upload. They are not necessarily image optimization plugins, because they don’t take large images and re-write them accoridngly with some heavy algorithgms, that reduce the infromation from an image, while keeping the same aspect (at least for human eye). This resizers are more brutal than the image optimization services, but they are in most cases good enough.
  2. Locally optimized images. Photoshop or any other image editor. There is a downside to this approach. When you upload an image WordPress generates a number of images, called thumbnails, that will not be optimized.
  3. Third solution is to use free plugins. They are not perfect, and sometimes their features are limited. For example, you might find that you don’t have a backup for your pictures. Best way is to backup your site, optimize your pictures, see if they can be reverted to the original.
  4. Forth solution is the most simple. Purchase an optimization plan.
  5. Keep an eye on deal sites, sometimes these providers come with lifetime deals.

Tip 2: Check for how to was WP site was made video tutorials

Why: because the most difficult challenge is to understand how those nice sites were made

First time, don’t try to remember things or take the speakers very seriously. They need to explain things in detail, which sometimes makes things appear more difficult than they are.

Tip 5: Understand WordPress.com vs WordPress.org to understand what WordPress is

Tip 3: Install a local WP site for more control

Tip 2: WordPress.org is not WordPress.com

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com confusion is pretty common, but if you understand the difference between them, you’ll already have proper intuition of the WP enviroment.

WordPress is a content managment system, or simply put, the sowftare that helps people to put together images, text, and design and make a site. This software and its addons (themes and plugins) can be downloaded from WordPress.org which is the gather place for those that build this amazing system, but also for tousands of programmers that build pieces of software that enrich wordpress: themes, and plugins.

In order to have a publicily available site – aka online – you need a hosting for your site. WordPress.org doesn’t give you that, but there almost each hosting provider has an WP installer that makes the WordPress installation very easy. So, WordPress + Hosting + Domain = your site.

This being said, what is WordPress.com

WordPress.com is a commercial project that sells WordPress ready plans. It’s the lucrative face of the organization that supports also WordPress.org.

WordPress.com basically gives you WP ready hosting plans. If you don’t want to complicate yourself with buying your own hosting, then you could consider signing up for WP.com plan. Cheap plans are pretty limited, but they might be good enough for a simple site.

Question:
– are tips from here

Tip 1 Use WP sandboxes, free hosting sites, and plugin/themes sandboxes sites to create and play with a demo WordPress site

WP sandbox = a service that helps you create a temporary WP site so you can play with WordPress and understand how it works.

Alternative for using an online WP sandbox: Local hosted WP sites. It is not as complicated as it sounds. Check our Cool WP Tip 2 for more details about it.

Best sandbox site solutions
Reasons to use an WP sandbox site


Risks when using an WP sandbox site (as usual please read our TOS)

Do not share your sensitive details. These places are only for playing with WordPress, and get an intuition of how they work.

Someofthem might host maleware. I don’t condone any service, and cannot guarantee anything. However, when they are free, they might want to get money from somewhere. Check if they have other services that they sell, like plugins, themes or upsells for their top service. I tried them and I didn’t have any issue.


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