Cache & images

[Chris]

Drop here all tips & info regarding improving images speed, size, etc.

Theory (lenghty): http://www.mnot.net/cache_docs/

Image optimizers (requirements: free, downloadable, can process images in batch):
PNG http://psydk.org/PngOptimizer.php (very nice to use, it reduced size of images in one of my games by almost 50%)
GIF
JPG


Question: What would be the simpliest way of setting all images to be expired no sooner than after one week after last visit?

[Nox]

XnView drops size a lot, although it's not exactly optimizer
JPG&PNG&(probably)GIF: SmushIt (Yahoo)....not downloadable though
PNGCrush, but only commandline
damn.... every one has a catch

I think YSlow displays if images are to expire soon...

Misread the question.... take a look at http://www.askapache.com/ there are tons of things you can do with htaccess counting expire time, eTags etc.

As stated in YSlow and Yahoo's website performance tips it's also good to use sprites (many images placed to one)
to reduce requests and their overhead and waiting times, sometimes the size can be smaller too... in case that the image is only visible on hover
it's not loaded with page and without sprite upon first hover there can be delay between hover and loading the image with only background,
even if only as a flicker.

The price is sometimes more work in CSS/HTML (sometimes less), and some work considering gathering those images, more difficult to maintain/modify
It doesn't have to be 1 image sprite per site, but it's useful in case of icons or menu for example

[aquilax]

Question: What would be the simpliest way of setting all images to be expired no sooner than after one week after last visit?

The easiest way should be to use Apache with mod_expires (http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/mod/mod_expires.html):

Code: [Select]

ExpiresDefault "access plus 1 week"

[aquilax]

If you want to go deeper into optimization, you should check Stoyan Stefanov's blog (http://www.phpied.com/) and especially the performance calendar for 2009: http://www.phpied.com/performance-advent-calendar-2009/ . Stoyan is also the author of SmushIt.

[Chris]

Question: What would be the simpliest way of setting all images to be expired no sooner than after one week after last visit?

The easiest way should be to use Apache with mod_expires (http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/mod/mod_expires.html):

Code: [Select]

ExpiresDefault "access plus 1 week"

Apache mod is not for me. Can't it be done via CSS/HTML?

[Nox]

I'm quite certain that not...

[aquilax]

Apache mod is not for me. Can't it be done via CSS/HTML?

HTML and CSS no, PHP yes but it's still ineffective.

[ST-Mike]

Admins have ignored my deletion request - if you're not going to delete my account then don't have the option there please.

[aquilax]

Mike: maybe he is on free hosting and some of them doesn't allow custom .htaccess

[tellmore]

Best would be if images could be "saved" as a cookie on user end, and javascript would be able to reproduce the image from the cookie contents...

Can it be done?
I suppose not, but who knows..
You could then set an expire time, and all your images would be only downloaded once.

[ST-Mike]

Admins have ignored my deletion request - if you're not going to delete my account then don't have the option there please.

[ST-Mike]

Admins have ignored my deletion request - if you're not going to delete my account then don't have the option there please.

[tellmore]

Well, did not know coockies gets sent back Strange, I don't see the logic why is that.

in that case this is not an option.

[ST-Mike]

Admins have ignored my deletion request - if you're not going to delete my account then don't have the option there please.

[aquilax]

Hmmmmm although it is possible to store images in CSS even in HTML (http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2397) , i don't think it's worth it. Especially for bigger images.

[bbgames]

Question: What would be the simpliest way of setting all images to be expired no sooner than after one week after last visit?

Why do you want to expire one week after last access? While you'd technically be caching things, you could do much better.

Personally, the best way I've seen caching done has been using far-future expiry dates(say, 10 years from now) - and then if you need to update any of your media, you change the URL. You can do this pretty easily by using a cache buster or by versioning your media, the way that Particletree does it - they've explained how here.

[Chris]

and then if you need to update any of your media, you change the URL.

I do not want to change anything, no modification of files, names, serious code changes, etc. Was looking for something that would just make the images to be reloaded a bit rarer since the game I want to use it for is after development phase and don't need such frequent gfx updates.

How do I find if I have certain Apache mod installed?

If I use htaccess how will it affect performance? These need to check all files before accessing? How it will treat scripts already cached by eAccelerator?

[Nox]

I'm quite sure the performance cost would be almost none.... it also doesn't check anything, it just sets a few headers for a browser to handle caching

I think the mod should be in by default, but I just use the WAMP solution, makes things easier

[jannesiera]

I'm quite sure htaccess does nothing to performance. Only if you're using multiple .htaccess files or doing some really have routing or something like that.

[ST-Mike]

Admins have ignored my deletion request - if you're not going to delete my account then don't have the option there please.

[bbgames]

Are you serving your media off of an Apache server? You might see better results by moving your media to a different setup entirely - Amazon Cloudfront, Rackspace's Cloudfiles, or an nginx server that only serves your media (all of these options using far-future caching, of course).

[Chris]

So, anyone found a good GIF, JPG optimizer? We need these two for our collection to be complete