How to Speed Up My Site?

[blackhalo]

I'm currently trying to fix some of the low grades I'm getting from "YSlow" report (firefox/firebug add-in)...
this has led me to try multiple compression methods for CSS and JS files, as well as get rid of the "ETag" error and include an "Expires" header.

I can't seem to get ANY of these methods to work though...
I started with Minify, then onto SmartOptimizer and finally just straight htaccess commands.

Nothing seems to register.

This stuff isn't that complicated to setup, but after testing all these methods I'm certain I'm being roadblocked by something...
either something with ZenCart, or something with my web host (HostGator).

So why can't I get my CSS and JS files compressed?

Insight would be appreciated...

[Kim]

You problem isn't with Zen Cart :) guess what that leaves ...

[blackhalo]

I figured as much, but I don't understand why...
HostGator is a very open system, they allow quite a bit and seem to have everything I've needed so far (particularly with ZC), already setup.

Why would they disallow gzip compression on CSS and JC files?
For that matter, why doesn't ZenCart's use of the gzip function include this feature already?

Ultimately, why would anyone NOT want to compress these files?
All I'm trying to do is get my site running faster...which is something that everyone should want.

[Kim]

Compressing CSS files is not something in Zen Cart's control. They're served directly from the webserver.

How big is your CSS that it matters?

[s_p_ike]

Hi Kim,

on a site I'm working over (Lida took a look at it too), the 'gzipping' of css and js would just give an help to improve performances, not so great alone, but you know one byte here one there, putting all together (and multiplying for the 'first-access' visitors), there would be benefit both for the visitors and for the server load and bandwidth consumption.

So, is there a side effect causing to prefer not to gzip css and js files?

In the example above, total size of js is 131Kb and css is 194Kb (ok there will be some work to optimize both js and css, but gzipping 'em would be a benefit aswell, or not?)

[Kim]

194Kb

For CSS? It is all text! That needs more than just some compression - it needs cleaning. Remove anything that isn't being used, learn the CSS shortcuts and put each declaration on one line.