Optimize Your Textpattern Install
Everyone is always looking for a better way to optimize the speed and efficiency of their CMS. If your a textpattern user, I have a couple of tips and tricks for optimizing the speed and efficiency your textpattern install.
Stop Calling the DB for CSS info…
First and foremost, you need to stop using the <txp:css /> tag to link to your stylesheets. Instead go back to the traditional <link rel="stylesheet" href="stylesheet.css" /> in the <head> of your HTML document. This way, every time the page is loading, textpattern is not making a call to the database for stylesheet information for that page. I make a form that I use on all my pages in textpatten, and I call it “top.” This includes my doctype, head, css, and javascript link information that I use on all my pages.
Turn off those visitor logs!
Visitor logs are one of the worst things to have turned on in textpattern if your generating moderate to heavy traffic. I’m not saying having information about your audience is bad, you just need to do it some other way than logging it in textpattern. Again, logging is making un-needed calls to your database and causing more queries than needed per page. If anything, set up a free Google Analytics account, or look into Mint to track visitor information.
The little things…
Last, but certainly not least, you can consider any images that will be in your articles or in your site design. Images used for site design shouldn’t need to be queried to load. Simple link to them in your stylesheet and save a couple seconds of load time. Secondly, if you want to be really crazy, you can start storing your images used in entries in a separate folder on your server, and use the textile image tag, rather than upload them to your textpattern install, and use the textpattern image tag.
Sorry for any non-textpattern users out there, but maybe some of these practices can transfer into your preferred CMS of choice.
« Write Hype is Online! "Even The Playing Field" CSS Framework »