Tips for speeding up your Joomla website

So your Joomla website, the front page, especially has slowed down. Dont worry. I am sure there are many who are in the same boat where the website response time has exceeded 10 seconds, which is the upper tolerable limit for website response times.

1. Template Optimization

One of the most common problems that is seen with Joomla - there exist literally thousands of templates made specifically for Joomla, and most of them look quite nice, but most have some severe performance issues. The problem is that some of the templates out there use upwards of 70 separate images to display the page. Each image generates a new request and has to be downloaded. The problem is compounded when the images are not as small, and when they are not optimized. The following site will help you determine what template optimizations need to be done. Make sure to run your site through it after ever major change to measure the performance of the website -
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/index.html

2. Enable Joomla Cache
You can enable caching from your Joomla admin area > Site > Global Configuration > System.

At the right side of the System page, under Cache Settings, next to Cache you should select Yes. Then click Save at the top right menu to enable caching for your Joomla

3. Disable all unwanted statistics counters.
Use GoogleAnalytics to track users. Avoid going in for 3rd party counters that are indicated as free but can slow done your site as they are basically small programs to collect more data from your website.

4. Remove modules, components that are no longer used.
Remove even if they are in “not published” state. If you look through the Joomla Extension directory, you’ll find a component to do everything you could want. The problem is that some of these components are REALLY inefficient and end up slowing your site down dramatically.

5. Enable GZip compression for HTML

The gZIP compression of your files improves the performance of your website and highly decreases its loading time. For complex websites it is highly recommended to enable it.

For example, in Joomla you can turn on the gZIP compression from Global Configuration > Server > gZIP Page Compression set to ON.

You can test whether the compression is working by using this useful tool - http://www.gidnetwork.com/tools/gzip-test.php

6. Check the number of images, objects on your website.

This is a useful website that provides insight into the number of images, objects on your site. Too many images, objects, bigger page sizes can slow down your site.
http://www.joomlaspan.com/webtools/website-speed-test-tool.php

7. Optimize MySQL tables from the backend.

1. Login to your Joomla’s mySQL database via phpMyAdmin
2. Display the tables and then scroll down to the session table.
3. Check the check box next to the table (session table or any tables having overhead values) and select the Optimize option from the drop down select list.