This is a good plugin for reducing wasted space in image files without compromising their quality. A typical .png file can be reduced in size by 10 – 50% which is good for optimisation. Google likes fast loading, efficient websites. Plus your website visitors will be happier because pages will load faster. This is especially helpful when you have lots of screenshots which are typically png format on the website.
EWWW Optimizer for Rackspace Cloudsites
The Rackspace Cloudsites service does not allow EWWW to use png and gif optimisation tools automatically. This is why we use the EWWW Optimizer Cloud version of the plugin so that the images are sent to the EWWW servers for optimization and then sent back to the website.
After installing the EWWW Cloud Optimizer go to the settings page in the WordPress dashboard
Settings > EWWW
Configure as follows:
Enter your EWWW Cloud key in the box provided
Tick PNG Cloud Optimization and GIF Cloud Optimization
The other options can be left as defaults
EWWW Cloud Image Optimizer settings for Rackspace Cloudsites
Once the EWWW Cloud Optimizer plugin is installed then for a new site you are done. If you have installed it on an existing site though then you might like to do a bulk optimise on all your existing images.
Bulk optimise can be selected from the WordPress dashboard in
Media > Bulk Optimize > Start Optimizing
Start bulk optimise with EWW Optimizer
Bulk optimize in progress
EWWW Optimizer on TPP Cloud Hosting
The standard EWWW Optimizer plugin works fine on TPP Cloud hosting, no need to use the EWWW Cloud plugin or pay for image optimisation credits.
Once you have installed the plugin go into the EWWW settings and untick anything that is ticked.
EWWW Image Optimizer settings for TPP Cloud Hosting
If the optimisation stops for some reason due to a server timeout for example then you can go back to the bulk optimizer page and start from where it was up to.
You need to leave the bulk optimize page open for it to keep running, if you close the page before it finishes then the bulk optimization will stop.
If you are bulk optimizing a lot of photos it does seem that there are connection timeouts sometimes. I haven’t tested this on a lot of websites yet but it seems to happen ever few hundred images and if it does you will need to restart the optimisation.
Optimise theme graphics
There is an option in Appearence > Optimize which will optimise the theme graphics too.