Google finalizes Web page speed module

Infoworld - After two years and 18 releases, Google this week took the beta label off mod_pagespeed, its Web page speed technology.

Mod_pagespeed is an open source Apache module in use at more than 120,000 sites, Joshua Marantz and Ilya Grigorik, of the Google PageSpeed Team, said in a blog post. "If your page is on the Web, speed matters. For developers and webmasters, making your page faster shouldn't be a hassle, which is why we introduced mod_pagespeed in 2010."

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The technology speeds up sites, reduces page load time, and improves Web page latency and bandwidth usage. It consists of an Apache HTTP server module that automatically applies Web performance best practices to pages and associated assets, including CSS, JavaScript, and images, without requiring modifications to existing content or workflow. Best practices are grouped into six categories: optimizing of caching and browser rendering, optimizing for mobile and minimizing round-trip times, request overhead, and payload size.

Google said users include hosting providers GoDaddy and DreamHost. "We're committed to working with the open-source community to continue evolving mod_pagespeed, including more, better and smarter optimizations and support for other Web servers," Marantz and Grigorik said.

Core filters are featured in mod_pagespeed to optimize content of a site without affecting look or behavior, Google said. More advanced filters also are provided that can be turned on by the site owner for higher performance improvements. Mod_pagespeed can be deployed and customized for individual websites.

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