RapidLoad CSS Purification
Slim Down Your CSS
Rapidload Reduces Page Weight
The Best CSS Purification Tool
What Is RapidLoad?
Rapidload is a CSS Purification tool that seriously boosts your pagespeed score. The plugin works by automatically purifying your CSS files and reducing their size. The plugin is the highest price of all the plugins listed at $10 / month (about £7.50) for one website, but it saves lots of time and trouble if you want to maximise your website’s potential.
CSS Purification is about only using the CSS a page requires to build the page. It overcomes the issue of ‘Bloat’ that nearly all commercial WordPress themes come with. What happens here is that a website will have one master ‘styles.css’ and it will contain all the CSS for the theme. This will have hundreds or thousands of CSS commands in that you simply do not use. This then loads up on every page, causes slow load times, and you will be getting red flags in your pagespeed reports.
This plugin lets you to add pages and posts to the Rapidload system. It will create new stylesheets for every individual page, that get loaded up in place of the original one. The new stylesheets will only contain the CSS that is needed for that page. The reductions on themes can be huge – up to 90%.
As CSS files are critical for constructing the page, and are one of the biggest files that get downloaded, it makes a big difference – especially on mobile devices. An example here is that your desktop score can be in the 90’s, but your mobile could still be stuck in the 50’s…..this is the plugin that will reduce your page weight and get your mobile site into the 80’s or higher.
In my view, it is worth every penny as CSS purification is quite a technical process – yet Rapidload makes it easy.
Slim Down Your CSS
Rapidload Reduces Page Weight
The Best CSS Purification Tool
What Is RapidLoad?
Rapidload is a CSS Purification tool that seriously boosts your pagespeed score. The plugin works by automatically purifying your CSS files and reducing their size. The plugin is the highest price of all the plugins listed at $10 / month (about £7.50) for one website, but it saves lots of time and trouble if you want to maximise your website’s potential.
CSS Purification is about only using the CSS a page requires to build the page. It overcomes the issue of ‘Bloat’ that nearly all commercial WordPress themes come with. What happens here is that a website will have one master ‘styles.css’ and it will contain all the CSS for the theme. This will have hundreds or thousands of CSS commands in that you simply do not use. This then loads up on every page, causes slow load times, and you will be getting red flags in your pagespeed reports.
This plugin lets you to add pages and posts to the Rapidload system. It will create new stylesheets for every individual page, that get loaded up in place of the original one. The new stylesheets will only contain the CSS that is needed for that page. The reductions on themes can be huge – up to 90%.
As CSS files are critical for constructing the page, and are one of the biggest files that get downloaded, it makes a big difference – especially on mobile devices. An example here is that your desktop score can be in the 90’s, but your mobile could still be stuck in the 50’s…..this is the plugin that will reduce your page weight and get your mobile site into the 80’s or higher.
In my view, it is worth every penny as CSS purification is quite a technical process – yet Rapidload makes it easy.
Rapidload is a CSS Purification tool that seriously boosts your pagespeed score. The plugin works by automatically purifying your CSS files and reducing their size.
The plugin is the highest price of all the plugins listed at $10 / month (about £7.50) for one website, but it saves lots of time and trouble if you want to maximise your website’s potential.
Rapidload is a CSS Purification tool that seriously boosts your pagespeed score. The plugin works by automatically purifying your CSS files and reducing their size. The plugin is the highest price of all the plugins listed at $10 / month (about £7.50) for one website, but it saves lots of time and trouble if you want to maximise your website’s potential.
CSS Purification is about only using the CSS a page requires to build the page. It overcomes the issue of ‘Bloat’ that nearly all commercial WordPress themes come with. What happens here is that a website will have one master ‘styles.css’ and it will contain all the CSS for the theme. This will have hundreds or thousands of CSS commands in that you simply do not use. This then loads up on every page, causes slow load times, and you will be getting red flags in your pagespeed reports.
This plugin lets you to add pages and posts to the Rapidload system. It will create new stylesheets for every individual page, that get loaded up in place of the original one. The new stylesheets will only contain the CSS that is needed for that page. The reductions on themes can be huge – up to 90%.
As CSS files are critical for constructing the page, and are one of the biggest files that get downloaded, it makes a big difference – especially on mobile devices. An example here is that your desktop score can be in the 90’s, but your mobile could still be stuck in the 50’s…..this is the plugin that will reduce your page weight and get your mobile site into the 80’s or higher.
In my view, it is worth every penny as CSS purification is quite a technical process – yet Rapidload makes it easy.
Using RapidLoad
Rapidload Instructions
Using Rapidload To Optimise Your CSS
Rapidload was previously a plugin that required Autoptimize to work, but it is now a standalone CSS plugin in it’s own right. After you install Rapidload, it will be visible on the top bar of your WordPress admin dashboard. Click on that to get to the main control area for the plugin.
So How Do I Use It?
The first thing to do is add your pages / products and / or posts. You can also choose to add your entire sitemap should you wish to. This will scan all of the URL’s and create the new files. The process does take some time, so make sure you tick the ‘Auto Refresh’ box at the bottom to see the progress of each page. You can click the ‘Queued’ or ‘Processing’ button next to each URL if it gets stuck.
If you have pages or problematic CSS files, you can exclude them from the new CSS files. This will load certain files up from their original locations if you run into styling problems. Also enable critical CSS but leave separate mobile CSS alone unless you have a dedicated mobile / AMP site. Themes are really designed to be responsive, and having a separate cache could slow your website down.
Important Cache / Minify Points
If you are running any cache or optimisation plugin such as WP Rocket or Asset Cleanup Pro, do not tick the boxes to minify or inline the code. In fact of the boxes at the bottom (Additional Options) I do not have any ticked at all. This is because all caching is handled by your optimisation software, and if you attempt to cache it again, it will not only cause potential layout issues, but it will actually slow it down. Only ever cache and minify from one plugin source.
Static & Dynamic Websites
Another important point to note is the ‘Auto Queue’ feature. If you have a website that has static content – that is to say you make the pages / posts and they remain the same, do not requeue the files. Once it has made a file, it will keep it there without constantly remaking the file for each URL on each user visit. If you have a large site, this become quite server intensive as your website will be constantly be remaking CSS files.
If you have dynamic or additional content being added to the same pages all the time, do enable this feature. This is because new content may mean new CSS is being used – and you need the file to load up the CSS it needs to display the pages properly. Again, only enable this if you have dynamic content – like a Woocommerce Shop or something. Rapidload does have a few ‘safelist’ packs that will help with the type of site you have. The Woocommerce one for example will stop your basket and checkout pages being cached or altered in any way.
Rapidload will warn you if there is any errors. You will see it when you use it. There is a green icon in the top bar when all is well, an amber one if there are some pages with layout errors, and a red one if there are overall issues. Do check your pages and adjust the settings until the pages are ‘all green’.
Rapidload CSS Saving Results
You will see how much CSS Rapidload is saving you. If you hover over a page it will tell you how many kb, as well as a percentage of how much code you are saving. It is quite surprising to see the difference – and the page load time will decrease significantly on nearly every WordPress website you use it on.
Will This Make A Difference?
Yes it will – especially on mobile devices. As CSS files can be really big, especially in commercial WordPress themes. the data saving will be quite big. Some styles.css files can top 1mb, so imagine you are saving around 80-85% of that – the initial page download size will be cut drastically. This is the major way to get your scores very high, especially on mobile devices. In some cases I have seen a 30% increase on mobile pagespeed scores using Rapidload alone.
Advantages Of Rapidload
Manual CSS purification was reserved for people who are experts in CSS. CSS files are big, and you have to be precise in what CSS you take out of your website, and test then retest everything you do.
Rapidload saves all of this. Not only that but you are not actually taking out anything from your original CSS files at all. This has massive advantages. For example, if you in the future wanted to use different parts or functions in a theme, you are free to do that. Just run the CSS generator again. With manual purification, once you take it out it’s gone forever.
Ready To Move On?
Step 10: Tips & Tricks
The Final Stage
Advantages Of Rapidload
Manual CSS purification was reserved for people who are experts in CSS. CSS files are big, and you have to be precise in what CSS you take out of your website, and test then retest everything you do.
Rapidload saves all of this. Not only that but you are not actually taking out anything from your original CSS files at all. This has massive advantages. For example, if you in the future wanted to use different parts or functions in a theme, you are free to do that. Just run the CSS generator again. With manual purification, once you take it out it’s gone forever.
Ready To Move On?
Step 10: Tips & Tricks
The Final Stage
RapidLoad
Optimise Your CSS
Rapidload was previously a plugin that required Autoptimize to work, but it is now a standalone CSS plugin in it’s own right. After you install Rapidload, it will be visible on the top bar of your WordPress admin dashboard. Click on that to get to the main control area for the plugin.
So How Do I Use It?
The first thing to do is add your pages / products and / or posts. You can also choose to add your entire sitemap should you wish to. This will scan all of the URL’s and create the new files. The process does take some time, so make sure you tick the ‘Auto Refresh’ box at the bottom to see the progress of each page. You can click the ‘Queued’ or ‘Processing’ button next to each URL if it gets stuck.
If you have pages or problematic CSS files, you can exclude them from the new CSS files. This will load certain files up from their original locations if you run into styling problems. Also enable critical CSS but leave separate mobile CSS alone unless you have a dedicated mobile / AMP site. Themes are really designed to be responsive, and having a separate cache could slow your website down.
Important Cache / Minify Points
If you are running any cache or optimisation plugin such as WP Rocket or Asset Cleanup Pro, do not tick the boxes to minify or inline the code. In fact of the boxes at the bottom (Additional Options) I do not have any ticked at all. This is because all caching is handled by your optimisation software, and if you attempt to cache it again, it will not only cause potential layout issues, but it will actually slow it down. Only ever cache and minify from one plugin source.
Static Or Dynamic
Another important point to note is the ‘Auto Queue’ feature. If you have a website that has static content – that is to say you make the pages / posts and they remain the same, do not requeue the files. Once it has made a file, it will keep it there without constantly remaking the file for each URL on each user visit. If you have a large site, this become quite server intensive as your website will be constantly be remaking CSS files.
If you have dynamic or additional content being added to the same pages all the time, do enable this feature. This is because new content may mean new CSS is being used – and you need the file to load up the CSS it needs to display the pages properly. Again, only enable this if you have dynamic content – like a Woocommerce Shop or something. Rapidload does have a few ‘safelist’ packs that will help with the type of site you have. The Woocommerce one for example will stop your basket and checkout pages being cached or altered in any way.
Rapidload will warn you if there is any errors. You will see it when you use it. There is a green icon in the top bar when all is well, an amber one if there are some pages with layout errors, and a red one if there are overall issues. Do check your pages and adjust the settings until the pages are ‘all green’.
Rapidload Savings
You will see how much CSS Rapidload is saving you. If you hover over a page it will tell you how many kb, as well as a percentage of how much code you are saving. It is quite surprising to see the difference – and the page load time will decrease significantly on nearly every WordPress website you use it on.
Will This Make A Difference?
Yes it will – especially on mobile devices. As CSS files can be really big, especially in commercial WordPress themes. the data saving will be quite big. Some styles.css files can top 1mb, so imagine you are saving around 80-85% of that – the initial page download size will be cut drastically. This is the major way to get your scores very high, especially on mobile devices. In some cases I have seen a 30% increase on mobile pagespeed scores using Rapidload alone.
Title 5
Manual CSS purification was reserved for people who are experts in CSS. CSS files are big, and you have to be precise in what CSS you take out of your website, and test then retest everything you do.
Rapidload saves all of this. Not only that but you are not actually taking out anything from your original CSS files at all. This has massive advantages. For example, if you in the future wanted to use different parts or functions in a theme, you are free to do that. Just run the CSS generator again. With manual purification, once you take it out it’s gone forever.
Ready To Move On?
Step 10: Tips & Tricks
The Final Stage