How do you balance site speed with image quality in WordPress?

  • I’ve been working on improving my WordPress site’s performance, and I’ve noticed that images play a huge role in both user experience and site speed. I want to make sure my images are sharp and look good across all devices, but I’m also aware that large, unoptimized images can really slow things down.

    What strategies do you all use to balance image quality with site speed? Do you rely on plugins, manual optimization, or some other method? I’ve read about various approaches, including the use of image optimization techniques, but I’m curious about what has worked best for you in the real world. Also, how do you ensure that you don’t sacrifice too much in terms of visual appeal when compressing images?

    Any tips or recommended tools would be much appreciated!

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  • I generally optimise my images before I upload them – here are the steps i take

    1. Get them the right pixel size first
    2. Optimise using a service like tiny png

      Here’s some recommended sizes

    3. Thumbnail:?150 x 150 pixels
    4. Medium:?Up to 300 x 300 pixels
    5. Large:?Up to 1024 x 1024 pixels
    6. Featured Image:?1200 x 630 pixels (ideal for social sharing)
    7. Header Image:?1048 x 250 pixels
    8. Background Image:?1920 x 1080 pixels
    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    I export the images no larger than 2000px wide before upload, so there is at least a decently large “original” if folks really want to get to that.

    On top of that, Jetpack’s Image CDN (available via either the Jetpack or Jetpack Boost plugins) makes sure my sites only ever serve the image size that fits the viewport, so the loaded images are never larger than they need to be.

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