Image optimization plugin with W3 total cache

Hello @thehoundproject

Thank you for your inquiry and I am happy to assist you with this.
W3 Total Cache is not an Image optimization plugin. So to optimize your images you should keep an Ewww image optimizer and it’s fully compatible with W3 Total Cache.
However, W3 Total Cache has a Lazy load feature and so does the Ewww image optimizer. So if you are using lazyload in the Ewww you should disable it in W3 Total Cache in Performance>General settings>User Experience, or if you wish to use W3TC lazy load then you should disable it in Ewww to avoid conflict.
Thank you!

Hi Marko,

Thank you so much for the response. Would you think the Ewww is the best plugin to use with W3 cache then? Can I also have another question? How would you recommend starting off on the minify section? I know it may not work well with all sites, and as I’m not a pro I wonder if there’s a basic setup to get started without risking to cause issues.

Thank you.
Reka

Also, the reason I switched cache plugins is that the previous one messed with another plugin on the site called WP Lucky wheel. It made a mess of the mobile view, by pushing the desktop js. to load for mobile screens and when I switched the cache off it was working fine.

However, the same is happening again with W3 total! Do you think it can be resolved? I am more than happy to send screenshots of how it looks like now and how it’s meant to look like. The view of the opening screen for spinning and signing up is so distorted on mobiles, that it cannot be used properely.

Hello @thehoundproject

Ewww image optimizer is one of the two most used image optimization plugins along with Smush it plugin. And they both work well with W3 Total Cache.
– Minify: You should always start with manual minify. Enable the minify in Performance>General settings and save all settings and purge the cache. Check your website after that. If you are experiencing some issues or breaking of the style, go to Performance>Minify and disable the settings one by one (firsts JS minify save all settings and purge the cache, check the website after that CSS minify and also save the settings and purge the cache) There is a possibility that some theme or plugin js/CSS files do not agree with minify. In that case, you need to exclude those plugin files from being minified in Performance>Minify>Advanced>Never minify the following JS files: or Never minify the following CSS files:
So for example (this is just an example), if you are experiencing an issue with the navigation bar you should exclude the theme JS files responsible for this.
You can find your theme js and CSS files in /wp-content/themes/yourtheme/js/ or CSS
and add that file in “Never minify following JS files”:
/wp-content/themes/yourtheme/js/nav-bar.js
Alternatively, you can switch to Manual minify and add the JS and CSS files manually and in order. Please note that Manual minify is a tricky process and needs to be done with care.
One more note, every change you make in minify, you can simply revert them. So if you experience any issues simply undo the previous step made.
– As for WP Lucky Wheel, we have no experience and testing with that plugin as it has just 300+ installs. You should get in touch with their support and ask if and how they support caching.
There is a possibility that excluding the mentioned plugin js file as priorly suggested may help with this issue.

You can use User Agent Groups In Performance>User Agent Groups and create a group of user agents by specifying names in the user agents field. Assign a set of user agents to use a specific theme, redirect them to another domain or if an existing mobile plugin is active, create user agent groups to ensure that a unique cache is created for each user agent group. Drag and drop groups into order (if needed) to determine their priority (top -> down).

Thank you!