Using Font Icons: Plugin Or Code In Manually

  • I am doing a theme from scratch. Don’t really know that much about WP from a using it stand point, as in I have worked with a bunch of themes. Know php, css, etc. and have done a couple of themes from scratch.

    My question is about performance and best practices. The plugins I have used seem to bog the system down. To be fair it could have been just about a million reasons why from using the wrong one, to a network issue. But I was going to do an off canvas menu JavaScript function. My Web hosting company has a tip sheet saying not to use JavaScript libraries to speed things up but then says to use a font icon plugin.

    Is using jQuery going to slow down my theme in a materail/noticable way? Should I just code in the font icons I want to use? Or do I use a plugin for this? I’m going to wind up testing anyway but maybe I’m reinventing the wheel so I though I’d ask.

    Thanks

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Moderator bcworkz

    (@bcworkz)

    Loading jQuery will slow down page loads, but as long as you utilize WP’s local version, it shouldn’t take too long. It’s getting files from third party servers like Google APIs that can really slow things down.

    Icon fonts are much preferable to a bunch of equivalent image files. When one utilizes a single sprite sheet for all icons, it may become a wash. What is ideal for icons is to use inline SVG. WP is moving in the SVG direction as well.

    Thread Starter samlv

    (@samlv)

    Thanks again bcworkz,

    So use the WP jQuery, and inline SVG.

    Was going to use Google CDN for the icons and jQuery. Isn’t the Google CDN supposed to be fast and a way to take some load off of your hosted server? I’m not doubting you, just surprised. What has been your experience with that?

    Do you have a preferred SVG package you like?

    Thanks,

    PS, have a day job, keeps cutting into my development day. Hope to loose it sooner rather than later.

    Moderator bcworkz

    (@bcworkz)

    Yes, but day jobs can put food on the table. Having been both self employed and a worker drone, both have benefits and drawbacks. Whatever you are not doing always appears better ??

    It’s true Google is pretty fast, but it’s still a third party server that a connection needs to be setup for. You are already connected to your server. It’s still a separate request though, taking time. While it takes a load off your own server, we are not talking about a huge amount of data. I suppose that may be important in some cases, such as a well trafficked site with serious bandwidth restrictions.

    Every situation is different. We can talk about it all day, but the only way to be sure is to do some benchmark testing. Then you will know for sure for your situation. Your findings may not translate anywhere else, but you will know what you need to do on your site.

    I’ve not worked a lot with SVG myself, so my preferences would be meaningless. Naturally Illustrator and Inkscape are big players. The WordPressers working on the SVG conversion have suggested Boxy SVG. It may not be appropriate for elaborate graphics, but for building icons it looks promising.

    Thread Starter samlv

    (@samlv)

    Have Illustrator and Inkscape. Not expert with it but can stumble through. Dual boot Fedora 25 (very nice distro, Thank you Fedora and Red Hat people. Using ruby gems and stock distros everything works out of the box after updating. Never had that happen before: windows 3.11 – win 10, Ubuntu 8x – 14, Centos 4-6, FreeBSD, or Fedora before) and Win7. Was thinking mostly for fonts. However, I rechecked the html special characters. Think they will cover a lot of navigation and such. Put the arrows on a 30% alpha background with a gray tone and will mimic fair navigation. Some simple javaScript and for what I need at the moment I can skip jQuery and work the KISS side.

    Thanks for the flow strategy. Hooked up a SiteGround goGeek plan. Pretty nice, but sure why not worry about it if/as/and when? If you plan ahead it will only be a link change. I hope it becomes an issue. lol

    Thanks for advise. Time to get to crashing code. Have a really great day!

    Moderator bcworkz

    (@bcworkz)

    Sounds like you are more than adequately setup! Enjoy ??

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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