Reduce HTTP Requests: Elementor with WP Astra Best Practices

Preface

Are you ready to supercharge your Elementor website built with WP Astra? One of the most effective ways to improve your site’s performance is by reducing HTTP requests. Each element on your webpage, from images to stylesheets, requires a separate request to the server. The more requests, the slower your site loads. Let’s dive into some best practices to optimize your website for speed and efficiency. We will make sure STARTMAKINGWEBSITES will be your #1 place for learning the necessary skills with ease. Let’s start!

Understanding HTTP Requests

Before we jump into solutions, it’s essential to understand what HTTP requests are and why they matter. An HTTP request is made every time a browser asks the server for a file needed to display a webpage. These files include:

• HTML documents
• CSS stylesheets
• JavaScript files
• Images
• Fonts

Info: Minimizing these requests can significantly reduce page load times, improve user experience, and boost your search engine rankings. A faster website not only pleases visitors but also signals to search engines that your site is high-quality.

Why HTTP Requests Impact Performance

Each request adds latency, the time it takes for the browser to send the request and receive the response. Multiple requests can quickly add up, causing noticeable delays. This is especially critical for mobile users, who often have slower internet connections. Optimizing HTTP requests is a fundamental step in ensuring your website loads quickly and efficiently.

Best Practices for Reducing HTTP Requests

1. Enable Caching

Caching is your first line of defense against unnecessary HTTP requests. By caching static assets, you instruct the browser to store copies of files, so they don’t need to be re-downloaded on subsequent visits. WP Astra and Elementor work seamlessly with various caching plugins.

• Browser Caching: Configures the web server to tell browsers how long to store certain files. You can do this via your .htaccess file or through a caching plugin.

    ExpiresActive On
    ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 year"
    ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 year"
    ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 year"
    ExpiresByType image/svg+xml "access plus 1 year"
    ExpiresByType text/css "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType application/javascript "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType application/x-javascript "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType text/html "access plus 1 hour"
  
  

• Plugin Caching: Consider using caching plugins like WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, or LiteSpeed Cache. These plugins offer comprehensive caching solutions that handle various aspects of caching, including page caching, browser caching, and object caching.

2. Optimize and Compress Images

Images are often the biggest contributors to HTTP requests. Optimizing and compressing images can significantly reduce the number of bytes transferred.

• Choose the Right Format: Use JPEG for photographs, PNG for graphics with transparency, and WebP for superior compression and quality. WebP is a modern image format developed by Google that provides excellent compression and supports both lossy and lossless compression.

• Compress Images: Use tools like TinyPNG, ImageOptim, or ShortPixel to compress images without significant quality loss. These tools reduce file sizes by removing unnecessary metadata and optimizing compression algorithms.

  Hint: The Elementor Page Builder supports lazy loading of images. Therefore use this for your images!

• Lazy Loading: Implement lazy loading so that images are only loaded when they are visible in the viewport. This reduces initial page load time and the number of HTTP requests made upfront.

3. Minify CSS and JavaScript Files

Minifying CSS and JavaScript files reduces their size by removing unnecessary characters like whitespace and comments. This results in smaller file sizes and fewer bytes transferred.

• Use a Plugin: Autoptimize, WP Rocket, and other performance plugins can automatically minify and combine CSS and JavaScript files.

  <!-- Optimized and minified CSS -->
  <link rel='stylesheet' href='style.min.css' type='text/css' media='all' />
  
  <!-- Optimized and minified JavaScript -->
  <script type='text/javascript' src='script.min.js'></script>
  

• Combine Files: Combining multiple CSS and JavaScript files into fewer files reduces the number of HTTP requests. However, be cautious when combining too many files, as it can increase the file size and potentially slow down initial page load times.

4. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A CDN stores copies of your website’s static files on multiple servers around the world. When a user visits your site, the files are served from the server closest to them, reducing latency and speeding up load times.

• Popular CDNs: Cloudflare, MaxCDN, and Amazon CloudFront are popular CDN services that integrate well with WordPress and Astra Pro.

  Hint: A CDN reduces the load on your origin server and ensures fast delivery of content to users regardless of their geographic location.

5. Optimize Your Theme and Plugins

Your WordPress theme and plugins can significantly impact the number of HTTP requests. Choose themes and plugins that are lightweight and well-optimized. We recommend to use Astra Pro since its very efficient. Regularly review and remove any plugins that you no longer need.

• Lightweight Themes: Use themes like Astra Pro, GeneratePress, or OceanWP, which are designed for performance and speed.
• Essential Plugins Only: Avoid installing unnecessary plugins. Each plugin adds its own CSS, JavaScript, and image files, increasing the number of HTTP requests.

6. Leverage Browser Hints

Browser hints like <link rel='preconnect'> and <link rel='dns-prefetch'> can help the browser anticipate future connections and resolve DNS lookups in advance.

• Preconnect: Establishes a connection to a third-party server early in the page load process.

  <link rel='preconnect' href='https://example.com'>
  

• DNS-Prefetch: Resolves the DNS of a domain before it is needed.

  <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//example.com'>
  

7. Inline Critical CSS

Inlining critical CSS involves embedding the CSS needed for above-the-fold content directly into the HTML. This eliminates the initial render-blocking request for the main CSS file.

• Tools: Use tools like Critical CSS or online generators to extract and inline the critical CSS.

  <style>
  /* Critical CSS for above-the-fold content */
  body { font-family: Arial, sans-serif; }
  .header { background-color: #f0f0f0; }
  </style>
  

8. Use CSS Sprites

CSS sprites combine multiple small images into a single image file. You can then use CSS to display specific portions of the sprite, reducing the number of HTTP requests.

• Tools: Sprite generators like CSS Sprite Generator can help you create and manage CSS sprites.

  .icon-home { background-image: url('sprite.png'); background-position: 0 0; }
  .icon-search { background-image: url('sprite.png'); background-position: -20px 0; }
  

9. Reduce External Fonts

Each font file you load from an external source adds an HTTP request. Limit the number of font files and consider using web-safe fonts or self-hosting your fonts.

• Web-Safe Fonts: Use common fonts like Arial, Helvetica, or Times New Roman, which are pre-installed on most systems.

• Self-Hosting Fonts: Host your fonts on your own server to avoid relying on third-party font providers. Use the right format (WOFF2) when self-hosting.

  Info: Check also this blog post: Top 10 Free & Best Google Fonts for Your Website

10. Monitor and Test Your Website

Regularly monitor and test your website’s performance to identify areas for improvement. Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, and WebPageTest provide valuable insights into your site’s loading times and HTTP requests.

• Google PageSpeed Insights: This tool analyzes your website’s speed and provides recommendations for optimization. It also offers insights into mobile and desktop performance.
• GTmetrix: GTmetrix provides detailed performance reports, including page load time, PageSpeed score, and a breakdown of HTTP requests.
• WebPageTest: A comprehensive tool for testing website performance from multiple locations and browsers.

  Info: Have a look at: How to Quickly Make High-Resolution Screenshots in Base64

  By regularly checking your website’s performance, you can identify any new issues that arise and take steps to fix them quickly.

Combining Elementor and WP Astra for Optimal Performance

Elementor is a powerful page builder, and WP Astra is a lightweight, customizable theme. When used together, they can create stunning websites without sacrificing performance. Here’s how to optimize them for fewer HTTP requests:

• Astra’s Performance Features: Astra Pro comes with built-in performance optimization features, such as the ability to disable jQuery Migrate, which can reduce HTTP requests.
• Elementor’s Optimized Code: Elementor is designed to generate clean, efficient code. However, be mindful of using too many elements or complex layouts, which can increase HTTP requests.

*Check out also these great inspirational showcases of beautiful websites built with Elementor: Showcase 2 or Showcase 1

Conclusion

Reducing HTTP requests is crucial for improving your website’s performance and user experience. By implementing these best practices, you can significantly reduce page load times and create a faster, more efficient website using Elementor and WP Astra. Remember to regularly monitor your site’s performance and adapt your strategies as needed. Start implementing these tips today and watch your website’s speed soar! We at STARTMAKINGWEBSITES are happy to help on your journey!