Client-side web site optimization can take you only so far. To fully optimize high-traffic pages, you've got to turn to the server-side. By configuring your server to accommodate conditional SSI and browser sniffing, abbreviated URLs, and shunting defaults to the server, you can dramatically speed up your pages. Here is a list of key points in this chapter:
Use SSI to minimize HTTP requests on high-traffic pages.
Where possible, pre-merge dynamic content without SSI for maximum speed.
Use server-side browser sniffing to minimize HTTP requests, especially for JavaScript files. Use the fastest technology available (JSP > PHP > XSSI).
Conditionally include meta tags.
Abbreviate your links, manually or automatically, with mod_rewrite and shorturls.pl (20 to 28 percent savings).
Optimize your forms and CGI scripts to shunt defaults to the server.
Use mod_perl to speed up Perl scripts.
Don't require www . for your domains.
Further Reading For more information on the Apache server, modules, URL rewrites, and other server-side tuning topics, see the following:
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