Movalog Blog

Here are some tips on how to optimize your weblog and make the page load times drop:

• Sidebars: Sidebars are everything when you're talkin about page load. I have found that sidebars on the right decrease page load times dramatically. Having the sidebar on the right also allows the content to load first. The content is what your readers have come for and hence they can start reading even before the page has fully loaded. The default MT templates have the sidebars positioned to the right, to change your sidebar location you'll need to change the float element in the css:

float:right;

or you may have to move around some of your markup (the template code)

• Content: Although content is good having too much of it on the front page will again increase the load time. On my weblogs I usually have about 8 entries displaying, I use the lastn element to set this rather than the setting in weblog config. You can set it as such

<MTEntries lastn="8">

Another good tool that can be used is the extended entry field when creating an entry. If you have a lengthy entry consider splitting it up, use the Entry Body and Extended Entry fields wisely.

• Macros / Regexes: I have personally found - though many have rebuked it - that having too many macros or regexes courtesy of the Macro and Regex plugins will also increase the load time. Consider removing smilies, acronyms or any other items that you do not use often.