[final kaoss]

Alot of images can slow a site down alot. Using Lazy Load, you can help reduce the load for guests... idk about search bots. As it loads images as the user scrolls down, meaning they can load many of the other static elements first. As for optimizing images, there's a few on the OP that don't reduce the quality, just the kb of the images; aka lossless image optimization.

As for using mods that you feel aren't optimized, for those that use js, you can run them through a javascript compressor online like this one.

You can give the sprite mod a chance if you want but it gives users hell just to get the thing running and some people can't get it to run at all! Which is why I don't recommend it.

I think the last thing you need to do is play around with deferring js... but don't go crazy with it, some core js just won't work if you try to defer it and cause you issues. It's been a while since I dabbled with it, so if you can report your findings on that here... it would help alot!

The easiest way to remember to do this is to insert it in the first script tag before it closes like so.

<script src="some_javascript.js" defer>