RealTime Template Compressor: Reduces page sizes, loads pages faster, saves Bandwidth

As you know all vbulletin pages consists of templates and templates consists of HTML (+sometimes javascript) tags.

Nearly in all sites and HTML pages, HTML tags are written in a readable format so that developer can read the source code easily. VB templates abide by this rule too.

However when this "nicely readable" code is called by a visitor, page size unnecessarily increases because of the redundant "spaces" and "line breaks" in the source code which have no useful purpose regarding the page output but is there just for making the source code more readable to the developer.

This hack removes these unnecessary spaces and line breaks from your vbulletin templates AT THE MOMENT they are displayed (in realtime). It does NOT touch your original source code so it is still readable to you when you want to edit it in your admin CP. But it compress the output when they are sent to user's browser.

Removal of these unnecessary characters makes sure:
a) Page output shrinks in all vb pages
b) Thus page loads faster by all visitors
c) You save bandwidth.

Since the removed characters are unnecessary characters, display of your page does NOT change. Please see FAQ below for more info.

This hack is 100% compatible with Teck's Microstat Hack and my Advanced Templates: Dynamic Templates Changing according to different conditions hack and WebTemplates 2.x: VB Integrated Content Management System . It is a very easy to install add (just a few lines in 1 step) yet effective.

I appreciate if you can click INSTALL button, if you use the hack. Thank you. :glasses:

[Dan_UPC]

Originally Posted by Erwin

I uninstalled this hack in the end at my private forums, basically because some members using IE for some reason got really wide threads. Don't ask me why.

I've also found and documented this.

[Dan_UPC]

With GZIP enabled, this hack is almost redundant ... the savings equate to about 1% or so over and above a GZIPPED page. The reported savings on a GZIP Enabled board are also bogus because it reports the size difference before being put thru GZIP.

[Logician]

Originally Posted by Dan_UPC

With GZIP enabled, this hack is almost redundant ... the savings equate to about 1% or so over and above a GZIPPED page. The reported savings on a GZIP Enabled board are also bogus because it reports the size difference before being put thru GZIP.

The hack is effective even with GZIP enabled. The hack is removing certain characters from your source code so making it smaller in size. Since your hacked page's source code is now smaller, the gzipped outcome of it will be smaller then the gzipped outcome of unhacked page. The hack is using completely a different algorithm than GZIP to save bandwidth so you can not say it is redundant with GZIP.

If you ZIPed a Microsoft Word document, would it be redundant to remove a few pages of the original document just because you ZIPed? If you remove some pages before the compression, the ZIPed outcome will become smaller, it is simple aritmetic.

But you don't agree, please uninstall it. It is not mandatory to use it..

[Dan_UPC]

Logician,

I'm not saying that it is 100% redundant but it makes very little difference if you've got gzip turned on ... I tested with gzip on with and without this and the difference is extremely small. It also has bugs that make it a big pain to use on some pages. I'm not complaining, just trying to give a bit of constructive criticism as with a bit of tweaking I can see this being of use to some people.

[Erwin]

I still can't explain why some threads become wide. Any ideas? The only one I can think of is carriage breaks caused by spaces in HTML are removed.

[Dan_UPC]

Originally Posted by Erwin

I still can't explain why some threads become wide. Any ideas? The only one I can think of is carriage breaks caused by spaces in HTML are removed.

I'm investigating it at the moment ... should have an answer for you by the end of the week.

[Logician]

Originally Posted by Erwin

I still can't explain why some threads become wide. Any ideas? The only one I can think of is carriage breaks caused by spaces in HTML are removed.

Erwin, I guess it should be possible to find the cause when you check the source code of such threads with and without the hack.

I'm not able to track/debug it because I have never experienced such a problem in the boards I have installed the hack. The only display problem I witnessed and reported in the FAQ is the page split links getting closer to eachother.

[Logician]

BTW. please note I have never tested it in VB3 which may be the reason of your problem..

[Dan_UPC]

Ok, I've worked out what was causing the really wide tables in my case. I'll post a fix in the next 48hrs.

[Red Blaze]

whoa! Damn it does load faster! =o

Thanks for the hack. ^__^