Not only do webmasters, but also search engines agree to that websites with fast speed performance totally win over slower ones. Generally, the faster the website is, greater would be the user experience and higher would be the search engine rankings.
If people are intent to create a website by using a content management system like WordPress, Drupal or Joomla, they should first keep one thing in mind. That although every readymade PHP framework runs pretty well at the beginning, it would become sluggish as the website grows. So, it requires some adjustments, which can be achieved by certain speed rendering modules and codes of the CMS.
Considering the complexity of Drupal, it is might be a tough process for Drupal users. Here, we concluded several Drupal performance optimization suggestions to help them out.
- Use Own Cache of Drupal
The most basic and simple way to optimize Drupal performance is to use its own cache. If the built-in cache system is enabled, then Drupal would not only start storing certain database queries within itself, but also assure visitors a faster loading speed.
Besides, setting Drupal’s cache to a “minimum cache lifetime” and deleting old caches could prevent the cache from going out of sync effectively.
- Use Cache Tools
Compare to Apache, Varnish, a technical reverse proxy system, is much faster in serving pages of Drupal website by enhancing PHP framework speed. Users can take full use of to increase Drupal performance.
Memcached is another great caching tool that is truly going to stand out for making better Drupal performance. Different from Drupal cache, Memcached involves installation that users need to install the Memcached software, Drupal Memcached and a PHP extension to ensure it runs well.
- Compress Drupal Components
In order to make a Drupal website visible, cluster of files are sent to visitors when they try to access the website. Thus, compress files including JavaScript, CSS, HTML and PHP can make them retrieved quickly.
Besides, users can also resize and compress their sites’ images before uploading, because images’ sizes would affect the loading time on visitors’ browser directly.
- Use Alternative Modules
BOOST is one of the most recommended extensions not only for optimizing Drupal performance, but also it works great in shared hosting environment.
APC module is another advanced tool caching a Drupal website’s PHP elements and making sure they are not re-complied, at the same time. Users should note that APC module may need them to increase their memory of domain.
- Consider CDN Service
If users are still not satisfied with the Drupal performance, then they should consider a content delivery network. It is like alternative servers for their websites that are spread around the world, and serve pages to visitors from the closest network.
- Reliable Hosting Service
Lack of server resources is a reason for a slow website. Actually, most Drupal webmaster use shared hosting as their Durpal hosting solution, which is regarded as a barrier of performance. For higher personal or business requirements, users can upgrade to advance VPS hosting or cloud environment.