mod_gzip

[adamparkzer]

I read online that using GZIP compression was a good way to save bandwidth and reduce the size of your web pages to make download times shorter. I looked up the code that allows you to GZIP your files, and it says to add this to your .htaccess file:

php_value output_handler ob_gzhandler

I tried that, and I got some fatal internal server error on my site. Does x10Hosting support GZIPing?

 

[garrettroyce]

I don't see it listed when I use the phpinfo() function.

I question how much bandwidth you save though. Images and movies don't compress, so you're compressing text, which is quite small. If you have 500,000 hits a day, that 1kb per load makes a difference. If you have 500 hits a day, you aren't talking about much.

 

[adamparkzer]

References said that you can reduce text file sizes by up to 90%. I know that for me, at this point, it's not a necessity, but I've heard that the savings really add up, and I'm just exploring all of the options I could have.

 

[garrettroyce]

Yeah, I can understand that. But if you look at the size of a large html file, it's still a few kb. When you have enough page hits for this to help a lot, you'll own your own server and you can install whatever mods you want

 

[adamparkzer]

lol I'm not sure if I'll ever become that famous

One of my HTML files is 265.39 KB, and it contains an archive of some of the work I've done during school for a year. Either way, I'm still using less than 10% of my bandwidth each month, so I guess this isn't really a high priority.