Module: AIOM+ (All In One Minify) for CSS, LESS, JS and HTML

[David Karich]

Hey guys, 

first, ProcessWire is a great piece of software. Thanks for that and the great community behind that. So, i'm realy new to ProcessWire, but i will present you my first module for SEO- and performance optimizing: AIOM+ (All In One Minify).

AIOM+ (All In One Minify) for CSS, LESS, JS and HTML

AIOM+ (All In One Minify) is a module to easily improve the performance of your website. By a simple function call Stylesheets, LESS and Javascript files can be parsed, minimized and combined into one single file. This reduces the server requests, loading time and minimizes the traffic. In addition, the generated HTML source code can be minimized and all generated files can be loaded over a cookieless domain (domain sharding).

Install AIOM+

1. Download current release (link below)
2. Extract and copy the files for this module to /site/modules/AllInOneMinify/
3. Login to PW backend and go to Modules > Check for new modules
4. Install Module > AIOM+ (All In One Minify) for CSS, LESS, JS and HTML

Alternative in ProcessWire 2.4

1. Login to PW backend and go to Modules
2. Click tab "new" and enter Module Class Name: "AllInOneMinify"
3. Click "Download and Install"

Features

• Combining stylesheets / LESS files or JavaScripts
• Minimize the combined files
• No change to the .htaccess necessary (except for the domain sharding)
• Server-side LESS parsing without plugins
• HTML source code minimization
• Cookieless domain / domain sharding
• Automatic cache management (With changes to the source file, the cache is rebuilt)
• Configurable via the backend
• Automatic rewriting the paths in the stylesheet and LESS files. No changes are needed
• Optional developer mode (combining, but no minimize and browser cache prevention)
• Clear the cache on the backend
• Conditional loading for CSS, LESS and JS (since Version 3.1.1)

How to use

Minimize multiple stylesheet or LESS files into one file. You can even mix stylesheet and LESS files in parsing and combining process!

<link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php echo AIOM::CSS(array('css/file-1.css', 'css/file-2.less', 'css/file-3.css', 'css/file-4.less')); ?>"> 

Minimize multiple javascript files into one file.

<script src="<?php echo AIOM::JS(array('js/file-1.js', 'js/file-2.js', 'js/file-3.js', 'js/file-4.js')); ?>"></script>

Conditional loading (same with Javascripts)

<?php $stylesheets  = array('css/reset.css',
                            'css/main.less',
                            array('loadOn'  => 'id|template=1002|1004|sitemap', // PW API selector
                                  'files'   => array('css/special.css', 'css/special-theme.less'))); ?>

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="<?php echo AIOM::CSS($stylesheets); ?>" /> 

More Information, Documentation and Download

• AIOM+ in ProcessWire repository
• AIOM+ on GitHub

So, I hope you can do something with this module.

Dave

[pwired]

Welcome to processwire cmp* and the forum David. And thanks for making your aiom+ module.

Looking at that module you must already be an experienced coder and so you don't need much

introduction to the how's and what's. But maybe you still may find something usefull in this channel:

http://processwire.com/talk/topic/4173-grouped-forum-posts-links-articles-tutorials-code-snippets/

(* = content management potential)

[Joss]

Looks interesting Dave - I will play with it later! (after some gardening...)

[DaveP]

Looks good. I really like the idea of domain sharding built in.

[apeisa]

aiom is already one of my favourite modules.

[horst]

I really like all the minify and less support. Actually I use the Spex-Module from Jonathan. With the next project I want to use AIOM+.

Looks good. I really like the idea of domain sharding built in.

 
Only one question for me is if it is an improvement to use domain sharding today. Before 2010, max 2 simultaneous connections was allowed. Today 6-8 are allowed/used. Without images you may need 1 html + 1 css + 1 js + 1 optional for Fonts = 4
 
related article: http://www.mobify.com/blog/domain-sharding-bad-news-mobile-performance/

[SiNNuT]

Yep, easily one of the most useful PW modules around. It fits great into my workflow, and now with version 3.0 and the added LESS support it gets even better. Keep up the good work!

PS Have you guys considered adding Autoprefixer support to the module (maybe as an option)? I'm not sure if this is easy to implement but it saves people the hassle of writing all kinds of vendor prefixes in their CSS, and instead just automatically takes care of this.

[Ryan Pierce]

This is absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much.

[David Karich]

Thank you guys, for this great feedback. That make me happy.

Yep, easily one of the most useful PW modules around. It fits great into my workflow, and now with version 3.0 and the added LESS support it gets even better. Keep up the good work!

PS Have you guys considered adding Autoprefixer support to the module (maybe as an option)? I'm not sure if this is easy to implement but it saves people the hassle of writing all kinds of vendor prefixes in their CSS, and instead just automatically takes care of this.

I do not think it's the best way, to integrate Autoprefixer in AIOM+. I think it's not good when the module changes the generated code, which can be difficult to understand. Makes it difficult for the troubleshooting. But I'll be looking at Autoprefixer. Maybe I can port the code to PHP.

Currently i use LESS for that: 

.transition(@style) {
    -webkit-transition: @style;
    -moz-transition: @style;
    -o-transition: @style;
    -ms-transition: @style;
    transition: @style;
}

#element {
    .transition(all 0.2s ease);
}

Thank you very much for the module, it is one of my favorites. I have started a topic on github suggesting the use of conditional loading for files using the ID of the page.

I did not know existed the PHP official version of LESS, although I had already used to using koala (http://koala-app.com/)

Excellent suggestion! I'm still thinking about the syntax, but definitely write this function on the To-Do. Thank you.

[David Karich]

I really like all the minify and less support. Actually I use the Spex-Module from Jonathan. With the next project I want to use AIOM+.

Only one question for me is if it is an improvement to use domain sharding today. Before 2010, max 2 simultaneous connections was allowed. Today 6-8 are allowed/used. Without images you may need 1 html + 1 css + 1 js + 1 optional for Fonts = 4

related article: http://www.mobify.com/blog/domain-sharding-bad-news-mobile-performance/

I think for websites and applications that are designed for desktop systems, domain sharding is still acute and helpful. For mobile-optimized sites, it is counterproductive. 

 

The DNS overhead, is however, in my experience, not in comparison with the cookie data. For large news portals I continued domain sharding in use.

[David Karich]

AIOM+ now in Version 3.0.1 with a little but recommended fix in the Less parser. If a large LESS file is split by the parser, the following error occurs: 

Error: Class 'Less_Exception_Parser' not found (line 8795 of /site/modules/AllInOneMinify/lib/Less/Less.php)

Issue found and submited by Ryan Pierce. Thanks.

[Pierre-Luc]

Hey David, really like AIOM. I would usually use Assetic for that, and I think you might want to look at integrating that code. Could save you a few headaches. 

[David Karich]

Hey David, really like AIOM. I would usually use Assetic for that, and I think you might want to look at integrating that code. Could save you a few headaches. 

Hey Pierre, 

I'm not really happy with Assetic for several reasons: 

• Too many dependencies.
• Java-based YUI integeration. Many shared hosting do not offer Java support.
• Depending on the Google Closure API. I don't wanted to integrate any third party service.
• Node.js for LESS parser, because the PHP-ported version in Asettic is outdated and is no longer developed and supported.

In summary, you could not just use AIOM+ as it is now – install and use. AIOM+ requires only PHP and is not dependent on another service or special server requirements.

[Pierre-Luc]

You're right, good points! 

[David Karich]

So, just before the weekend, I've uploaded a new version (3.1.1) that supports a new feature: Conditional loading. You can now assign CSS, LESS or JS files with an API-selector a condition at which they should be loaded. For example: 

<?php $stylesheets  = array('css/reset.css',
                            'css/main.less',
                            array('loadOn'  => 'id|template=1002|1004|sitemap', // PW API selector
                                  'files'   => array('css/special.css', 'css/special-theme.less'))); ?>

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="<?php echo AIOM::CSS($stylesheets); ?>" /> 

[ceberlin]

Hi, one quick question: Is there a way to set it up that it cleans the HTML but leaves the line breaks intact?

So I see a clean, neat website source code without spaces and comments but the code is not squeezed into one single endless line?

[SiNNuT]

Hi, one quick question: Is there a way to set it up that it cleans the HTML but leaves the line breaks intact?

So I see a clean, neat website source code without spaces and comments but the code is not squeezed into one single endless line?

Doesn't this kind of defeat the purpose of minimizing your html? If you want to look at nicely formatted source every browser nowadays has a good or decent devtools/inspector.

[ceberlin]

I do not think those extra few carriage returns matter too much.

Planning the "presentation" of source code is for psychological reasons: e.g. if 3rd parties (clients?) look at the code.

So, the "purpose" of minimizing html may vary from user to user.

[SiNNuT]

What's stopping a client from opening devtools? If clients care enough to look at source code and actually base an opinion (negative or positive) on that, i think they are well aware of optimizations like minimize and they actually applaud you for that, or you could tell them: "we minimize (and concatenate) the output for optimal performance, especially on mobile". Keeping cr/lf in there seems an in-between, for no real reason. To me minimize means minimize, but to each it's own i guess.

[David Karich]

Hi, one quick question: Is there a way to set it up that it cleans the HTML but leaves the line breaks intact?

So I see a clean, neat website source code without spaces and comments but the code is not squeezed into one single endless line?

Hi ceberlin, 

 

no, there is no option, because this ist not the target of a minimization. Every browser has an inspector or dev-tools in which you or your client can see the restructured DOM.

[Jonathan Dart]

Hi David,

I've been playing around with bower to manage third party libraries, bower puts files in a directory called bower_components and my first instinct was to put that directory right in "site/". In _getFileInfoArray any attempt to reference a file outside the templates directory gets thwarted, is there a security concern here?

[pwFoo]

I read the module description and it looks like a great minify solution! Is there an overhead because of caching and cache rebuild? For example with a slow first page load or will the cache created prior to the first visitor? How do you monitor file changes?

I'll try AIOM+ soon to minify html, css and js with a new PW website

[David Karich]

Hi David,

I've been playing around with bower to manage third party libraries, bower puts files in a directory called bower_components and my first instinct was to put that directory right in "site/". In _getFileInfoArray any attempt to reference a file outside the templates directory gets thwarted, is there a security concern here?

Hi Jonathan , 

yes, in this function paths are filtered to prevent directory traversal attacks. AIOM+ loads only allowed files that are located in the template folder. I think about it, in one of the upcoming versions, introduce a whitelist for asset folder.

For a workaround change the following line (749) in AllInOneMinify.module: 

$_path  = str_ireplace(array('../', './', '%2e%2e%2f', '..%2F'), '', (wire('config')->paths->templates.$_file));

to 

$_path  = wire('config')->paths->templates.$_file; 

I have not tested it and I can not recommend it too.

[David Karich]

I read the module description and it looks like a great minify solution! Is there an overhead because of caching and cache rebuild? For example with a slow first page load or will the cache created prior to the first visitor? How do you monitor file changes?

I'll try AIOM+ soon to minify html, css and js with a new PW website

Hi pwFoo, 

AIOM+ monitors each asset file on the modifikation time and generates a hash for the comparsion with the already cached files. If there exist no cached file, the first function call will trigger that process, but only for files, that are needed (first page load). The average overhead of an average webproject on shared hosting with 128 MB php_memory_limit are round 500 ms for generating, minimization, parsing and writing the cached files. That's at least my experience. The complete Bootstrap 3 source as LESS files is generated in under 3 seconds.

[pwFoo]

Thanks David