Our Website Recipe for Speed and Style
At Luminite Design, creating the perfect website setup means more than just designing a site that looks good. It’s about choosing the right tools and settings to make websites fast, secure, and easy to use. Here’s a closer look at our process, focusing on the five key tools we use to create an efficient, high-performing website setup.
Why WordPress is Essential
What is WordPress?
WordPress is the foundation of most of the sites we build. Think of it as the building blocks of a website, where we can add pages, images, and features. It’s popular because it’s easy to customise and makes website management straightforward. More information on WordPress can be read here >>
Why We Use WordPress
Using WordPress helps us create the perfect website setup because it works well with almost any tool we need, allowing us to add features or adjust the design without any issues. Plus, it’s highly flexible, so we can create websites that fit a range of styles and functions.
Divi: The Design Powerhouse Behind the Perfect Website Setup
What is Divi?
Divi is a theme and page builder for WordPress. Think of it as the designer’s toolbox, helping us build beautiful, professional layouts that are unique to each website.
Why We Use Divi
Divi helps us achieve the perfect website setup by letting us control every detail of the design, from headers and buttons to blog layouts and galleries. Its customisation tools make it simple to create pages that look amazing and load quickly.
Key Divi Settings for the Perfect Website Setup
- Static CSS File Generation: Enabled, which makes Divi load styles faster by creating static CSS files.
- Minify Settings: We avoid extra minification within Divi, as LiteSpeed Cache handles CSS and JavaScript optimisation.
- Divi Theme Builder: Used for designing important pages like blog layouts and error pages. This keeps the site visually consistent.
Cloudflare: A Key to Speed and Security in Creating the Perfect Website Setup
What is Cloudflare?
Cloudflare is a content delivery network (CDN) that helps websites load faster and stay secure by storing a version of the website in different locations worldwide.
Why We Use Cloudflare
Cloudflare’s speed and security tools are essential for creating the perfect website setup. By storing versions of the website closer to the visitor, Cloudflare helps the site load faster. It also blocks potential threats, adding a layer of protection.
Key Cloudflare Settings for the Perfect Website Setup
- Cache Everything: Enabled to store a version of the website, improving load times.
- Rocket Loader: Usually off for smoother CSS and JavaScript loading.
- Auto Minify: Off for CSS (we rely on LiteSpeed for CSS optimisation).
LiteSpeed Cache: Boosting Speed in the Perfect Website Setup
What is LiteSpeed Cache?
LiteSpeed Cache is a plugin that speeds up WordPress sites by storing frequently accessed pages and files, so they don’t have to load fresh each time.
Why We Use LiteSpeed Cache
For us, LiteSpeed Cache is essential in creating the perfect website setup because it keeps the site fast and smooth, even with high traffic. It also works seamlessly with Cloudflare, helping us manage performance and cache control.
Key LiteSpeed Cache Settings for the Perfect Website Setup
- Enable Cache: On. This speeds up the site by storing pages for quick access.
- Guest Mode: Enabled for faster loading for new visitors.
- CSS & JavaScript Minify: Enabled. CSS Combine is off to keep styles loading correctly.
- Browser Cache TTL: Set to 1 day to keep pages ready for returning visitors.
- Image Lazy Load: Enabled, delaying images until they’re needed.
Imagify: Optimising Images for the Perfect Website Setup
What is Imagify?
Imagify is a tool that reduces image file sizes without compromising quality, so they load faster on your website.
Why We Use Imagify
Imagify is an important part of creating the perfect website setup because it makes images lighter, faster, and optimised for speed. This is crucial since images can be one of the heaviest parts of a website.
Key Imagify Settings for the Perfect Website Setup
- Compression Level: Aggressive, which keeps images clear while reducing size.
- WebP Conversion: Enabled to deliver faster-loading WebP images when supported by browsers.
- Resize Larger Images: Set to 2880px width to control size without compromising quality.
Bringing It All Together to create the Perfect Website Setup
Each of these tools—WordPress, Divi, Cloudflare, LiteSpeed Cache, and Imagify—plays a vital role in creating the perfect website setup. From the foundation of WordPress to the design power of Divi, the speed of Cloudflare and LiteSpeed Cache, and the optimisation of Imagify, we ensure each part of the setup works together to create websites that load fast, look great, and are a joy to use.
By focusing on creating the perfect website setup with these tools and settings, we can offer our clients the best in performance, design, and reliability.