{"id":207541,"date":"2022-03-22T01:10:38","date_gmt":"2022-03-22T01:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/?p=207541"},"modified":"2022-03-22T01:11:03","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T01:11:03","slug":"hummingbird-setup-wizard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/hummingbird-setup-wizard\/","title":{"rendered":"Optimize Performance of Your Site in 5 Simple Steps&#8230;for Free!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/hummingbird-performance\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hummingbird<\/a> is already one of the most popular optimization plugins in the WordPress world.\u00a0With the latest update comes the startup wizard, making setup simpler and faster than ever.<\/p>\n<p>If you haven\u2019t already, make sure to <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/hummingbird-performance\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">download the Hummingbird plugin for free at WordPress.org<\/a> today.<\/p>\n<p>In this post, we\u2019re going to demo the new wizard, to show you how getting your site optimized for speed and performance is just a few clicks away.<\/p>\n<p>Keep reading, or use the links below to jump to any section:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#speed\">Greedy for Speed<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#wizard\">Wizard Walkthrough<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#get-started\">Step 1 &#8211; Getting Started<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#asset-optimization\">Step 2 &#8211; Asset Optimization<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#uptime\">Step 3 &#8211; Uptime<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#page-caching\">Step 4 &#8211; Page Caching<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#advanced-tools\">Step 5 &#8211; Advanced Tools<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#optimization\">Peak Optimization for the Win<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Are you ready for this Harry Potter-ish sorcery?<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"speed\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a>Greedy for Speed<\/h2>\n<p>Site speed is generally at the top of everyone\u2019s most-wanted list. And if it isn\u2019t, it should be.<\/p>\n<p>Greater speed means more traffic, which equates to increased interactions and conversions. Picking up that potential for driving more business to your site is a no-brainer.<\/p>\n<p>Not to mention the boost you\u2019ll get to your SEO ranking\u2014because site speed is considered a signal in Google\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/blog\/2010\/04\/using-site-speed-in-web-search-ranking\" target=\"_blank\">search ranking algorithms<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Site speed depends on a number of factors, but one of the most important is optimization. Caching and compression make a huge impact, and that\u2019s exactly what Hummingbird does.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to being a full caching suite (it handles Page, Browser, Object, Gravatar, &amp; RSS), Hummingbird also delivers high-level asset optimization.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image-grid cgrid-row\">\n<div class=\"cgrid-col cgrid-col-span-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-ratio-full wp-image-207544\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/001-hbird-cache-banner-1050x342.png\" alt=\"Hummingbird banner\" width=\"1050\" height=\"342\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Here are some of the optimizations Hummingbird includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Compression \u2013 minifies files by stripping unnecessary code<\/li>\n<li>Combine \u2013 combined smaller files resulting in fewer files making fewer requests<\/li>\n<li>Move to Footer \u2013 scripts that aren\u2019t required to load a page can be placed in the footer, ensuring they won\u2019t impede the loading of other page assets<\/li>\n<li>Inline CSS \u2013 places CSS within the HTML file, reducing the number of files the browser has to download<\/li>\n<li>Defer \u2013 forces files to suspend loading until everything else has loaded<\/li>\n<li>Async \u2013 asynchronously loads assets, executing them as soon as they\u2019re ready<\/li>\n<li>Preload \u2013 preload key assets, ensuring they\u2019re ready as soon as they\u2019re required<\/li>\n<li>Font Optimization \u2013 optimizes delivery of your fonts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All of these actions lend themselves to a drastically reduced transfer time, which gives you desirable speed gains.<\/p>\n<p>Alright\u2026 wizardry awaits! Let\u2019s raise the wand.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"wizard\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a>Wizard Walkthrough<\/h2>\n<p>If you haven\u2019t already, install and activate <em>Hummingbird <\/em>from your WordPress dashboard, or the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/hummingbird-performance\/\" target=\"_blank\">WP.org plugin repository<\/a>. Afterwards, the wizard will start automatically.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"get-started\">Step 1 \u2013 Getting Started<\/h3>\n<p>Here you can enable usage tracking (I did), or leave it off. It\u2019s completely your call.<\/p>\n<p>Note: WPMU DEV only tracks non-sensitive data around feature usage, WordPress &amp; server environment, and browser\/OS type. We do not track or store personal data from your visitors. (You can <a href=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/docs\/privacy\/our-plugins\/#usage-tracking\" target=\"_blank\">read our policy<\/a> here.)<\/p>\n<p>Click the blue <strong>Get Started<\/strong> button at the bottom of the page.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_207545\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" data-caption=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-ratio-full wp-image-207545\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/002-hbird-startup-wizard-01-1050x760.png\" alt=\"Hummingbird wizard 1\" width=\"1050\" height=\"760\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hummingbird Wizard \u2013 Getting Started<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This takes us immediately into\u2026<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"asset-optimization\">Step 2 \u2013 Asset Optimization<\/h3>\n<p>This section is about combining and <a href=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/eliminate-render-blocking-issues-hummingbird\/\" target=\"_blank\">minifying your files<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Enable Speedy Compression<\/strong> is toggled<em> ON<\/em> by default. I recommend leaving it enabled, as it will deliver speed improvements. Click the <strong>Continue <\/strong>button at page bottom.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_207546\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" data-caption=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-ratio-full wp-image-207546\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/003-hbird-startup-wizard-02-1050x673.png\" alt=\"Hummingbird wizard 2\" width=\"1050\" height=\"673\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hummingbird Wizard \u2013 Asset Optimization<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>You\u2019ll get a popup window with a progressive status bar as Hummingbird quickly scans your site assets.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_207547\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" data-caption=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-ratio-full wp-image-207547\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/004-hbird-startup-wizard-03-1050x357.png\" alt=\"Hummingbird wizard 3\" width=\"1050\" height=\"357\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hummingbird\u2019s asset optimizations loading.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"uptime\">Step 3 \u2013 Uptime<\/h3>\n<p>Uptime is a <a href=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/project\/wp-hummingbird\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pro feature<\/a>, which is why it is grayed out\/skipped over.<\/p>\n<p>As an FYI, <a href=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/hummingbird-uptime-integration\/\" target=\"_blank\">Uptime<\/a> enables you to be immediately alerted if your website goes down, and when your website has come back up.<\/p>\n<p>You can also track how long your site was down for, when the last time your site went down, as well as your server response times.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re interested in accessing this feature (and even more goodies), click on the purple <strong>Try Pro for Free<\/strong> button at the top of the wizard.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_207548\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" data-caption=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-ratio-full wp-image-207548\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/005-hbird-startup-wizard-04-1050x254.png\" alt=\"Hummingbird wizard 4\" width=\"1050\" height=\"254\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hummingbird Wizard \u2013 Uptime (Pro only)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"page-caching\">Step 4 \u2013 Page Caching<\/h3>\n<p>In this section, you can enable one or more of the basic options of the <a href=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/optimize-wordpress-speed-hummingbird\/\" target=\"_blank\">Page Caching<\/a> feature.<\/p>\n<p>The options available in the wizard are:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cache on mobile devices<\/strong> \u2013 Page caching is enabled for mobile devices by default. Disable if you prefer not to use mobile caching.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Clear cache on comment post<\/strong> \u2013 This will clear the page cache after each comment made on a post.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cache HTTP headers<\/strong> \u2013 Hummingbird won\u2019t cache HTTP headers by default. If you want to include them, enable this. (We recommend enabling.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Show clear cache button in admin bar<\/strong> \u2013 This will add a shortcut button to Hummingbird settings, in the top WordPress Admin bar, allowing you to <em>Clear Cache <\/em>by clicking it. (It will clear all active cache types).<\/p>\n<p>All are <em>ON <\/em>by default, and I suggest leaving them this way (unless you have reasons to do otherwise). Click the <strong>Continue <\/strong>button once again to confirm your selections.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_207549\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" data-caption=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-ratio-full wp-image-207549\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/006-hbird-startup-wizard-05-1050x1013.png\" alt=\"Hummingbird wizard 5\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1013\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hummingbird Wizard \u2013 Page Caching<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"advanced-tools\">Step 5 \u2013 Advanced Tools<\/h3>\n<p>Here you can enable one or more of the advanced options in Hummingbird.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Remove query strings from my assets<\/strong> \u2013 This will remove query strings from URLs (ex: \u201c?x=y\u201d), as servers, CDNs or caching systems don\u2019t like them, and removing them can help increase speed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Remove the default Emoji JS &amp; CSS files<\/strong> \u2013 This will remove the Javascript &amp; CSS files that convert common symbols to emojis. Disable this if you don\u2019t care about seeing visual emojis.<\/p>\n<p>I turned the second one off, because I like to see emojis in their full\u2013color artistic glory.<\/p>\n<p>Select the options to your liking, then click the <strong>Continue <\/strong>button.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_207550\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" data-caption=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-ratio-full wp-image-207550\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/007-hbird-startup-wizard-06-1050x709.png\" alt=\"Hummingbird wizard 6\" width=\"1050\" height=\"709\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hummingbird Wizard \u2013 Advanced Options<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That\u2019s it! We\u2019re already at the finish line.<\/p>\n<p>This last screen shows a summary of all the selections we made during this setup wizard.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_207551\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" data-caption=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-ratio-full wp-image-207551\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/008-hbird-startup-wizard-07-1050x880.png\" alt=\"Hummingbird wizard 7\" width=\"1050\" height=\"880\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hummingbird Wizard \u2013 Completed!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With settings in place, it&#8217;s a great time to get a first look at your site\u2019s current performance. Click on the <strong>Run Performance Test<\/strong> button to get a detailed report.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll get another loading progress bar window while the test is run. Then it will load the main Hummingbird dashboard page, with all of your test results.<\/p>\n<p>(Or you can just skip ahead by clicking the <strong>Go To Dashboard<\/strong> button, if you prefer to run the test later.)<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_207552\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" data-caption=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-ratio-full wp-image-207552\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/009-hbird-startup-wizard-08-1050x1209.png\" alt=\"Hummingbird wizard 8\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1209\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hummingbird&#8217;s dashboard with test results.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Hummingbird is providing a lot of powerful information here. Each of <a href=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/speed-up-optimize-avada-theme-smush-hummingbird-plugins\/\" target=\"_blank\">the test results offers insight and opportunities for improvement<\/a>. By clicking on any of the metrics, you can see what the possible issues are, and what you can do to improve them.<\/p>\n<p>There are also additional handy integrations in Hummingbird, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/cloudflare-apo\/\" target=\"_blank\">Cloudflare\u2019s APO<\/a> (paid service through Cloudflare), CDN through <a href=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/docs\/hosting\/content-delivery-network-cdn\/\" target=\"_blank\">WPMU DEV\u2019s Hosting<\/a> (this is a <a href=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/project\/wp-hummingbird\/\" target=\"_blank\">Pro feature<\/a>), and <a href=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/docs\/wpmu-dev-plugins\/hummingbird\/#image-optimization-with-smush\" target=\"_blank\">Lazy Loading<\/a> with <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-smushit\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Smush<\/a>\u2014the award winning image optimizer (this is free). These are viewable\/editable at any time as well, from the Hummingbird dashboard menu.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"optimization\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a>Peak Optimization for the Win<\/h2>\n<p>All it takes is a couple of minutes and a few clicks to get your site in rip-roaring condition. And there\u2019s no time like the present.<\/p>\n<p>With state of the art compression features, such as minification and world-class caching, Hummingbird gives you heaps of optimization in a single plugin. And did we mention it\u2019s free?<\/p>\n<p>While site speed isn\u2019t everything&#8230; No, scratch that. It is. Site speed <em>IS<\/em> everything. And you can pick up a ton of it simply by implementing <a href=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/hummingbird-notification-reports\/\" target=\"_blank\">Hummingbird<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Formidable, free, and now even quicker and easier with the startup wizard. Hummingbird will get you in the fast lane of the speed game!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hummingbird is already one of the most popular optimization plugins in the WordPress world.\u00a0With the latest update comes the startup wizard, making setup simpler and faster than ever. If you haven\u2019t already, make sure to download the Hummingbird plugin for free at WordPress.org today. In this post, we\u2019re going to demo the new wizard, to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":915455,"featured_media":207588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"blog_reading_time":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_tutorials_categories":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,11260],"tags":[],"tutorials_categories":[11234],"class_list":["post-207541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tutorials","category-wpmu-dev-products","tutorials_categories-hummingbird-pro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/915455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207541"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207822,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207541\/revisions\/207822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207541"},{"taxonomy":"tutorials_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tutorials_categories?post=207541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}