WordPress has released an official plugin that improves the speed of your website. Publishers can try out the new beta features and submit feedback. Performance Lab is the name of the plugin. The WordPress performance team built it to aid in speeding up WordPress sites. The plugin enables publishers to test new updates before they integrate them into the WordPress core. The WordPress Performance Team creates the plugin, which is developed by WordPress core developers. With this plugin, they get input on all the new features to develop for inclusion in future versions of WordPress core. So, if you also want to include this plugin in your website, hire wordpress developer.
The WordPress Performance team creates in November 2021 to manage the performance enhancements within the WordPress core. In it, the team consists of some WordPress developers and others from Google and Yoast.
The team generated a list of performance items and introduced the plugin as an outcome.
What is a Performance Lab Plugin?
The Performance Lab plugin is a collection of modules that gives you access to WordPress features that will help you speed up your site. It works and recognizes problems that may hold them down. The plugin is built in a modular approach, allowing publishers to pick and choose the enhancements they want to use. Also, the additional features of the plugin are likely to introduce a future version of WordPress. Every WordPress development company has adopted this new plugin to make the website perform fast.
While the Performance Lab plugin may appear to be comparable with other performance plugins. It serves a different purpose: it is a set of “feature projects” for WordPress core that deal with performance. New features are supplied as separate plugins. WordPress chose to combine all of the new performance enhancements into a single plugin, allowing publishers to pick which new features to enable from a single central area within the plugin. As a result, it should be thought of as a beta-testing plugin. The plugin’s performance modules help individually or in combination on the plugin’s settings screen, allowing it to test separately or together. Enable
The list of modules included in the Performance Lab plugin may radically alter over time because it is a collection of possible WordPress core feature modules. Indeed, the developers can add the new modules regularly. While the others modules remove in a later plugin version once they integrate into the WordPress core. The Performance Lab plugin isn’t a complete replacement for any other WordPress performance plugins you might already be using.
List of the components added in the Performance Lab plugin.
There are four components in the new Performance Lab plugin.
The following are the four plugin modules:
- WebP Uploads
- WebP Support
- Persistent Object Cache Health Check
- Audit Enqueued Assets (experimental)
- WebP Uploads
It will convert your newly uploaded JPEG files to the WebP format because it is quick. Moreover, it requires the features to work with the WebP support on the server.
- WebP Support
It is a site health module that determines whether the server supports WebP and displays a warning if it does not.
- Persistent Object Cache Health Check
Object caching may suggest it as part of a site health check module. Object caching helps reduce database load and speeds up the website for site visitors by reducing the time it takes for the site to reply.
- Audit Enqueued Assets (experimental)
Checks the CSS and JavaScript files that load on the home page. Moreover, it aids in the detection of unneeded CSS and JavaScript files that may cause a website’s performance to suffer.
So, to install this plugin on your website, hire WordPress developer from a reputable web development agency. The plugin’s goal is to make it simple for users to test ongoing changes. Under the new Settings > Performance menu in the admin, you can enable or disable each component.
Upload the JPEG photos and check if the WebP version generates any detection in the media library. And display it on the frontend to test the WebP upload module.
Felix Arntz, a WordPress Core Committer, stresses that the plugin should consider as a beta testing tool rather than a quick cure for making your WordPress site faster.
Is the Enqueued Asset Module still in development?
The Audit Enqueued Assets module is considered beta. Because the module will get an upgrade, the developers choose to classify it as experimental. You can see the conversation on the official Github page. However, we have also showcased what they have talked about.
There is a discussion on the official Github page between the developers about the new WordPress plugin, and the specialist discusses a few things with other developers:
“To clarify, it’s not that there is a problem with the module, it’s more about that it doesn’t feel as polished yet, hence marking it as “experimental” for this first release – as it sees more refinement over time, we could then mark it as non-experimental.”
Further, they come up with a reason why one of the modules gets label of experimental:
“Indeed this wouldn’t break anyone’s site, but IMO the main point for marking this as experimental is that it’s still in an earlier stage of development compared to the other modules.”
Is It Necessary to Install the Plugin?
The download page of the plugins states the proper testing of the plugin and is safe to use on a live production site. And the other three modules do not get a label of experimental and are stable and won’t break a site. The plugin’s primary goal is to allow publishers to provide input on the modules before they merge directly into the WordPress core.
So, by adding new plugins to the staging site, you need to test the plugin before upgrading the main website. Moreover, there is another practice that you can create a website backup before installing the plugin. Sometimes the plugin conflicts with other plugins or themes, the backup will make it simple to restore the website to its original state.
Conclusion
WordPress has a Performance Lab plugin support forum and a GitHub repository where users can contribute feedback. So, if you want to have this new WordPress Plugin, hire WordPress developer.
