ob_start within CSS.php

PHP
1

I’ve placed the following code in my CSS file:

<?php 
ob_start("ob_gzhandler");
header("Content-type: text/css; charset: UTF-8");
header("Cache-Control: must-revalidate");
$offset = 60 * 60 ;
$ExpStr = "Expires: " . 
gmdate("D, d M Y H:i:s",
time() + $offset) . " GMT";
header($ExpStr);
?>

As expected, I renamed the extension of the CSS file to that of “.php” but I cannot notice any difference in performance and I think it’s either due to the size of the CSS file or the fact that I’m using WAMP at the moment.

I have the following questions:

1.) What type of overhead can one expect to see be reduced by using this approach?

2.) Can this same practice be applied in JavaScript files?

2

You’re telling the browser to always revalidate on every request.

Furthermore, you should set it to a higher amount, larger than what you have now (you have it set to 1 hour). Like 2 - 4 weeks.


$date = gmdate("D, j M Y H:i:s", time() + 60 * 60 * 24 * 30); // 30 Days from now
ob_start("ob_gzhandler");
header("Content-type: text/css; charset: UTF-8");
header("Expires: " . $data . " UTC");
header("Cache-Control: Public");
header("Pragma: Public");

You can also do this through Apache. If you’re in Apache 2.x: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/mod/mod_deflate.html

I would suggest the Apache way.

3

Thanks for the info, Cerium. I think I’ll follow your lead on this.