An oft requested feature is image resizing, or more specifically, the ability to set a maximum size for images uploaded to WordPress. For nearly four years, I’ve said “use Imsanity for that.” With EWWW 2.8, that feature has finally come to fruition.
The image resizing has two different resizing options. One for images uploaded directly to the Media Library or through the Post/Page editor, and then another set of dimensions for every other image that ends up in the Media Library. It also allows you to resize your existing images during a Bulk Optimize, which can result in huge savings.
Just recently, someone on the support forums was asking about what else they could do to make their page load faster. They had optimized everything already, but their images were still loading slowly. Besides some other “odd” problems, their images were all around 4000 pixels wide. Does anyone have a computer monitor that big? If you do, let me know where you got it! All kidding aside, that’s a big problem, and no amount of compression is going to solve it (unless you’re OK with very pixelated images). The worst part, was that these images were being displayed in a 250px box. Can you say “Ouch!” Now the solution for that particular site is a bit complicated, because when you click on the image, it shows the full size image, where you want a higher resolution image, perhaps around 1000px tall. If you display images as thumbnails, don’t use the full-size image to do it. Use thumbnail sized images in your preview boxes, and use the full size image in your lightboxes.
Even for these fine folks, EWWW’s resizing option could help tremendously. To solve such a problem, here’s what you can do:
- Set your maximum dimensions for new uploads, in the first two boxes.
- If you want to process existing image, and anything else that gets uploaded indirectly to the Media Library (like Gravity Forms uploads), set the second set of dimensions.
- To resize your existing images, run the Bulk Optimizer.
If you’ve already optimized your images, and now you want to resize them, you need one more step. Check the Force re-optimize option before you click Start optimizing, and off you go!
Once you’ve finished you, can go to the EWWW I.O. settings page, and click the Plugin Status to see how much you saved.
Footnote: As some of you know, developing and supporting EWWW I.O. is my second job. As of August 1, it will become my only job, and I will get to dedicate my working hours to making EWWW I.O. the best it can be, and helping all of you lovely folks optimize your images. I want to say a huge thank you to all of you who have used the API and/or donated throughout the last few years to make this a reality!
