magento performance optimizationIf you fail to configure Magento correctly, you will find it running slowly owing to its heavy eCommerce CMS system. Even the most competitive kind of web developers would miss the no so inevitable setting in order to boost up the speed & performance of Magento for quicker page loads if they are unfamiliar with the platform.  The methods to boost up the performance of Megento and other PHP based CMS systems can range from the admin of Magento to server/hosting settings. The latter is among the most commonly missed and is seen greatly boosting the page load speed. Now, let us check the simple tips to improve the performance of Magento as under:

Enable Flat Categories and Products

In the Magento admin, which could be found at the top menu, you need to go to System and then to Configuration located at the left side and then you check on Catalog finally clicking the main page – Frontend. Now, set the ‘Use Flat Catalog Category” and click on “Use Flat Catalog Product” clicking finally to Yes. The attributes that are applied to Categories and Products are then stored in separate database tables, which would depend upon their data types. Flattening will put all the number of attributes over one table for Magento retrieves and this will have a positive impact over the speed of the site especially when it has thousand or more products in it.

Merge CSS & JS Files

In Magento admin found at the top menu, you better go to System then configuration and then Advanced followed by Developer in the main page you will find JavaScript settings and CSS Settings. Now, you need to set ‘Merge Javascript’ files followed by Merge CSS Files and finally check on Yes. A Magento website can have a number of CSS and Javascript files and there would be more that can come with extentions and site customizations. By doing the second step, you will combine all the CSS and Javascript into one filme wherein you make every page load faster.

Enable Compilation

In Magento admin you need to go to System then Tools followed by Compilation and then click Enable. This will take all the active scripts over Magneto’s core structure along with bringing them over the front for quicker website speed. If updates, extension installations and modifications are required, Compilation requires to be disabled first and if ignore it then there will be errors.

Caching Magento

When all the other settings are put into the right place and the site is all ready to go live, you need to to System and then to Cache Management along with selecting all the items and then set the Action dropdown in order to Enable and then hit the button Submit.

Replace Apache web server with LiteSpeed Enterprise.

The other useful tip is to replace the Apache web server with LiteSpeed Enterprise web server. This simply offers a 50 percent increase for PHP application and is up to six times faster than the Apache serving static content.

Conclusion

The above tips can help in boosting up the performance of any Magento stores. Those who are keen to server administration can do more. There are caching extensions that can be incorporated with the configuration file of Magento and other server tricks in order to boost up the performance of Magento.