At the end of last month I started working on tweaking my subtext skin so that I can increase my YSlow score. 

What did I do?

1. Merged several css files into one sheet
2. Merged JavaScript files into one file
3. Put items 1/2 files onto a CDN
4. Placed site wide images on a CDN
5. Moved the JavaScript calls to the bottom of the page
6. I also merged xfn icons into one image and used a CSS sprite

Before YSlow:

After making some changes I managed to increase my score by……….

Using the Firefox plug-in httpfox I checked to see what the results were. After removing again web/script resources and Google stuff (total was 24) this is the outcome

Previous totals were Time: 21.202 Sent: 23081 Received: 216529.

After totals are Time: 11.196 Sent: 6066  Received: 133105.

I also reduced the number of http requests from 37 to 13.

I am happy with my score going from F33 to C72. Running the other 2 YSlow tests over my site as the above is YSlow(V1) I get the following results:

• V2 – Grade B score of 80
• Small site or blog – Grade A score of 90

What next?

This was a quick experiment on my homepage to see how easy it was to make a small difference.  From what I learned I will be implementing in my new skin hoping to beat the score of 72.  I will also be submitting a patch to the subtext project with the xfn css sprite changes i made.

Resources:

• CSS Sprites: What They Are, Why They’re Cool, and How To Use Them
• The Mystery Of CSS Sprites: Techniques, Tools And Tutorials
• Google App Engine