Otto,<br>Method 1 is not better than Method 2 if a lot of your CSS is dynamic, as is the case with most themes that offer a lot of styling options. In such a case using Method 1 you would be repeatedly running a lot of PHP calls to dump the same CSS each time into your HTML. This is really inefficient particularly in contrast to one extra HTTP request to get a pre-generated file. Hence it is not something that can be shoved aside by saying "get over it" - Method 2 does improve caching performance significantly on several occasions. <br>
<br>Sayontan.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 10:13 AM, Otto <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:otto@ottodestruct.com">otto@ottodestruct.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
Ugh. Okay, this may be a bit long winded.<br>
<br>
For the cases where you're creating dynamic CSS, then there is one<br>
correct way to do it, and several incorrect ways to do it. Let's go<br>
over the possibilities.<br>
<br>
Method 1: Insert the dynamic CSS directly into the HTML using the wp_head call.<br>
<br>
Method 2: Write dynamic CSS to a file, link to the file in the head.<br>
<br>
Method 3: Hook into the template-loader or init to create CSS output based on<br>
a special GET variable you define.<br>
<br>
Method 4: Style.php, which is linked to from the head, and outputs<br>
dynamic css. Usually this has to include wp-load.<br>
<br>
<br>
I listed those in that order because they go from "best" to "worst".<br>
I'll explain why now. :)<br>
<br>
Method 1 has the lowest server impact. When you make the call to get<br>
the page, it creates the page and outputs all the dynamic stuff in one<br>
shot. Some people find the CSS in the html to be aesthetically<br>
displeasing, but the fact of the matter is that this is the fastest,<br>
simplest, and best way to do it.<br>
<br>
Method 2 has a problem in that you're doing file writing from the<br>
theme. This is bad because you cannot guarantee that you have<br>
permissions to even write files. Assuming you try to write them to the<br>
uploads folder, then part of your theme is now outside the theme<br>
directory, which is confusing. Also, by including the CSS as a<br>
separate file, you're creating another call to the server, which even<br>
Google Webmaster Tools will tell you is a thing to avoid.<br>
<br>
Method 3 is the same as method 2, except now instead of writing the<br>
file, you make a call to <a href="http://example.com/?css=whatever" target="_blank">http://example.com/?css=whatever</a> and then<br>
your code intercepts that and produces the CSS on-the-fly, via<br>
whatever means, then exits. This avoids the file writing problem, but<br>
now it's not<br>
only making an extra server call, but it's also loading all of<br>
WordPress up again, which creates a higher server CPU impact.<br>
<br>
Method 4 is the same as method 3, basically, except that you're<br>
referencing some PHP file directly, which now has to a) find wp-load,<br>
b) load WordPress, and c) produce the resulting CSS output. Worst of<br>
all cases: two calls to the server, WordPress loads twice, and you're<br>
now having to search around to figure out how to load WordPress again<br>
just so you can access the database.<br>
<br>
<br>
So the end statement here is to always use method 1. Okay, so you find<br>
CSS in the HTML header code to be unpleasant. My advice: get over it.<br>
Every other way of doing things not only requires an extra HTTP<br>
request to the server, but most of them also require a whole lot of<br>
extra PHP processing. Think about it this way: You've already got<br>
WordPress loaded up to generate the page. The most sensible thing to<br>
do is to go ahead and generate the dynamic part of the CSS right now<br>
as well. Just make that dynamic part as small as possible. Minify it<br>
into one-line if you want.<br>
<br>
Note that WordPress itself uses method 1 for the custom background<br>
image and custom header image stuff. It does it this way because it's<br>
the best way to do it.<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
-Otto<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 11:57 AM, Simon Prosser <<a href="mailto:pross@pross.org.uk">pross@pross.org.uk</a>> wrote:<br>
> There is a more sensible way to do this. Use a style.php file that<br>
> prints your custom css<br>
> with text/css header and a far future expires, then the browser will<br>
> cache it locally.<br>
><br>
> My theme [JustCSS] uses this to cache the css.<br>
> <a href="https://github.com/Pross/JustCSS" target="_blank">https://github.com/Pross/JustCSS</a><br>
><br>
> On 2 December 2010 17:46, Sayontan Sinha <<a href="mailto:sayontan@gmail.com">sayontan@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>> What about instances of caching? E.g. I have a lot of look and feel options<br>
>> that can be set by the user. However if you attempt to print them out as<br>
>> dynamic CSS on the fly it creates extra server load, not to mention an ugly<br>
>> lot of CSS before the content in the page's source. Instead the CSS is saved<br>
>> as a local file at the time of saving the options and then that file is<br>
>> linked in the source.<br>
>><br>
>> On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 8:50 AM, Otto <<a href="mailto:otto@ottodestruct.com">otto@ottodestruct.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>>><br>
>>> On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 3:02 AM, Sayontan Sinha <<a href="mailto:sayontan@gmail.com">sayontan@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>>> > I am curious as to what qualifies as a better way of doing things. E.g.<br>
>>> > I<br>
>>> > have code where depending on selections certain stylesheets are grouped<br>
>>> > together, then either they are compressed and/or minified.<br>
>>><br>
>>> See, that sounds awfully functional to me. Why would you want the<br>
>>> theme to be doing that?<br>
>>><br>
>>> A theme is supposed to describe how the site looks, not how the site<br>
>>> works. Sure, for custom jobs, we all do it and put this sort of thing<br>
>>> in the theme, but remember that the directory is supposed to hold<br>
>>> themes to be used for public consumption. Anybody can use them.<br>
>>><br>
>>> So doesn't it make a bit more sense to make this sort of<br>
>>> compression/minification more generic, able to apply to any theme, and<br>
>>> then to put it in a plugin?<br>
>>><br>
>>> Also, look into wp_enqueue_style, which is capable of minification and<br>
>>> combining css files.<br>
>>><br>
>>> -Otto<br>
>>> _______________________________________________<br>
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>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> --<br>
>> Sayontan Sinha<br>
>> <a href="http://mynethome.net" target="_blank">http://mynethome.net</a> | <a href="http://mynethome.net/blog" target="_blank">http://mynethome.net/blog</a><br>
>> --<br>
>> Beating Australia in Cricket is like killing a celebrity. The death gets<br>
>> more coverage than the crime.<br>
>><br>
>><br>
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><br>
><br>
><br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Sayontan Sinha<br><a href="http://mynethome.net" target="_blank">http://mynethome.net</a> | <a href="http://mynethome.net/blog" target="_blank">http://mynethome.net/blog</a><br>
--<br>Beating Australia in Cricket is like killing a celebrity. The death gets more coverage than the crime.<br><br>