[wp-hackers] Packing JavaScript

[Charles]

>> Anyway, the combination of (1) JavaScript compression, (2) generic
>> server-side text compression and (3) file-combining is the norm,
>> not the exception, for sites that uses JavaScript for anything
>> more serious than roll-overs.
>
> 1 and 3 are useless in most (not all, mind you) cases.

I'm not sure how you arrived at that conclusion.

Check out this chart to understand how server-side text compression and
JavaScript compression/minification* are complementary:

<http://yuiblog.com/assets/pageweight/filesize_by_type.gif>

Combining files when possible is almost always a good idea for deployed
apps, since (1) HTTP requests are relatively expensive and (2) browsers
typically limit themselves to two parallel downloads per hostname.

-- Charles

P.S.  I tend to call minifiers that use JavaScript interpreters to avoid
introducing new bugs during the minification process "compressors".  Not
everyone makes the distinction.