JS and CSS Compression with PHP

mapg

Is there any way to configure PHP to compress not only PHP output but Javascripts files (.js) and CSS files (.css) that are referred into the PHP script?

I have enabled "zlib.output_compression on" and "zlib.output_compression_level 3", but I afraid that doesn't affect to JS and CSS file formats.

Thank you very much in advance.

Mapg

Weedpacket

Well, no. php.ini is only relevant to processing PHP scripts.

If you're using Apache you might want to look into using the mod_gzip module. That would be a better idea than using PHP to generate all your JS and CSS just so that you can compress them.

mapg

And isn't there any trick to do it?

Something like...

AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .js .css

Thanks.

Mapg

mapg

Somebody told in other forums that this stuff should work doing as follow ...

Why should this not work?

First you write in the .htaccess file following code:
AddType application/x-httpd-php .css

Now add this little code in the first line of your css file:
<?
ob_start("ob_gzhandler"); 
header("Content-Type: text/css"); 
?>
Attention: Every css file will now use the php interpreter, which reduce the performance of the server!

What do you thing?

Mapg

Weedpacket

Yes, that would work - but why go to all that effort? Install mod_gzip (still assuming you're using Apache) and you won't have to go changing all your files, and you won't have to run PHP on every single one of them.

It's a matter of using the right tool for the job. Using PHP for this is like using a powersaw to hammer in a nail. It can be done, but it's a bit silly and people watching are likely to snigger and point.