Blog - KeyCDN

Free WordPress CDN Enabler Plugin

KeyCDN has launched a new CDN plugin for WordPress sites called CDN Enabler. It's a lightweight plugin that can be integrated into any WordPress site. It's freely available and a setup is completed within minutes. The functionality of WordPress CDN Enabler The plugin offers all essential features in order to seamlessly integrate a CDN into a WordPress site. Here's a brief feature overview: Load assets from a CDN: Define an URL of your choice (no restrictions at all).

July 29, 2015 Read more

What You Need to Know About SHA-1 and SHA-2

The signature algorithm of a certificate is often still based on SHA-1. This algorithm is considered as insecure today and therefore such a certificate should be reissued with SHA-2. Updating is fairly simple and should be done as long as browsers still accept SHA-1. A short intro and why SHA-1 isn't good enough anymore SHA stands for "secure hash algorithm". It's a cryptographic hash function designed by the United States National Security Agency (NSA).

July 16, 2015 Read more

Using SVG Images for Best Scalability

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) allows vector graphics to be displayed in the browser. As usual with vector graphics, color values and forms are not defined by pixels, but are mathematically described. SVG files thus have a very small file size, can be scaled losslessly and without increasing the file size, and can be animated or altered with JavaScript. SVG images can be compressed by Gzip. Another advantage of SVG images is that they can be compressed by Gzip.

July 9, 2015 Read more

Convert to WebP Format - The Successor of JPEG

Web users well-versed in technology have surely heard of WebP - an image format developed by Google to ensure superior compression of photos. JPEG is considered outdated and too inefficient. The WebP format is a sophisticated alternative method for convenient image compression that is now entering the market. JPEG vs. WebP: reductions in file size of up to 80% are commonly achievable. Browser support for WebP format Sounds promising: higher quality than JPEGs, with much smaller files.

June 18, 2015 Read more

Website Optimization - 8 Speed up Tips

Web performance is an integral part of the success of your web projects. There are good reasons to focus on page load time. The first impression is what counts - never make users wait for your content. Speed matters. Imagine visiting a slow-loading website that renders line by line. Would you be excited about what is next on this site? Probably not. There are two main factors why you should care about website optimization:

May 27, 2015 Read more

6 Reasons to Outsource Software Distribution

A content delivery network (CDN) is a crucial component when it comes to software delivery. KeyCDN has been designed for any kind of software distribution. We offer an excellent solution for software delivery that has to be fast, reliable and scalable. Scale seamlessly KeyCDN lets you distribute large amounts of data in a very short time frame that cannot be delivered by your own server. There is no need to enable a POP explicitly for a certain region.

May 21, 2015 Read more

Google PageSpeed Service Alternatives

Google announced the turndown of their PageSpeed Service and now is the time to look into alternative solutions. There are two reasonable alternatives to the PageSpeed Service. After 4.5 years of service, the PageSpeed Service team regretfully decided that the time had come to re-focus their efforts elsewhere and on 5th May announced that PageSpeed Service will be turned down. If you are using PageSpeed Service, you must change your DNS before 3rd August 2015 or your site(s) will become completely unavailable on that date.

May 18, 2015 Read more

3 Simple Steps to Leverage CDN Caching

It is important to properly leverage the CDN caching mechanisms for best performance. This article provides you a best-practice guideline on how to set the Cache-Control header and how to handle cached assets. 1. Use the Cache-Control header In general we recommend to leave the default cache related settings of your Zone as they are, such as the Expire, Max Expire, and Ignore Cache Control settings. Setting Ignore Cache Control to disabled will enable the processing of Cache-Control response header fields from the origin server, such as Cache-Control and Expires.

May 11, 2015 Read more

Parallel Downloads Across Domains

Parallel downloads are simply multiple downloads that take place concurrently across multiple domains hosted by one host. The main benefit of parallel downloads is reducing download time when downloading many resources. It is important to note that web browsers aren't designed to allow parallel downloads. Typically, web browsers limit the number of concurrent connections made to a host. Commonly they are limited to 6 concurrent transfers. This results in a backlog of resources when there are many assets waiting to be downloaded.

April 20, 2015 Read more

HTTP/2 - What Does It Mean for a CDN?

As the Internet evolves, so do the protocols that govern its operation. KeyCDN announced support for SPDY in 2014, which was a big improvement in terms of speed, but Google's update to drop SPDY heralds the start of the next big protocol change. One of the latest protocols is HTTP/2, which aims to address the shortcomings of its predecessor, HTTP/1.1. This new protocol is intended to enable faster and more efficient data transfer between web servers and browsers.

April 8, 2015 Read more