LNDLE Speed

LNDLE Speed is a caching and front-end optimization plugin for WordPress sites running on Apache-compatible servers. It stores finished HTML pages as static files, serves them through .htaccess rewrite rules, optimizes the HTML while a page is cached and creates WebP versions of your images.

After activation, a setup wizard inspects the site and proposes settings. You decide which of them are applied, and every setting can be changed later.

Features

• Page cache – Pages are saved as static HTML files in wp-content/cache/lndle-speed/ and served directly by Apache or LiteSpeed. On other web servers the cache is served through PHP by the advanced-cache.php drop-in.
• Automatic cache clearing – When a post, page, comment or term changes, the affected pages and their archives are cleared. Changes to themes, menus, widgets, plugins and Elementor templates clear the whole cache. Cached pages also expire after a configurable lifetime.
• Cache preload – After the cache has been cleared, the plugin reads your XML sitemap and requests the pages one after another via WP-Cron, in short time-limited runs. If no sitemap is found, it uses the most recently modified published content.
• Browser cache rules – Optional Expires and Deflate (GZIP) rules written to .htaccess.
• Lazy load for images and iframes – Adds the native loading="lazy" attribute. The first images on a page (two by default) are left out so that the logo and hero image load immediately. Exclusions by file name or class are possible.
• Lazy load for video posters – Preview images of videos load shortly before the video scrolls into view, and the video file itself only loads on playback. Videos with autoplay are not changed.
• Missing image dimensions – Adds width and height to local images that have neither, to avoid layout shifts.
• WebP images – Creates a WebP version next to every JPEG and PNG upload, with the quality you choose. A background run does the same for the images already in your media library, and you can recreate all WebP files after changing the quality. The original files are never changed, and the WebP files stay in place when the plugin is removed.
• WebP delivery – Either through .htaccess rules, which send WebP to browsers that accept it while the URLs in the HTML stay the same, or through picture elements in the HTML, which also works on servers without .htaccess and behind a CDN. The setup wizard recommends the method that suits your server.
• Hero image preload – Finds the most important image at the top of the page and preloads it, in the format the browser will actually load.
• Defer JavaScript – Scripts are loaded after the first paint instead of blocking it, with the execution order preserved. Scripts can be excluded by file name or keyword; the setup wizard excludes known cookie-banner scripts on its own.
• CSS minification and combining – Minifies local stylesheets that are not minified yet and combines consecutive local stylesheets into one file. The original files are not changed.
• Asynchronous CSS – Stylesheets you list (icon fonts, animations) are loaded without blocking the first paint.
• Google Fonts display swap – Adds display=swap to Google Fonts stylesheet URLs that are already on the page.
• Font preload and preconnect hints – Adds preload links for the font files you enter and preconnect links for the origins you enter.
• YouTube preview images – Embedded YouTube videos are replaced by their preview image; the player only loads after a click.
• WordPress cleanup – Disable the emoji script and the embed script, remove the generator tag, RSD, wlwmanifest and shortlink from the head, remove Dashicons for visitors who are not logged in, remove jQuery Migrate on the front end, and reduce or disable the Heartbeat API.
• Database cleanup – Removes revisions, auto-drafts, trashed posts, spam and trashed comments and expired transients, then optimizes the tables. On demand at the push of a button, or once a week in the background.
• Setup wizard – Detects the web server, Cloudflare, an existing server-side page cache, other caching and optimization plugins, plugins that already lazy-load images, Elementor, WooCommerce, cookie banner plugins, directory protection and the WP-Cron configuration, and recommends settings based on what it finds.
• Tools – Admin bar entries to clear the whole cache or the current page, and a “View as visitor” link that shows the optimized page while you are logged in.

What is not cached

Logged-in users, requests with query strings (common tracking parameters such as utm_*, gclid and fbclid are ignored), password-protected posts, search results, 404 pages, feeds, REST requests, and visitors with a comment-author or WooCommerce cart cookie. The WooCommerce cart, checkout and account pages are always excluded. You can exclude further paths in the settings.

Elementor

LNDLE Speed is built with Elementor sites in mind. The cache is cleared when Elementor templates are saved or when Elementor regenerates its CSS files, the Elementor preview is never cached or optimized, and the setup wizard points out when Elementor’s CSS print method is set to inline output.

Requirements and limits

• Apache or LiteSpeed with .htaccess support is recommended. On other web servers (for example Nginx) the .htaccess rules have no effect; cached pages are then served through PHP, and the browser cache rules do not apply.
• WordPress Multisite is not supported.
• There is no separate cache for mobile devices and no cache for logged-in users.
• Cache preload and cache expiry depend on WP-Cron. On a site that is served mostly from the cache, a real cron job calling wp-cron.php is recommended.

LNDLE Speed Pro

LNDLE Speed Pro is a separate plugin available at lndle.media/plugins/speed/. It replaces the free plugin, takes over its settings and adds:

• AVIF images, created alongside WebP and served first where the browser supports it
• Image optimization: compress and downscale JPEG and PNG files, remove metadata, keep the originals and restore them again
• Delay JavaScript until user interaction
• Elementor background images: preload the hero background per breakpoint, including slider slides, and lazy-load the ones below the fold
• Detection of the fonts actually used above the fold, in the setup wizard
• A check that measures how many bytes each delivery method really saves on your site
• Detection of Cloudflare Rocket Loader
• Automatic updates and support

The Pro features are not contained in this plugin: the code for them is only part of the separate Pro plugin. Everything in the feature list above works without Pro, and your settings are kept if you switch.