Could the WP script/style loader be used to concatenate and gzip scripts and styles in the front-end?

4 comments

1. late answer

   From a brief look:

   You’d have to use

   • include( admin_url().'load-scripts.php' );
   • and include( admin_url().'script-loader.php' );

   Then jump into $GLOBALS['wp_scripts']:

   Use…

   $wp_scripts->default_dirs( array_merge( 
        $wp_scripts->default_dirs
       ,array( '/themes/your_theme/js/' ) 
   ); 
   

   …to extend it.

   And then use

   $wp_scripts->add( $handle, $path_from_content_dir, false/array( $deps ), $ver ) 
   

   to add a script.

   Notes:

   1. Uncompressed scripts get searched by .dev.js (when SCRIPT_DEBUG is TRUE).
   2. Same seems to be possible for $wp_styles.
   3. EDIT: WP 3.5 will change this behavior and use .js for “dev” versions and “.min.js” when (SCRIPT_DEBUG is TRUE);

   (But I guess this will only work if you use a plugin or mu-plugin.)

   _{It´s not tested and I´m not shure if this will work.}

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2. This is a very good question and would be a great feature for WordPress to include.

   Some of the other answers don’t address the main question.

   I was wondering if it’s possible to
   use them in the front-end too, not
   just admin, because they can
   concatenate all enqueued scripts, and
   serve them as a single gzipped file.

   No it’s not currently possible to use the built in script loader to Concatenate css and scripts for the front end.

   There was a discussion about this on WP Hackers a few years ago and there is a trac ticket for this enhancement that has been accepted but for a future release.

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3. If you need to enqueue a CSS file on the front end:

   1) Register the style via wp_register_style( $handle, $src )
   2) Hook wp_enqueue_style( $handle ) into the wp_print_styles hook.

   If you need to enqueue a script on the front end:

   1) Register the style via wp_register_script( $handle, $src )
   2) Hook wp_enqueue_script( $handle ) into the wp_head hook.

   (Note: I would have expected the wp_print_styles hook for this, but this hook apparently does not work as expected.)

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4. I have a few scripts you may wish to look at.

   1. Combine.php
   – On a number of my themes I have implemented this script. It supports similar functionality and can be dropped into your template folder and worked with relatively easily.

   2. WP Minify
   – This plugin supports minifying and is very easily to work with.

   3. W3 Total Cache
   – is a very powerful performance plugin. It also supports script/css combination as well as a large number of other features e.g. off loading the combined scripts to a CDN.

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