WP Minify and Autoptimize Changes Appearance of Blog

Optimization of WordPress blogs are quite easy, thanks to some awesome plugins! There are plugins for optimizing the database, detecting and removing the broken links, minifying and combining CSS and JS files etc. But the very same plugins can cause trouble, if they tend to make more ‘conflict’ than the original function they are supposed to do!

For example, take a look at minifying plugins like- WP Minify and Autoptimize. Both these plugins were working like charm a few months ago. They were so good that I had one of them installed and active on all blogs belonging to my network.

Things were going on smooth, until I noticed some unusual activities going on. I noticed that the CSS files of my blog had been messed with! I carefully analyzed each plugin that was active. I figured out that WP Minify was the culprit. This was followed by me deactivating and deleting that plugin.

And tadaaa, my blog was back, fine! But the loading speed got a bit reduced. And me, being the speed freak, decided to take help of Autoptimize to get the task done.

I installed it and activated it. The result showed up almost instantly. The blog looked all set to beat Usain Bolt’s pace!

But after 4 days, the same problem popped its head up! Yes, even Autoptimize started messing up the CSS files!

So, with WordPress’ latest update, minifying plugins (the 2 best ones), it seems have been left useless! I guess that the compatibility has been compromised with the latest update.

And WP Minify hasn’t been updated since a while now. The plugin’s page at the WordPress repository also flashes the sign- ‘Broken’. But Autoptimize, I found has been updated recently. But still it leaves my blog all messed up!

So, before you use any minifying plugin on your blog, make sure that the blog is being displayed well after activating the plugin. And don’t just leave it. Monitor the blog constantly for the next few days.