Disable CSS JS Cache vs Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS

Disable CSS JS Cache is a powerful yet lightweight plugin that helps WordPress developers and site administrators manage browser caching for CSS and JavaScript files. This is particularly useful during development, testing, or when making frequent changes to your theme files. Key Features Disable CSS/JS Caching – Adds dynamic timestamps to CSS and JS files to prevent browser caching Smart Cache Busting – Choose between timestamp-based or file modification time-based versioning Performance Mode – Selectively cache-bust only CSS, only JS, or both CDN Support – Option to apply cache busting to CDN-hosted files Admin Bar Toggle – Quick enable/disable from WordPress admin bar Statistics Dashboard – Track how many files are being cache-busted Admin Notifications – Optional reminder when cache busting is active Clear Cache Button – One-click to clear WordPress and compatible caching plugins Browser Caching Control – Optionally enable browser caching for static assets (images, CSS, JS, PDF) Configurable Cache Duration – Set custom cache duration for static assets (60 seconds to 1 year) Automatic .htaccess Management – Automatically adds and removes caching rules from .htaccess Exclude Paths – Exclude specific files or paths from cache busting Development-Friendly – Perfect for development environments where you need to see changes immediately Production-Ready – Enable browser caching for better performance on live sites Clean Uninstall – Removes all settings and .htaccess rules when uninstalled How It Works When “Disable CSS JS Cache” is enabled, the plugin appends a current timestamp to all CSS and JavaScript file URLs on the frontend. This forces browsers to fetch fresh versions of these files instead of using cached versions. The browser caching feature allows you to add caching headers to your .htaccess file for static assets, improving site performance by reducing server requests. Use Cases Development Environment – See CSS and JS changes immediately without clearing browser cache Staging Sites – Test changes with confidence that you’re seeing the latest files Production Sites – Control browser caching for optimal performance Troubleshooting – Quickly determine if issues are cache-related Settings Access the plugin settings from Settings > Disable CSS JS Cache in your WordPress admin: Enable Cache Busting – Turn cache busting on/off Cache Busting Method – Choose Force Refresh (timestamp) or Smart Refresh (file modification time) Performance Mode – Select Both CSS & JS, CSS Only, or JS Only CDN Support – Enable cache busting for external/CDN files Exclude Paths – Add files or paths to exclude from cache busting Admin Bar Toggle – Show quick toggle in admin bar Admin Notice – Display reminder when cache busting is active Browser Caching – Enable/disable .htaccess caching rules Caching Duration – Set how long browsers should cache static assets Additional Information Support For support, feature requests, or bug reports, please visit the plugin support forum. Contributing This plugin is open source. Contributions are welcome! Privacy This plugin does not collect or store any personal data. It only stores plugin settings in your WordPress database. Technical Details Filters Available style_loader_src – Modifies CSS file URLs script_loader_src – Modifies JavaScript file URLs Requirements WordPress 5.0 or higher PHP 7.0 or higher Apache server with mod_headers enabled (for browser caching feature) Writable .htaccess file (for browser caching feature) File Structure disable-css-js-cache.php – Main plugin file includes/ – Core plugin classes uninstall.php – Cleanup on uninstall languages/ – Translation files Compatibility Compatible with all WordPress themes Works with major page builders Multisite compatible Translation ready

Speed up your WordPress site by optimizing page performance with Jetpack Boost. Easily activate one-click optimizations to boost your Core Web Vitals. Did you know that a faster website:- Ranks higher on Google. Improves bounce rate (people stay on your site for longer). Increases your conversion rate. Increase your website performance and speed up your website with one-click optimizations that supercharge your WordPress site’s performance and improve core web vitals scores for better search engine listings. Improving Core Web Vitals helps you rank higher on Google. A faster website also improves your SEO, helps you reduce your bounce rate and increase your ecommerce conversion rate. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measures loading performance. Improve your LCP and improve your website loading speed. First Input Delay (FID): Measures interactivity. To improve user experience pages should have a low FID. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Measures visual stability. Lowering your CLS helps improve your user experience. Performance Modules Optimize your website with the same techniques used on the world’s most successful websites. Each technique that is used to increase website performance is packaged up as a module that you can activate and try out. Currently, the plugin has 6 performance modules available: Optimize CSS Loading generates Critical CSS for your homepage, posts and pages. This can allow your content to show up on the screen much faster, particularly for viewers using mobile devices. Read more about critical CSS generation at web.dev Page Cache speeds up your site by saving pages as static files. These files are quickly served to visitors, reducing load times and enhancing user experience. Defer Non-Essential JavaScript moves some tasks to after the page loads, so that important visual information can be seen sooner and your website loads quicker. Read more about deferring JavaScript at web.dev Image Guide is a must-have feature for anyone who wants to optimize the images on their website. With this guide, you can ensure that the images on your site are the right size and dimensions, which is critical for improving user experience, page speed, and site ranking. Following the tips and best practices outlined in the guide, you can reduce image file sizes and speed up your site. Check out our support page to learn more about this feature and how it can help you achieve a faster and smoother website experience for your users. Image CDN allows your site to serve automatically-resized images in modern web formats directly from Jetpack’s worldwide Content Delivery Network. Read more about Image CDNs at web.dev Concatenate and Minify CSS and JS combines and shrinks your JavaScript and CSS resources to reduce the number and size of requests to your server, ensuring your content loads faster. Read more about minifying files at web.dev Don’t want to have to manually generate your critical CSS each time you update your site? Let us do the heavy lifting for you with automated critical CSS – each time you update your site we will automatically regenerate your critical CSS and update your performance scores. Upgrading also gives you dedicated email support access. With 💚 by Jetpack This is just the start! We are working hard to bring more features and improvements to Jetpack Boost. Let us know your thoughts and ideas! We’d also like to give a special THANK YOU to the XWP team who provided help with initial research and scoping of the plugin and were engaged with our team throughout the project.