KCSG Kartra Pages vs Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN

KCSG Kartra Pages (KKP) is a Kartra-specific alternative to Kartra’s original recommendation of using the generic Blank Slate plugin for embedding Kartra Page Builder pages within your WordPress website. Here is why you should use KKP instead of Blank Slate for embedding Kartra pages in WordPress: Due to a quirk in the way Kartra works, Kartra pages embedded with Blank Slate are known to get stuck in a loop and fail to display for many users on some devices (especially iPhone and iPad users). Blank Slate isn’t to blame for the issue, but it’s generic, whereas KKP is Kartra-specific, accounts for the quirk, and does not have this issue. KKP provides enhanced SEO and OpenGraph support (so that links on social media display properly, for example). KKP displays the Kartra content with fewer network requests and with less overhead meant for displaying WordPress pages that is not used when displaying Kartra pages. KKP offers the option to easily download Kartra pages and store them in the WordPress database to be served directly from WordPress. KKP can also work with Kartra tracking links (including split-testing links and conditional-redirection links), making their capabilities conveniently available from your WordPress domain. In the Kartra template modes (see the Operation and related sections), KKP uses your WordPress site icon configuration so that you don’t need to assign your Kartra pages to a custom domain in order to get your custom site icons. For the latest news and information, please join the KCSG Tools For Kartra Facebook group. Operation Create a new page or edit an existing page where you want your Kartra page to appear (the template and controls are only available for pages, not for posts). Select the “KCSG Kartra Page” template from the Template drop-down in the Page Attributes section and save or update the page. Do NOT use the KCSG Kartra Pages “Apply” button for this step. Locate the “KCSG Kartra Pages” controls section below the page content and click the open arrow to open it if necessary. Choose the desired template mode (“WordPress” Mode, “Kartra Live” Mode, or “Kartra Download” Mode). See the sections with the corresponding names for details on each mode. In order to use the Kartra modes, you must supply a source URL. You can paste any portion of Kartra’s page loader Embed code for the corresponding Kartra page as long as it includes the full source URL. KKP will extract the URL and discard the rest. This value will be remembered, so you don’t need to supply it again unless you want to change it. Click the “Apply” button in the KCSG Kartra Pages control section. The SEO and OpenGraph information (in Kartra Live Mode) or the entire page (in Kartra Download mode) will be retrieved from the latest published version of your Kartra page and stored in WordPress. When successful, you will see a “Request complete” message. “WordPress” Mode In WordPress mode (the default), KKP just displays the native WordPress content on a minimal page. This mode is equivalent to the Blank Slate plugin by Aaron Reimann et al. This mode is only intended to be a “reasonable fallback” when the template has insufficient information to deliver anything else. While not recommended, it is possible to display a Kartra page in this mode by copying-and-pasting Kartra’s “Embed code” into a WordPress custom HTML block. Once set up, a WordPress visitor’s browser would display the Kartra page by following this four-step process: The browser loads the Kartra embed code from the WordPress custom HTML block The browser loads a page-loader script from Kartra based on the embed code The browser loads the Kartra page from Kartra based on the page-loader script The browser loads any additional assets referenced by the Kartra page “Kartra Live” Mode Kartra Live mode produces a “live Kartra page in an iframe” result similar to WordPress mode, but with a couple of differences: You paste the Kartra Embed code (or URL portion from it, or a Kartra tracking link URL) into the Embed code/URL input of the KCSG Kartra Pages controls area in the page editor instead of into a custom HTML block. When you select the Kartra Live option and click Apply, KKP saves a copy of SEO settings and Open Graph data from Kartra in WordPress. The custom page loader includes the SEO and Open Graph data previously fetched from Kartra and serves the second-stage page loader script directly from WordPress. The custom page loader uses your WordPress site icons instead of the Kartra site icons (so you won’t need to associate your Kartra pages with a custom domain in order to get the site icon branding that’s already on your WordPress domain). Once set up, A WordPress visitor’s browser will display a Kartra page in Kartra Live mode by following this three-step process: The browser loads a custom page-loader script from WordPress The browser loads the Kartra page from Kartra based on the page-loader script The browser loads any additional assets referenced by the Kartra page In this mode, you do not need to do anything in WordPress when you publish page changes in Kartra unless you update SEO and/or Open Graph settings (in which case you’ll need to click “Apply” to update the settings stored in WordPress). Note 1: Because this mode is tuned for displaying Kartra-built pages, it elminates most of the overhead for supporting WordPress pages. A consequence of this is that any WordPress configuration for applying things like pixels, tracking, analytics, etc. will likely not work in Kartra Live mode. Use the corresponding Kartra page settings instead. Note 2: When using this mode with Kartra split-test or conditional tracking link URLs, the embedded iframe page content may potentially vary from visit to visit. As only the single most recent snapshot of SEO and OG data is kept, it will not. Please keep this in mind when configuring your Kartra page settings in such situations. “Kartra Download” Mode In Kartra Download mode, a snapshot of the most recently published Kartra page (but with your WordPress site icons instead of Kartra site icons) is stored in, and served directly from, the WordPress database. To configure: Paste the Kartra Embed code (or URL portion from it) into the Embed code/URL input of the KCSG Kartra Pages controls area in the page editor. When you select the Kartra Download option and click Apply, KKP downloads and stores the most recently published version of the Kartra Page in the WordPress database. (Whenever you publish changes on Kartra, just click Apply again in the WordPress page editor to update the version saved in WordPress.) Once set up, a WordPress visitor’s browser will display a Kartra page in Kartra Download mode by following this two-step process: The browser loads the downloaded-and-saved Kartra page directly from WordPress The browser loads any additional assets referenced by the Kartra page Troubleshooting Why do I get “Page Not Found”? This usually indicates that you have not changed the page template to KCSG Kartra Page and then saved/updated the page. Why do I get “No contents found”? This usually indicates that the “CURL” PHP functions are disabled on your system. Check your php.ini configuration file or control panel, or contact your ISP to make sure they’re enabled, as appropriate. Privacy Policy This plugin collects and uses the Kartra page URLs you enter, along with associated alternative URLs and published Kartra page content, for the sole purpose of displaying the specified Kartra pages to your WordPress website visitors. No other information is collected, used, or disclosed. Disclaimer KCSG Kartra Pages is a free plugin by Brian Katzung of Kappa Computer Solutions, LLC and BusRes.com Business Resources. It is not affiliated with, endorsed, or supported by Kartra or Genesis Digital. Videos Here’s a demonstration of installation and operation:

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Optimize your entire site, automatically Smush works across your whole site as a powerful image optimizer to optimize images as you upload them and maintain performance over time without manual work. Optimize images automatically on upload Compress images in bulk or individually Works with your existing media library No need to re-upload images Enable image lazy load across your site Convert images to WebP and AVIF Deliver images with an integrated image CDN Automatically resize and serve correctly sized images Optimize images outside the media library with Directory Smush Built for performance Smush improves page speed and overall performance by reducing image weight and improving how images are delivered. Reduce page load times Improve user experience Better performance for image-heavy pages Supports image lazy load and preload images (PRO) for faster perceived performance Works with your existing setup Smush is built to work with your current WordPress setup, including popular themes, page builders, and plugins. Compatible with Gutenberg, Elementor, WPBakery, and more Works with WooCommerce stores No need to change your workflow Easy to enable and configure Designed to be simple You don’t need to be a performance expert to optimize images with Smush image optimizer. Works out of the box Simple settings when you need them No technical knowledge required Safe to use on any site Why choose Smush? There are plenty of image optimization plugins, but Smush focuses on making it easy to optimize images, compress images, and improve performance without complexity. As a leading WordPress image optimizer, Smush gives you powerful optimization tools without the technical hassle. Trusted by over 1 million WordPress users Built specifically for WordPress Regular updates and improvements Backed by the WPMU DEV team Get started in minutes Install Smush, activate it, and start to compress images, optimize images, and enable image lazy load right away. This easy-to-use image optimizer helps most sites see improvements immediately without changing how they upload or manage images. About Us WPMU DEV is a premium supplier of quality WordPress plugins, services and support. Learn more here: https://wpmudev.com/ Don’t forget to stay up to date on everything WordPress from the Internet’s number one resource: WPMU DEV Blog Hey, one more thing… we hope you enjoy our free offerings as much as we’ve loved making them for you! Contact and Credits Originally written by Alex Dunae at Dialect (dialect.ca, e-mail ‘alex’ at ‘dialect dot ca’), 2008-11.