How and why I built MegaOptim Image Optimization plugin/service.
About me
I am web developer with over 7 years of experience in both back-end and front-end. Mainly using WordPress, Laravel and Linux to do magic.
The problem I wanted to solve
Create affordable automatic image compression WordPress plugin with a lot different options including:
- automatic image optimization
- ability to convert all images to webp format
- ability to backup and restore images (in case you don't like them)
- integration with CloudFlare to purge cached images when they are optimized
- integration with Nextgen library
- retina support
- and much more...
What is MegaOptim?
MegaOptim is image optimization service that is meant to provide web friendly state of the art image compression and optimization for the images within your WordPress site or your custom projects when integrated. MegaOptim can be installed in WordPress as plugin or integrated in your custom projects by using our client libraries for PHP, Node.js, Python or our CLI tool.
Tech stack
PHP and Javascript for the WordPress plugin, Lumen for the Restful APIs that are used for compressio, Laravel for the Billing/Ticketing app, WordPress for the public site https://megaoptim.com
The process of building MegaOptim
Initially the service was built for our own purposes but since i perfected it a bit too much and spent additional time on solving some crucial bugs i decided to release it in public using the freemium model and make it as affordable as possible compared to the other solutions.
Challenges I faced
There were few challenges that i faced like handling big images, supporting the gif format correctly, handling bulk image compression (up to 5 images at a time)
Key learnings
Various code/server optimizations to make the service use as fewer server resources as possible, handling the optimization of large images, handling database race conditions, etc.
Tips and advice
Listen to your users, do in-depth researches and test everything before deploying.
Final thoughts and next steps
The project is growing, people like the service and it's affordability(compred to the other competitors), so i will keep it up and do frequent updates.
In the next period i will be working on the SEO and marketing part with digital marketing experts while also providing support for the plugin, bug fixes and developing new features.
