Configuring EWWW Image Optimizer

EWWW Image Optimizer is a WordPress plugin that lets you optimize images using tools on your own server (such as jpegtran, optipng, pngout, pngquant, gifsicle, and cwebp). It also improves website performance.

With Image Optimizer, you can optimize your existing images and then let it take care of new image uploads automatically. EWWW Image Optimizer can be installed using DreamHost's WordPress installer or via the official WordPress plugins repository.

To configure the EWWW Image Optimizer plugin:

1. Navigate to the Settings > EWWW Image Optimizer section of your WordPress admin dashboard.

   The default settings are sufficient, but you can use the following changes to make your site more performant.

2. On the Basic tab, keep Stick with free mode for now and Remove Metadata selected.
3. Select the Lazy Load option and then click the Save Changes button.

   The settings page reloads, which allows you to make further adjustments.

4. Select the Add Missing Dimensions option and then click the Save Changes button again.
5. If the site has existing images, navigate to Media > Bulk Optimization in the WordPress dashboard.
6. Change the value of Pause between images to 2 (seconds) to keep server load low during optimization and then click the Scan for unoptimized images button.
7. Wait for the scanner to check through existing images (this may take awhile depending on the amount of images that currently exist).

   The following message appears after it completes the scanning process:

   There are N images ready to optimize.

8. Click the Optimize N images button that appears and then wait for the images to be optimized.