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mod_pagespeed 2.1 is here — open source (Apache-2.0): the module you know, plus the optimizer worker

Combine heads

HTML

Merges multiple <head> elements into one.

Filter combine_heads · Filter docs

A module filter.

Original Open in new tab
Optimized Open in new tab

Both frames render identically — that's the goal. The win is in the bytes and requests below, not the look. They're served live by the mod_pagespeed module on demo-httpd-1.1.modpagespeed.com; the optimized frame applies only this filter. Right after a cache purge it may briefly match the original while the worker rewrites it — reload to see the result.

Measured impact

HTML size

232 B 219 B
−6%

What changed in the source

The page's HTML, before and after this filter. Red lines are removed, green lines are added. 

                
                  

                        <html>
                    

                          <head>
                    

                            <title>combine_heads example</title>
                    

                      +   
                    

                      +     <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="styles/big.css">
                    

                          </head>
                    

                          <body>
                    

                            <div class="big">
                    

                              Hello, world!
                    

                            </div>
                    

                          </body>
                    

                      -   <head>
                    

                      -     <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="styles/big.css">
                    

                      -   </head>
                    

                      +   
                    

                        </html>

Run this on your own site

This is one of 49 filters the mod_pagespeed module applies in place — self-hosted on Apache, nginx, and IIS. Install and run it: it optimizes right away and adds an the optimized response headers shown above. Open source under the Apache License 2.0 — free in development and in production.

Download & run
← All optimization examples