Asset Optimizer

Asset Optimizer combines your front-end CSS and JavaScript into single cached files, cutting the number of HTTP requests a visitor's browser has to make. It detects every enqueued asset on your site and lets you pick exactly which ones to merge, so you stay in control.

Activate it from Unyson+ → Extensions, then open its settings, which has a CSS tab and a JavaScript tab.

How it discovers assets

To know what to combine, Asset Optimizer needs to see your front end render. It does a one-time internal request to your homepage and remembers the stylesheets and scripts that load. To re-scan later (after activating a new plugin or theme, or if your site is behind a full-page cache like WP Engine), visit any page with ?fw_asset_optimizer_discover=1 appended to the URL, then return to the settings and refresh.

CSS

Every stylesheet detected on the front end is listed and checked by default. Uncheck any you don't want merged, those keep loading as separate requests; the rest are combined into one cached file.

The list is shown in the order the combined file uses, with the theme stylesheets floated to the end (parent then child) so the cascade is preserved, your child theme's CSS still has the authority to override the framework and shortcode styles.

JavaScript

Scripts detected on the front end are listed too, but combining JS is more delicate than CSS, so the defaults are conservative:

• Only first-party scripts (the UnysonPlus plugin and your active theme) are checked by default. Tick a third-party script to include it as well.
• Unsafe scripts are skipped automatically, even if checked. Only local footer scripts with no async/defer strategy and no inline or localized data are ever merged. WordPress core, external / CDN scripts, and anything carrying per-request data are always left alone.

Two switches tune the combined bundle:

Option	What it does
Defer combined script	Adds defer to the bundle so it loads without blocking render. Safe because the bundle is self-contained and dependency-ordered.
Minify combined script	Strips comments and redundant whitespace (conservative, string/template/regex-aware). Most scripts are already minified, so the saving is usually small, experimental.

Typical workflow

1. Activate Asset Optimizer and open its settings (the asset lists populate from a homepage scan).
2. On the CSS tab, leave the stylesheets you want merged checked; uncheck any to keep separate.
3. On the JavaScript tab, the first-party scripts are pre-selected; tick any safe third-party scripts you also want combined, and optionally enable Defer.
4. Save. The combined, cached files are served on the front end; re-scan with ?fw_asset_optimizer_discover=1 whenever your asset set changes.

It pairs with the clean output

Because the theme already compiles its design into one generated stylesheet and the page builder emits clean markup, Asset Optimizer has little to clean up, it mostly folds the remaining plugin/element stylesheets and scripts into one request each.