Chapter 12. Automating optimization with gulp
This chapter covers
- Understanding how gulp works and why you should use it
- Structuring your project for use with gulp
- Installing gulp plugins
- Understanding how gulp tasks work
- Writing tasks for your project
- Testing your gulp-based build system on a client’s website
The worst part of optimizing your website for performance is the sheer repetitiveness of it. Minify this CSS, uglify that JavaScript, optimize those images, and so on. The prospect of doing all of this important (yet mind-numbing) work puts a damper on your enthusiasm for the job.
Thankfully, there’s a tool out there that automates all of these tedious tasks for you, and its name is gulp (http://gulpjs.com). gulp is a Node-based build system that makes your workflow much more efficient and saves you time.