The minification, merging, and bundling of CSS, JS, and HTML

In the first section of this chapter, I’ve already explained why minification and bundling are key factors in frontend optimization. AC has a lot to offer for CSS and JS in that area. In developer mode, it is possible to enable or disable the following:

• Minification
• Merging
• Bundling (also called merging)

This section is only visible, as mentioned, in developer mode and can be found under STORES | Configuration | ADVANCED | Developer:

Figure 14.6 – Developer configuration in the admin panel

We’ve already worked with this section when we enabled path hints; this is where it can be disabled or enabled for certain IPs.

Let me tell you what each section does and how it reflects code and changes on the frontend.

CSS merging and minification

The options for CSS are quite simple:

Figure 14.7 – CSS developer settings...