jquery-1.4.2.min.js is 71.8KB Same file compressed through this tool, with gzip enabled, becomes 32.9 KB
Which is better? If latter, why doesn't jQuery provide a packed file too instead of just uncompressed and min versions?
My Question: One is minified and gzip enabled, other is minified and packed and gzip enabled. Which should I use? If the one thats 32KB, I wonder why doesn't jquery provide a minified+packed version instead, any particular reason why?
Thanks
It's not an either question, use both, serve the minified file, over a gzip stream to the browser for the best/quickest delivery possibly.
Most web servers and almost every current browser support gzip. You're serving the minified file, with internal variables shortened etc...but then deliverying a zipped version of that to the client. By doing this you're delivering the minimum amount of javascript for the client to execute and delivering the smallest payload...so a quicker download for your user.
Also, remember to set cache headers so the client's not re-fetching the file...and there are other performance tips to go along with this you should read :)
Gzip encoding is handled on the fly by web servers. It isn't a feature of the file uploaded to the server, so it wouldn't make sense to provide the file in that format for download.
Gzip encoding and minification are not mutually exclusive.
Perhaps you mean the version packed with Dean Edward's packer? It indeed yields to smaller download but requires some processing on the client-side in order to decompress it.