I am developing a new component com_minify that will greatly reduce the number of http requests
it Combines, minifies, and caches JavaScript and CSS files on demand to speed up page loads.
from yahoo performance developer 80% of the end-user response time is spent on the front-end. Most of this time is tied up in downloading all the components in the page: images, style sheets, scripts, Flash, etc. Reducing the number of components in turn reduces the number of HTTP requests required to render the page. This is the key to faster pages.
One way to reduce the number of components in the page is to simplify the page's design. But is there a way to build pages with richer content while also achieving fast response times? Here are some techniques for reducing the number of HTTP requests, while still supporting rich page designs.
Combined files are a way to reduce the number of HTTP requests by combining all scripts into a single script, and similarly combining all CSS into a single style sheet. Combining files is more challenging when the scripts and style sheets vary from page to page, but making this part of your release process improves response times.
I was developing this week end this component (name com_combine) but decide it would be better to use a proven engine, and I found one: http://code.google.com/p/minify/