Slow loading site: CI or bad coding?

[eluser]codex[/eluser]
[quote author="walesmd" date="1193224849"]

Total HTTP Requests: 74

HOLY S@#T!

The total number of external CSS files on this page is 29

29 CSS files... wtf?

The total size of this page is 445635 bytes

The home page (and all dependencies) is half a meg... holy s@#t.

The total size of your images is 194186 bytes

194kb in images - not to bad, due to the nature of the site... but maybe bumping down the JPG quality could help[/quote]

CSS: Um, 29 css files. Yes, I use one file per controller because it makes it easier to make changes. I know exactly where to look and I don't have to search for stuff. But this is just for development stage. I plan to put it in 1-2 files and optimize that.

JPG quality: I've already done some tests. Initially I didn't even use jpg compression, and some files were 3-4 times the size they are now. This setting (85%) produces good results and relatively small sizes.

But indeed, I need to optimize more.