Challenge 1: Enabling Gzip for Text-Based Content Types — Solution Walkthrough

The configuration:

  gzip on;
  gzip_types text/css application/javascript text/html;

Why this works:

gzip on turns on compression support in Nginx generally, and
gzip_types names exactly which response content types should actually
be compressed — here, CSS, JavaScript, and HTML, the three content
types this chapter specifically calls out as a clear win for
compression, since text-based content typically has a lot of
repetitive structure that compresses well.

WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER
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This exercise is a direct, hands-on application of this chapter's own
gzip/gzip_types example, correctly listing the specific content types
requested rather than compressing indiscriminately — setting up the
distinction Exercise 2 explores further.