Hi there!
If you’re using the widget, you can set it to use the “stock” thumbnails by selecting the “Use predefined size” option (see Widgets > WordPress Popular Posts under “Display post thumbnail”.) That way WPP won’t generate custom images, instead it’ll use the ones created by your theme.
… and to answer your question:
why you need do it?
It’s needed to allow you to set custom thumbnail sizes without having to edit your theme’s function.php file. Advanced users (such as yourself I assume) could just add new thumbnail sizes by editing their functions.php file, but regular users on the other hand need something easy to use that doesn’t require any coding knowledge. That’s why that option is there 🙂
And if with:
… my thumbnails all are optimizated …
… you mean that you’re storing your thumbnails on a CDN, and if by chance you happen to be using W3 Total Cache too, then there’s a way have it store WPP’s custom thumbnails on your CDN.
I used standart size 45×45, and i have pictures in uploads/… they are all optimize and perfect for google. What does plugin do? it creates a new picture the same size in other directory smtg like (plugins/wpp/…) with name 234-wpp…
You do it good, you solve one recommendation: “create picture in need size, do not resize it buy css”
What i offer you: try to use standart thumbnail of post, and allow user to create picture in needed size themselfs?) it’s better, isn’t?
After that users can solve:
create in needed size
if my images optimize you don’t make it bad
no extra files
And other things which i don’t do.
