- NewsmagRequirements for Newsmag
Hi,
First of all, thank you for your previous reply regarding Flex Blocks and background images.
I’m trying to optimize my website as much as possible for Google’s Core Web Vitals, especially on mobile, and I’d like to make sure I’m using Newspaper in the best possible way.
My website is:
https://actugeekgaming.com/
My latest PageSpeed report:
https://pagespeed.web.dev/analysis/https-actugeekgaming-com/aomr1s8vst?form_factor=mobile
At the moment my mobile score is around 50–60, and I’d like to improve it significantly while keeping Newspaper if possible.
Here is what I’ve already done:
Removed the homepage video background.
Replaced the hero section with a normal image.
Optimized all featured images.
Enabled WP Super Cache.
Enabled Jetpack CDN.
Upgraded to PHP 8.2.
Removed unnecessary plugins.
Added preload for the LCP image.
Contacted support regarding Flex Blocks using CSS background images.
I understand that Flex Blocks use background images by design, and you’ve suggested creating a custom Module Builder template using an element instead.
Before rebuilding my homepage, I would like to ask a few questions:
1) What are the official Newspaper recommendations for achieving the best possible Mobile PageSpeed score?
2) Which homepage modules or blocks are the most performance-friendly?
Are Flex Blocks still recommended for the first visible section, or would you recommend using a Module Builder layout instead?
3) Are there any Newspaper or TagDiv Composer settings that should be disabled to improve Core Web Vitals?
4) Do you have a performance optimization guide specifically for Newspaper?
5) Do you know of any websites using Newspaper that consistently achieve 85–90+ Mobile PageSpeed scores?
If so, could you share a demo or explain what makes them different?
6) Apart from replacing Flex Blocks, is there anything else inside Newspaper that commonly hurts LCP or overall mobile performance?
My goal isn’t simply to increase the PageSpeed score, but to build a fast, modern news website while continuing to use Newspaper.
Thank you very much for your advice!
Hello,
I’m using Newspaper 12.7.7 with the latest tagDiv Composer.
My homepage scores around 60 on Google PageSpeed Insights (mobile).
Lighthouse identifies the homepage LCP element as:
<span class=”entry-thumb td-thumb-css”
style=”background-image:url(…)”>
The image is rendered as a CSS background instead of an element.
Lighthouse reports:
fetchpriority=high should be applied
render-blocking CSS, especially:
td_legacy_main.css
style.css
tds-front.css
I already tested:
latest Newspaper and tagDiv Composer versions
Jetpack Image Accelerator enabled
cache enabled
manually adding a preload for the LCP image
My questions are:
Is there any supported setting or Flex Block that renders the featured image as a real instead of a CSS background?
Is there an official hook/filter to customize the thumbnail markup?
Is there a recommended way to improve LCP for Newspaper homepages?
Can td_legacy_main.css or other legacy CSS resources be safely disabled on Newspaper 12.7.7?
Website:
https://actugeekgaming.com
PageSpeed test :
https://pagespeed.web.dev/analysis/https-actugeekgaming-com/hodhlqczsz?form_factor=mobile
Thank you!
Hi,
I need to clarify something important regarding Google Discover requirements.
Google Discover has a strict rule: the featured image in the HTML must be ≥1200 px.
If I select 696 or 1068 in the Single Post Mobile Template, the HTML will not contain an image ≥1200 px.
As a result, the article may not be eligible for Discover.
This means that the recommendation to use smaller thumbnails (696 or 1068) might be good for PageSpeed, but it is bad for Discover eligibility.
For publishers who rely on Discover traffic, the only safe option is to keep Full – 1920 px in both desktop and mobile templates, and then optimize loading via srcset, WebP, or lazyload plugins.
Can you please confirm officially:
Does the Mobile Template still include the 1920 px version in the HTML srcset when a smaller size is selected?
If not, how can we guarantee Discover compliance without sacrificing performance?
Thank you!
Hi RENATO,
I understand that this situation is frustrating.
From what I can still see, the cache does not appear to be functioning correctly. Since I do not know the exact configuration or behavior of LiteSpeed Cache (and this is not a tested plugin), I cannot confirm whether the issue is directly related to that plugin, server-side cache, CDN configuration, or another caching layer. There are multiple possible factors involved.
At the moment, the mobile page you created with fewer blocks, smaller thumbnails, and more optimized content should normally provide significantly better mobile performance. However, because the dedicated mobile version is not loading, visitors are instead receiving the responsive desktop version, which is heavier and not fully optimized.
Unfortunately, there is not much more I can assist with from the support side. I have already provided all the recommendations and guidance available, even though performance optimization and PageSpeed improvements are outside the standard scope of support. We still did our best to help, despite the fact that the support period has not been extended for more than 8 years.
If you would like this issue to be investigated further and fully resolved, I recommend submitting a custom work request to services@tagdiv.com. Please include all relevant details and temporary wp-admin and cPanel access. The team responsible for custom services will review the situation and let you know what can be done, along with the associated costs.
Thank you for your understanding.
I appreciate your suggestions and I will follow them. Thank you for reporting this issue to the theme developers. I hope they can fix it permanently in the next update, because mobile traffic is the most important. If it’s already like this on a VPS, I can only imagine how it must be for users on shared hosting.
I also forgot to mention that Google Fonts are significantly affecting performance. The theme depends on them, and they are adding about 37.8 KiB of render‑blocking resources in PageSpeed, as you can see in this screenshot: https://ibb.co/4H1PDGc
You suggested the OMGF plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/host-webfonts-local/). I installed it, but unfortunately it’s very limited and constantly shows messages encouraging you to upgrade to the Pro version to improve performance. The Pro version requires an annual payment.
I looked for alternative plugins, but most of them are also paid. My suggestion is something much simpler: please ask the theme developer to include an option to download and host the fonts locally directly within the theme, instead of depending on paid third‑party plugins. This would improve site speed and overall performance.
If you could also pass this suggestion on to the theme developer, it would help a lot.
Hello @Calin
I am writing to you after a deep technical audit that lasted two days, conducted by a Senior Infrastructure Engineer and Web Performance Specialist. We had to take this measure because our PageSpeed scores are stuck between 31% and 41% on mobile, despite running on a high-end VPS with persistent cache (Redis/Object Cache) and every possible server-side optimization.
Google has officially notified us regarding this poor performance, stating that our site is no longer a priority in search rankings due to failing Core Web Vitals. After a thorough investigation of the source code and database, we have pinpointed the root cause: The Newspaper theme is loading both Desktop and Mobile assets simultaneously on mobile devices.
Even with dedicated mobile pages (separate IDs), the theme “stacks” the entire desktop framework on top of the mobile one. This redundancy is killing our performance.
I need you to take this diagnostic to the tagDiv development team immediately. We need to know if and when a fix will be released. If this architectural flaw is not resolved, I will be forced to migrate to another theme or develop a custom one, as I cannot afford to lose my SEO ranking due to theme bloat.
Technical Diagnostic:
Problem: Mobile pages heavier than desktop pages
Date: 03/05/2026
Theme: Newspaper 12.7.5
Plugin: td-composer
Server: VPS Ubuntu — CyberPanel — LiteSpeed
CONTEXT
The site glostv.com uses the Newspaper 12.7.5 theme with the td-composer plugin and has a system of separate pages for mobile and desktop, where each version was built individually in the Newspaper visual editor (tagDiv Composer). The site owner reported that pages on mobile are significantly heavier than on desktop, even though there are separate and optimized mobile pages already built.
MOBILE SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
The following pages were created as mobile templates inside the tagDiv Composer itself and are marked in the database with the flag tdc_is_mobile_template = 1:
ID 7584 — tv ao vivo Brasil (mobile version)
ID 7617 — POPULARES TOP (mobile version)
ID 8700 — Estados (mobile version)
ID 8872 — Homepage (mobile version)
ID 9944 — Política de Privacidade (mobile version)
ID 9948 — Termos de Uso (mobile version)
ID 10581 — Sobre Nós (mobile version)
ID 10597 — Política de Cookies (mobile version)
TECHNICAL PROBLEM IDENTIFIED
Problem 1 — td-composer loads assets WITHOUT any device distinction
Confirmed directly in the file:
wp-content/plugins/td-composer/legacy/common/wp_booster/td_wp_booster_functions.php
Line 362 — Composer JS loads for ALL devices:
add_action(‘wp_enqueue_scripts’, ‘load_js_composer_front’, 1000);
Line 430 — Full Newspaper CSS loads for ALL devices:
add_action(‘wp_enqueue_scripts’, ‘load_front_css’, 1001);
Line 744 — Full theme JS loads for ALL devices:
add_action(‘wp_enqueue_scripts’, ‘load_front_js’);
None of these functions have any device check. They load for both desktop and mobile equally, without any condition whatsoever.
Problem 2 — The mobile engine loads ON TOP of the desktop engine
Confirmed in the file:
wp-content/plugins/td-composer/mobile/functions.php
Line 149 — Mobile CSS loads ON TOP of the desktop CSS already loaded:
add_action(‘wp_enqueue_scripts’, ‘tdm_load_front_css’);
Line 173 — Mobile JS loads ON TOP of the desktop JS already loaded:
add_action(‘wp_enqueue_scripts’, ‘load_front_js’);
Line 184 — Mobile specific script loads ON TOP of all previous ones:
wp_enqueue_script(‘td-site’, TDC_URL.’/mobile/js/tagdiv_theme.min.js’);
Problem 3 — The flag tdc_is_mobile_template does NOT remove desktop assets
Confirmed in the file:
wp-content/plugins/td-composer/includes/tdc_state.php
Line 42:
private static $is_mobile_template = false;
Line 202:
public static function set_is_mobile_template($is_mobile_template) {
self::$is_mobile_template = $is_mobile_template;
}
This flag only serves to let the visual editor know it is on a mobile page. It does not execute any removal of desktop CSS or JS. It is purely an internal state variable with no effect on asset loading.
Problem 4 — Proof: Zero wp_dequeue for mobile anywhere in td-composer
I ran the following command directly on the server via terminal:
grep -r “wp_dequeue|deregister” wp-content/plugins/td-composer/ -n | grep -i “mobile|desktop|css|js”
The only result found was the removal of Visual Composer scripts in the backend administrative editor, not in the frontend. Throughout the entire td-composer codebase, there is not a single wp_dequeue_style() or wp_dequeue_script() instruction conditioned on mobile device detection in the frontend.
WHAT THE MOBILE BROWSER IS ACTUALLY DOWNLOADING
When a user accesses the site from a mobile device, the browser downloads all of this before rendering the mobile page:
From the desktop engine (which should NOT load on mobile):
Full legacy CSS of Newspaper
td-composer frontend JS (desktop visual engine)
tagdiv_theme.min.js desktop version
td-cloud-library CSS
td-standard-pack CSS
td-multi-purpose/style.css
Desktop version fonts
From the mobile engine (which loads ON TOP of the desktop):
Newspaper mobile CSS
tagdiv_theme.min.js mobile version
Mobile specific scripts
Fonts loaded again
The mobile browser is downloading the complete Newspaper framework twice. Once for the desktop layout that is discarded and once for the mobile layout that is actually used. This directly explains why mobile pages feel heavier and slower than desktop pages. DIRECT QUESTION TO SUPPORT
Does td-composer 12.7.5 have any native mechanism to remove desktop engine assets—specifically the functions load_front_css, load_js_composer_front, and load_front_js located in td_wp_booster_functions.php—when the page being served is already marked with tdc_is_mobile_template = 1 in the database?
If yes, in which file and on which line does this asset cleanup occur?
If no, when is the development team going to release an update to fix this? It is unacceptable that a high-end theme like Newspaper forces a mobile device to download the entire desktop framework AND the mobile framework simultaneously. My server-side analysis confirms that even when using dedicated mobile pages, the theme simply “stacks” assets instead of “swapping” them.
This redundancy is causing a massive performance overhead and killing our Core Web Vitals. We have separate pages for a reason, and the theme should NOT be loading desktop junk on a mobile-dedicated template. We need a clear position on when this will be resolved so that tdc_is_mobile_template = 1 actually triggers a wp_dequeue of unnecessary desktop resources.
Hi,
There will be a need to make the improvements for the list provided on the Pagespeed test.
Also, for speed, if you are using the WP Super Cache plugin, make sure that you also use the Autoptimize plugin and CDN . There are also other cache plugins that can be used to do both caching and optimizing the site, so there is no need to have 2 plugins. For example, one of the best is WP Rocket, but you can also use free plugins like WP Optimizer and Litespeed.
Thank you!
Hi,
I just checked your website using https://pagespeed.web.dev/ and on the desktop version, everything is on green https://prnt.sc/bHSSt9ZvxV2A on mobile, there indeed is a situation with the LCP but CLS is 0 https://prnt.sc/pQ9Pqd4C4n0F on the homepage but checking on an article, the cls and lcp are on green on both mobile and desktop – https://prnt.sc/WxF1R04-ffEL – https://prnt.sc/kCygD_uSxhHY
Hi Support Team,
Hope you’re doing well.
I’m reaching out regarding an accessibility issue identified on our website. According to Google PageSpeed Insights, our pages are currently showing the error: “Document does not have a main landmark.”
It appears that the theme does not include a <main> HTML landmark wrapping the primary content.
This is important for:
Accessibility (screen readers and semantic structure)
Improved PageSpeed / Lighthouse scores
Better overall HTML structure
We request your help in implementing this correctly across the theme.
What needs to be done:
Add a <main> tag wrapping the primary content area (typically where the article/page content is rendered)
Ensure only one <main> tag exists per page
Keep <header>, <nav>, and <footer> outside the <main> section
It would be ideal if this fix is applied at the theme level (e.g., in single.php, page.php, or relevant template files) so it reflects across all pages.
Please let me know if you need access or any additional details from our end.
Looking forward to your support on this.
My newspaper theme version is 12.7.4
Hi Marc,
I just checked the website, and this seems to be working ok for visitors. Also, I see that you are now using the LiteSpeed Cache plugin.
Now, related to the page speed results, this depends on factors like page dimensions, images, external resources, and cache…
UNfortubatley becouse the latespeed is not a tested pluginwe can not say for sure what option to enable and what option to disable to get a better performance, but let’s start with general pagespeed settings:
– convert images in webp format (there are cache plugins that can do this, but if the Litespeed is not doing this, the EWWW Image Optimizer can be used https://prnt.sc/DzMY6YynebbI). Make sure that only a lazyload option is enabled (the theme has an option https://prnt.sc/4pqTwHya8Awa and most likely other plugins that optimize the image to have the option)
– enable this theme option – https://prnt.sc/Ir7qNRhstgSA – https://prnt.sc/k2M5pc8odE1D (AGGREGATE INLINE CSS option needs to be tested with teh cache plugin)
– disable the mobile header on desktop and desktop header on mobile (this can be done for the sticky headers, but make sure that the mobile cache option is enabled – https://prnt.sc/r3QB7-vZ4UzH https://prnt.sc/KBdRK8nc90UW
– on mobile simply disable the mobile sticky menu https://prnt.sc/IFe6OfBzige7 and select the regular menu and set it to be sticky, also make sure that you have set a background color for it – https://prnt.sc/I6G0kypEakOM
– use an object cache (Redis or Memcached)
– use a CDN like Cloudflare
I hope those first steps to help you to get a better speed.
Hi,
Yes, those are theme-related. What can be done is to use a cache plugin like WP Rocket (or similar) and the results inpagespeed wil be improved.
Those files are necesary becouse are containg the theme cs and js, but with a good cache pluginor optimize css and js plugn, those can be optimized and get better performance in Pagespeed.
Hi Alex,
I see so in the end the problem is related to the Rocket option that remoe teh unused CSS. Without this option is possible that the pagespeed to get lower with a few points
You can contact us via email at contact@tagdiv.com and we’ll do our best to help you.
What I can recommend is to use those exclusions for Remove Unused CSS:
(.*)#td-mobile-nav(.*)
(.*).td-mobile-container(.*)
.td-mobile-close
.td-mobile-content(.*)
(.*).td-menu-background(.*)
(.*).td-search-background(.*)
(.*).td-search-wrap-mob(.*)
.td-search-close
.td-ajax-search-flex(.*)
(.*).td_module_flex_1(.*)
Another thing that can be used with that option is the plugin WP Rocket | Exclude Inline Styles from Remove Unused CSS plugin.
I hope this will help you!
Good evening.
I’m analyzing our website on PageSpeed Insights and two references with high transfer rates appeared – links below. Could you clarify what they are? One of the links refers to – Magnific Popup – v0.9.9 – 2013-12-27. Are these theme structures – can they be deleted or optimized? Thank you very much.
https://www.cidademarketing.com.br/marketing/wp-content/plugins/td-composer/legacy/Newsmag/js/tagdiv_theme.min.js?ver=5.4.3.5
https://www.cidademarketing.com.br/marketing/wp-content/plugins/td-composer/legacy/Newsmag/assets/css/td_legacy_main.css?ver=dabc3295375a4d2df3fc2a20843da2d5
Thanks
Hi @calin,
I’ll update you: I disabled Remove Unused CSS in Wp-Rocket and applied Loads CSS asynchronously (there are only these two options for CSS optimization). Leaving Loads CSS asynchronously enabled makes the menu work properly. My question is: is there a disadvantage to using it and avoiding Remove Used CSS? I mean, in my Google PageSpeed Insights score.
One last thing: I’m having some minor issues with my site and I don’t want to open up too many topics. Can I contact you via TagDiv’s email address so you can check a few things?
Thanks in advance for your reply.
Alex
Hello Team,
I am using your theme on my news website and facing a persistent issue with the homepage slider / Flex Block setup.
Problem description:
I am using Flex Block / Big Grid on the homepage.
I want the slider to be visible on desktop only, and hidden on mobile.
However, I am unable to find any clear or consistent option to:
Disable slider on mobile
Control Flex Block visibility per device
Even after turning Flex Block 1 OFF, there is no visible change, which makes it confusing to understand which container (Row / Column / Block) is actually controlling the output.
What I have already tried:
Turning Flex Block ON/OFF
Checking Row, Column, Layout, Style, Filter, and CSS tabs
Searching for “Hide on mobile”, “Responsive”, or “Device visibility” options
Clearing cache and hard refreshing
But the behavior remains the same.
My questions:
Which element actually controls the slider output — Row, Column, or Flex Block?
What is the recommended way to:
Show slider on desktop
Hide it completely on mobile
Is there a built-in responsive option, or should this be done via custom CSS?
If CSS is required, can you please share the correct class or selector used by the Flex Block / Big Grid slider?
I would really appreciate a step-by-step explanation, as this is a homepage critical section and affects both UX and PageSpeed performance.
Thank you in advance for your support.
Best regards,
Sankar Chakraborty
NewsBazar24
Website: https://newsbazar24.com
Why are my thumbnails such poor quality on my site www. rallyextra .se ? Both on desktop and mobile — feel free to test on, for example, an iPhone. Even when I run a test on Google PageSpeed Insights, it reports that the thumbnail image quality is too low.
I have compressed and converted the image to WebP as you requested, but the detection has not improved much。
The mobile LCP time is still 5.6 seconds.
https://pagespeed.web.dev/analysis/https-yigeni-com/u5rr1dv1c4?form_factor=mobile
Hi djony620,
There will be a need to make the improvements for the list provided on the Pagespeed test.
Also, for speed, if you are using the WP Super Cache plugin, make sure that you also use the Autoptimize plugin and CDN . There are also other cache plugins that can be used to do both caching and optimizing the site, so there is no need to have 2 plugins. For example, one of the best is WP Rocket, but you can also use free plugins like WP Optimizer, Litespeed.
Hi MarcyGaboma, unfortunately, I do not understand the problem you are facing. Could you please provide some more details and maybe some screenshots?
The desktop version is resolved, but the mobile version remains unresolved! The report is as follows:https://pagespeed.web.dev/analysis/https-www-yigeni-com/5640swrbf5?form_factor=mobile
As you recommended, I have installed Autoptimize and WP Super Cache, but I am still experiencing an LCP issue! The report is as follows：https://pagespeed.web.dev/analysis/https-www-yigeni-com/g3jt6j0sie?form_factor=mobile
Can you help me?
https://staging.secretabudhabi.ae/
https://pagespeed.web.dev/analysis/https-staging-secretabudhabi-ae/z72awr0qg6?form_factor=desktop
why the performance is very bad, can you help to improve?
https://i.postimg.cc/50CXbrht/chrome-zd-AVr7m1YU.png
Specifically, the image portion of this link loads slowly, impacting LCP. Is there a local solution available? Website: http://www.yigeni.cc
另外，https://pagespeed.web.dev/测试结果：https://pagespeed.web.dev/analysis/https-www-yigeni-cc/rpqy39js1o?form_factor=mobile
Yes, same problem can be seen on other friends websites. Many have moved away from Newspaper theme. Not enough updates are coming out from NewsPaper makers TagDiv, 2-3 years ago they used to quickly solve issues and bug fixes and push out new updates for the themes, which were modern and new features were brought. They are not keeping up with the times and a lot of features like infinite loading with ads are not working. “Read more” feature on the article page was also to be brought, but never came.
Now the LCP, FCP and CLS of the theme are also going high, resulting in revenue and viewer loss.
Even after using top-end cache paid cache plugins, the newspaper theme is very, very outdated and heavy. Hope they fix things and make the theme lighter in regulations with Google Pagespeeds insights.
So we shouldn’t be using the mobile plugin anymore? My Pagespeed numbers went down quite a bit after enabling that plugin. If I disable it, they will go back up.
Hi TagDiv team,
I noticed that in the Newspaper theme (both demo and my site) the <main id=”main” role=”main”> element is missing in the HTML markup. This is causing accessibility and SEO warnings in PageSpeed Insights.
Could you please clarify if this is intentional, or if there’s a recommended way to include a proper <main> element in the theme?
Thank you for your help!
Best regards,
Norbert
