I can’t seem to solve or make progress on my Newspaper Theme performance issues.
I’ve got five friends that want to use Newspaper, too, if only I can get past my performance issues.
(They’re new bloggers, they like the idea of the theme, they’re a bit worried about my inability to fix my performance issues, or to find someone who can.)
My performance sucks (in the 40’s) with no clear remedy in sight.
Worse, when users hit my site the first time, the page loads blank (no images show)
If they reload the home page, then images show the second time, but after a flash of gray.
Here are screen shots:
* Empty Images – http://www.awesomescreenshot.com/image/509260/1ae034f2ac380576a5dd1d8e49faed92
* On Reload – http://www.awesomescreenshot.com/image/509262/dd0893dd0a1944de6aab6f0a9591e297
I haven’t seen anybody else’s site load like mine, where it’s all framed out with gray placeholders, and then, as if a second flash, the images then show up.
Here’s my setup at a glance:
* I’m hosting on Siteground.
* I use WP Rocket which is tested with Siteground — just default options.
* I’m using a CDN (Cloudflare), with default options.
* I have Gzip working.
* I use WP Smush Pro to smush all images (all images are smushed.)
* I used P3 (Plugin Performance Profiler) to analyze plugin performance.
I contemplated W3 cache (well, In installed it, but it was immediate conflict with WP Rocket, and WP Rocket’s feature compare shows superior in all regards, but I don’t have enough experience yet to know of it’s true.)
I get Chris’s point on the difference between buying a car, and driving the car. Well, now I want to know how to drive like the Mario Andretti. I feel like I’ve got the “owner’s Guide”, but not the “Driver’s Guide”. But actually, I don’t want yet another guide, I want a student driver model where I pay a consultant to show me the ropes for a couple of hours while fixing things, looking over my shoulder, or me looking over theirs.)
My images are probably the main problem, I don’t know how to fix them without doing weird acts of God, and I’m trying to keep posting simple and pragmatic, not build a better mouse trap with weird optimizations and even weirder workflow.
Tutorial
—————-
I’ve seen these tutorials …
* Page Speed Tutorial – https://forum.tagdiv.com/topic/tutorial-pagespeed-2015/
* How to make the site faster – https://forum.tagdiv.com/how-to-make-the-site-faster/
* Better Explained – How Compression Works – http://betterexplained.com/articles/how-to-optimize-your-site-with-gzip-compression/
* Google on Image Optimization – https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/performance/optimizing-content-efficiency/image-optimization
Posts
—————
I’ve seen these posts:
* Pagespeed – https://forum.tagdiv.com/topic/pagespeed/
* What is your google page speed value – https://forum.tagdiv.com/topic/what-is-your-googlespeed-value/
Tips
——————–
I’ve seen these tips:
* Chris S – Additionally, I use the WP-Optimize plugin to regularly optimize my WP dbase. Cutting 800kb out of your dbase once a week, or after a large number of posts/pages, also speeds up your system overhead. https://forum.tagdiv.com/topic/what-is-your-googlespeed-value/
* Chris S – If you can hit 90+ on your desktop score and 85+ on mobile, you can live a happy life and not stress over it. https://forum.tagdiv.com/topic/what-is-your-googlespeed-value/
* Chris S – – There are numerous resources on the net to learn how to set-up your web server account for gzip, expiration headers, optimize your images prior to uploading to your site, editing your htaccess file for WordPress, limiting use of resource hogging plugins unless absolutely necessary, etc., using W3cache with the minimal settings recommended in this forum from Radu/Marius (( QUOTE: w3 total cache use only the ‘full page cache.’ )) – https://forum.tagdiv.com/topic/pagespeed/
* Radu – On the demo we are running a stock theme with our stock speed booster plugin! Also note that any additional plugins slow the theme down and lower the score in pagespeed. – https://forum.tagdiv.com/topic/what-is-your-googlespeed-value/
Tools
————
I’ve used these tools
* Google Page Speed – https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
* GTMerix – https://gtmetrix.com/analyze.html
* Is compression working? http://www.gidnetwork.com/tools/gzip-test.php
* Pingdom Tools – reality test – http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/#!/bGth8K/sourcesofinsight.com
* Web Page Test – http://www.webpagetest.org/
Google tells me my page speed sucks. Is Compression Working tells me Gzip is working. Pingdom tells me my images are bloated. GTMetrix fails with a 522 timeout and blames my CDN.
The quote that keeps me going is:
“Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
I guess I’m getting stronger day by day.
JD
Heh. If gtmetrix times out that is really bad, and might be first thing to check with your cdn. Try turning off all the plugins except vc, then solve that problem first. Turn off lazy load feature.
Go through my sticky post at top of forum, and be aware of stuff like upping default wp memory, expiration headers, default image optimization level, functions.php fixes, remove as much external stuff as possible like gravatars, limit ad spots, dont use google fonts, etc.
Heh. If gtmetrix times out that is really bad, and might be first thing to check with your cdn. Try turning off all the plugins except vc, then solve that problem first. Turn off lazy load feature.
Go through my sticky post at top of forum, and be aware of stuff like upping default wp memory, expiration headers, default image optimization level, functions.php fixes, remove as much external stuff as possible like gravatars, limit ad spots, dont use google fonts, etc.
Heh. If gtmetrix times out that is really bad, and might be first thing to check with your cdn. Try turning off all the plugins except vc, then solve that problem first. Turn off lazy load feature.
Go through my sticky post at top of forum, and be aware of stuff like upping default wp memory, expiration headers, default image optimization level, functions.php fixes, remove as much external stuff as possible like gravatars, limit ad spots, dont use google fonts, etc.
Heh. If gtmetrix times out that is really bad, and might be first thing to check with your cdn. Try turning off all the plugins except vc, then solve that problem first. Turn off lazy load feature.
Go through my sticky post at top of forum, and be aware of stuff like upping default wp memory, expiration headers, default image optimization level, functions.php fixes, remove as much external stuff as possible like gravatars, limit ad spots, dont use google fonts, etc.
Heh. If gtmetrix times out that is really bad, and might be first thing to check with your cdn. Try turning off all the plugins except vc, then solve that problem first. Turn off lazy load feature.
Go through my sticky post at top of forum, and be aware of stuff like upping default wp memory, expiration headers, default image optimization level, functions.php fixes, remove as much external stuff as possible like gravatars, limit ad spots, dont use google fonts, etc.
Heh. If gtmetrix times out that is really bad, and might be first thing to check with your cdn. Try turning off all the plugins except vc, then solve that problem first. Turn off lazy load feature.
Go through my sticky post at top of forum, and be aware of stuff like upping default wp memory, expiration headers, default image optimization level, functions.php fixes, remove as much external stuff as possible like gravatars, limit ad spots, dont use google fonts, etc.
Heh. If gtmetrix times out that is really bad, and might be first thing to check with your cdn. Try turning off all the plugins except vc, then solve that problem first. Turn off lazy load feature.
Go through my sticky post at top of forum, and be aware of stuff like upping default wp memory, expiration headers, default image optimization level, functions.php fixes, remove as much external stuff as possible like gravatars, limit ad spots, dont use google fonts, etc.
Heh. If gtmetrix times out that is really bad, and might be first thing to check with your cdn. Try turning off all the plugins except vc, then solve that problem first. Turn off lazy load feature.
Go through my sticky post at top of forum, and be aware of stuff like upping default wp memory, expiration headers, default image optimization level, functions.php fixes, remove as much external stuff as possible like gravatars, limit ad spots, dont use google fonts, etc.
Heh. If gtmetrix times out that is really bad, and might be first thing to check with your cdn. Try turning off all the plugins except vc, then solve that problem first. Turn off lazy load feature.
Go through my sticky post at top of forum, and be aware of stuff like upping default wp memory, expiration headers, default image optimization level, functions.php fixes, remove as much external stuff as possible like gravatars, limit ad spots, dont use google fonts, etc.
Heh. If gtmetrix times out that is really bad, and might be first thing to check with your cdn. Try turning off all the plugins except vc, then solve that problem first. Turn off lazy load feature.
Go through my sticky post at top of forum, and be aware of stuff like upping default wp memory, expiration headers, default image optimization level, functions.php fixes, remove as much external stuff as possible like gravatars, limit ad spots, dont use google fonts, etc.
Heh. If gtmetrix times out that is really bad, and might be first thing to check with your cdn. Try turning off all the plugins except vc, then solve that problem first. Turn off lazy load feature.
Go through my sticky post at top of forum, and be aware of stuff like upping default wp memory, expiration headers, default image optimization level, functions.php fixes, remove as much external stuff as possible like gravatars, limit ad spots, dont use google fonts, etc.
Heh. If gtmetrix times out that is really bad, and might be first thing to check with your cdn. Try turning off all the plugins except vc, then solve that problem first. Turn off lazy load feature.
Go through my sticky post at top of forum, and be aware of stuff like upping default wp memory, expiration headers, default image optimization level, functions.php fixes, remove as much external stuff as possible like gravatars, limit ad spots, dont use google fonts, etc.
Heh. If gtmetrix times out that is really bad, and might be first thing to check with your cdn. Try turning off all the plugins except vc, then solve that problem first. Turn off lazy load feature.
Go through my sticky post at top of forum, and be aware of stuff like upping default wp memory, expiration headers, default image optimization level, functions.php fixes, remove as much external stuff as possible like gravatars, limit ad spots, dont use google fonts, etc.
Heh. If gtmetrix times out that is really bad, and might be first thing to check with your cdn. Try turning off all the plugins except vc, then solve that problem first. Turn off lazy load feature.
Go through my sticky post at top of forum, and be aware of stuff like upping default wp memory, expiration headers, default image optimization level, functions.php fixes, remove as much external stuff as possible like gravatars, limit ad spots, dont use google fonts, etc.
Heh. If gtmetrix times out that is really bad, and might be first thing to check with your cdn. Try turning off all the plugins except vc, then solve that problem first. Turn off lazy load feature.
Go through my sticky post at top of forum, and be aware of stuff like upping default wp memory, expiration headers, default image optimization level, functions.php fixes, remove as much external stuff as possible like gravatars, limit ad spots, dont use google fonts, etc.
I think you found the ticket.
It looks like LazyLoad was the main issue.
I had turned it off in WP Rocket (well, I had actually never turned it on.)
I found the LazyLoad in Newspaper, but the description wasn’t clear to me:
Image Loading – animations (LazyLoad)
Use Loading Animation Image (this is the thing to turn off)
Loading Effect
* Fade [full] – checked by default
* Fade & Scale
* Up fade
I’m sure I have a lot more fixing to do, but the primary user experience issue was the LazyLoading.
Thank you,
JD
Awesome!
Sorry for the whacko multiple post of my reply … was using my iPad, and it had some weird hiccups as I was using another browser other than Safari for testing my site and that browser doesn’t play well with the forum (buttons randomly don’t work, and I hit the button multiple times trying to get it to work, and somehow that put multiple posts in the forum).
I wasn’t trying to “hit home” on any point there, in case you were wondering 🙂
