Could I possibly be the first to post in this new forum? That would be cool.
Anyway, does anyone else have trouble with the Flexibility theme? Trouble in the sense that it’s very, very slow. I like the theme but it’s frustrating to have to wait so long each time I make a change. Just wondering if it’s the fault of the theme or something I’ve done that’s gumming up the works.
No bout a doubt it! You certainly are :nanaman:
I’ve never tried that theme, but you could test the slowness by temporarily switching to a default theme. If it’s still slow it’s not the theme (well not entirely anyway). Then try disabling plugins to see if that helps. The plugins (a plugin) being the cause IMHO is more likely than the theme.
When you say wait so long, are you referring to when you make a post or change theme options?
Or page loading?
If it’s the first, do you have any cache plug-ins installed?
If you do that is the wait. Your simply waiting for the cache to refresh.
Most of the big cache plug-ins do have settings for this.
If it is page loading. That is most likely the theme and/or can also be caused if you have a boat load of plug-ins installed that require making requests to the database. Also a lot of plug-ins load their own stylesheets, scripts and images adding http requests.
All of these things add up and can cause an awful slow loading site.
Thank you both for your replies.
It’s when I change a theme option and Save. In fact, the Flexibility Theme Options page itself takes a while to load. Other stuff I do in the WP admin panel goes at normal speed.
I don’t have any cache plugins. Overall, I have only 13 plugins activated. That’s not excessive, is it? I know a lot of plugins can cause issues, but I don’t know what constitutes too many.
I was just thinking about it and remembered that a client of mine was running Flexibility 2.
So I took a look at it.
In the admin on this theme, one thing that will create slow load if your theme has it is the PayPal donation box. This one has it. It’s loading the PayPal images through an SSL https which will slow down those 2 requests.
Also the admin theme page on version 2 is loading a few extra scripts necessary for the theme customizations.
On the theme itself, this one is loading a Flexibility copy right image in the footer from their site. That’s an extra external HTTP request.
If you have that in your version, simply follow the src link for that image, download the image, place it in your themes images and change the src to use that one locally. It wont save the request but at least it will be local as you don’t know how fast it is being loaded from their site and from what I see it’s not coming from a CDN.
Another thing is how heavy the theme is. Is it very graphical? If it is and not using sprites, every image is another request the browser has to load.
How is your site using the default theme with your current plug-ins installed?
Thanks, topdown. That’s good to know about the PayPal donation box. Mine doesn’t have a copyright image, though.
It runs fine with the default theme, even with the plugins. I recently bought Thesis and I think I’m just going to switch. I think it’ll be easier if I run all my sites on the same theme if possible so I can keep stuff straight.
I really appreciate your help, and it has helped me know things to watch for. Thanks!