We are excited to announce that the long anticipating Pagespeed framework is close to final. We are going through the final round of testing and ironing the fine details. The project has been taking a long time as we have to re-code some components due to Google Pagespeed Insight algorithm changes. After the previous beta release, we were not satisfied with the pagespeed score, so we further enhanced the lazy load feature to get a better score. Now most Ultra and Shoppe demos score over 90 on Google Pagespeed Insights. The time invested was well worth it. We have the final beta version available if you are interested to give it a try. You can see the new versions being used across all live demos. If you spot any errors, please report them to us. If everything goes well, we will release the official version in a week or two. Another newsletter will be sent on the final release. For now, please enjoy our lightning fast demos below.
We would like to update you on the Pagespeed framework that was announced a few months ago. There has been a long delay because Google Pagespeed Insights changed their metrics when we were close to completion. So we ended up re-coding a lot of stuff to comply with the new metrics. Before, Google just evaluated the page size, HTTP requests, scripts, code practices, etc., but now they also audit user experience as part of the pagespeed score. They implemented some new metrics such as Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) to determine how user friendly your page is rendered on user's screen. For example, if you have a large element (whether it is a text, image, video, map, or slider) that takes a long time to load, it will trigger a long LCP. Or if you have an element that causes layout shift during page render (eg. inline popup, ad, social embeds, etc.), it will trigger the CLS issue. The long loading LCP and CLS will result in lower pagespeed score. For more information, read Google's Web Vitals.
The new changes have made it harder to score 95+ on Google Pagespeed Insights for everyone (including our new framework). If you refer to our previous post, the demos used to score 97 to 99 but are now down to 90 to 92 due to the new changes. The good news is we've tackled the new metrics pretty well. Most demos (even with heavy content) can still score 90 and up. In this post, we will share the Ultra and Shoppe beta version and show a few pagespeed comparisions between the old vs new version.
We have noticed the Builder Contact addon had security vulnerability allowing hackers to send spam/phishing emails on behalf of the affected sites. The issue was first reported by a few of our members on the support forum and at the same time we were notified by the WordFence team (big thanks to WordFence team for notifying us the concerns and suggestions). We took immediate action to fix all security flaws and released the update. If you are using Builder Contact prior version 1.4.6, it is highly recommended to update to the latest version immediately. If you have the old Builder Contact version installed on the server but not activated, please either delete it or replace it with the latest version (do not leave the compromised version on the server). If your membership has expired and can't update Builder Contact, please contact us. We will offer a 3-month free membership extension so you can update the plugin. We apologize for any inconvenience it may cause.
We are very happy to receive the positive feedback from the Mission Pagespeed we announced two weeks ago. Today we are releasing the Beta version of the Pagespeed framework. As stated in our previous post, our goal is to make all Themify themes to score A+ on Google Pagespeed Insights. Since Ultra is our flagship theme, we are using it as the base for the Beta version. We've been testing it on many different demo sites. All of them return 90+ Google Pagespeed score including sites with WooCommerce. Here is your opportunity to try the Beta and let us know your Pagespeed score.
Login to your site WP-admin > Appearance > Themes, click "Add new", upload the themify-beta.zip and then activate it
Deactivate all Builder addons if you have any
IMPORTANT: Go to Themify > Settings > Theme Settings -> Performance & Minified Scripts, check the "Disable minified scripts" and "Enable Webp convert" option. The minified scripts need to be disabled as it is not final yet.
One of the major concerns about using multi-purpose themes is the page speed. Most multi-purpose themes are packed with many features and they usually include many scripts which take longer to load than the simpler themes. Site loading speed not only affects your visitors' browsing experience, but it can also impact your site search engine placement as Google ranks higher for fast loading and mobile-friendly sites. All Themify themes have been mobile friendly for many years. The upcoming Themify mission is to make all of our themes score 95+ on Google Pagespeed without using any third party plugins.
Mission Pagespeed: Making The Fastest Multi-purpose Theme
Over the past 2 months, we've been working quietly on the Pagespeed Mission to improve the page speed of all Themify themes and the Builder. Today we are happy to announce that we've made good progress. It is a big mission as we have to change the whole theme and framework structure in order to achieve it. All themes need to be re-coded as well to work with the new framework. Our goal is to make Ultra and Shoppe the fastest multi-purpose themes that includes a drag & drop layout Builder. (more…)
As promised, on our previous Builder Pro release post, we are committed to releasing new features and themes for Builder Pro. Today, we are happy to announce a new time-saver tool for developers who are using Builder Pro to build sites for clients. Now, when you import a predesigned Pro theme, you get an option to import the demo content. With the demo import feature, you can quickly replicate the entire site as appeared on our demo — this includes the Pro theme, templates, and the content such as posts, pages, menus, etc. It is like an all-in-one package for developers.
