Speed

What it is

Besides the cache, the Speed screen has the optimizations that speed things up the most — and you can test them in your own browser before turning them on for everyone. It also shows how many visits get the page ready, what weighs on the database, how much memory the site uses and the heaviest plugins.

How to use it

1. In Speed → Test before turning on, click "Test first" on the optimization you want (scripts on first interaction, critical CSS, only draw what is on screen, preload the next page). The site opens in test mode only for you, with a bar at the bottom.
2. Browse, open the menu, use the form and the chat. If everything works, click "All good — turn on for everyone"; if something breaks, "Something broke — turn off". Visitors see nothing until you approve.
3. For critical CSS, first click "Generate the critical CSS": your browser opens the home page, a post and a page and keeps only the styles of what shows before scrolling. When the theme or Elementor change, the screen tells you to generate it again.
4. In "Scripts that wait for the first touch", read the home page and choose script by script. Chat and heatmaps wait; Analytics, Tag Manager and Pixel do not (so no visit or ad conversion is lost), unless you choose so.
5. If your site is behind Cloudflare, paste in the Cloudflare card a token with the "Zone → Cache Purge" permission and the zone ID. Every edited page is also cleared there.
6. In "What weighs on the database" and "Memory and server", click Analyze. Leftovers of deleted content go with 1 click; tables of removed plugins and heavy plugins are only pointed out, with what to do.

Common problems

If something goes wrong

If something stops working after turning an optimization on, turn it off in the Speed screen (or use "Undo last change"). The memory adjustment in wp-config.php has its own Undo button. If even the dashboard won't open, see the Emergency exit page.