Divi guide: speed
Optimal Divi settings for speed
Divi 5 is fast when its performance features are on and nothing else fights them. These are the settings under Divi > Theme Options that we use, plus the habits that keep a Divi site quick.
Divi > Theme Options > General > Performance
| Option | Our choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamic Module Framework | On | Loads only the code for the modules a page actually uses. |
| Dynamic Icons | On | Loads only the icons in use instead of the whole icon font. |
| Critical CSS | On | Puts the styles for the top of the page in the page itself and loads the rest later, so the first screen appears sooner. |
| Critical Threshold Height | Medium (default) | How much of the page counts as "the top". Try High if the area just below the first screen flickers as it loads. |
| Disable WordPress Emojis | On | Removes a script that only matters for very old browsers. |
| Defer Gutenberg Block CSS | On | Divi pages rarely need the block editor's styles straight away. |
| Improve Google Fonts Loading | On (it is off by default) | Places the font styles in the page and stops text from staying invisible while fonts download. One of the bigger wins on mobile. |
| Limit Google Fonts Support For Legacy Browsers | On | Smaller font files for every modern browser. |
| Defer jQuery And jQuery Migrate | On | Lets the page draw before jQuery loads. |
| Enqueue jQuery Compatibility Script | Default | A safety net for plugins that expect jQuery early. Turn it off only after testing every form and slider. |
| Defer Additional Third Party Scripts | Off | Divi itself warns that this can cause JavaScript errors. Leave it off unless you can test every plugin's features. |
Elegant Themes' own advice is to keep the default performance settings unless you know why you are changing one. Our list differs from the defaults in one place: Improve Google Fonts Loading.
Divi > Theme Options > Builder > Advanced
| Option | Our choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Static CSS File Generation | On | Saves each page's styles as a file the browser can cache, instead of building them on every visit. Use the Clear button next to it if styles ever look out of date. |
Habits that keep Divi fast
- Two font families at most, set once under Theme Customizer > General Settings > Typography and in your Global Fonts. Every extra font and weight is another download.
- Size images before uploading and let Converter for Media make WebP copies.
- Go easy on animations, parallax and video backgrounds, especially in the first screen. They delay the moment the page looks finished, which is what Google measures.
- Build your header and footer once in the Theme Builder rather than copying sections onto every page.
- Do not stack speed plugins. Divi plus W3 Total Cache with minify off is enough. A second minify or "optimize CSS" plugin is the usual cause of broken layouts.
- Measure on mobile at PageSpeed Insights, logged out, after clearing caches.
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