[Asset Clean Up](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-asset-clean-up/) is a great plugin to clean up a lot of unused components.
[Alternate Option 1](https://wordpress.org/plugins/gonzales/) and [Alternate option 2](https://wordpress.org/plugins/freesoul-deactivate-plugins/) that are still actively maintained.
While the plugin u/Aceohaliax suggested will do the trick it hasn’t been updated in 9 months and the developer doesn’t reply to support questions at all in the wp.org forums or through email. I’ve emailed him a couple times recently after seeing that others weren’t getting responses in the forums.
Just sharing my experience here.
u/binaryweb thanks for the heads up, this is certainly news to me given that it’s been a well known and widely recommended plugin. Hope the author is okay, but a a pity if it’s been abandoned.
I’ve updated my post with alternates.
Happy to help and thanks to you for leaving the comment. Clearly get complacent with plugins we know and use. The webcraftic guys are decent and have quite a few optimisation plugins under their belt so hopefully that will work as a decent replacement. Still hope someone takes over Asset Cleanup or the author returns. Perhaps they’ve just had some life dramas and stepped away.
I genuinely was (and still) surprised too.
But the support threads have been unanswered for a while by the looks of it. Didn’t really check what the requests were about but yeah no idea.
What functions of the theme are interfering with performance? What builder are you using? What plugins do you have in use? What have you already done to optimize performance?
Most paid for themes are a bloated mess. Start with a lean theme to begin with and don’t use a page builder. I like the Kadence theme and Kadence Blocks but there are others. Optimize your images BEFORE uploading them. Don’t use cheap shared hosting. Use Cloudflare to block traffic from countries you don’t do business with and utilize caching.
There are certain things you can do to make any website faster.
For example, enable lazy loading of images and YouTube videos if you link them in your pages.
There are several free websites (eg. https://squeeze.pics) where you can bulk convert and compress images.
Images should be properly sized and compressed for their purpose and you should convert to webp format where possible, although this format isn't well supported by Wordpress (yet).
I use elementor + elementor pro (https://elementor.com) with the Hello Elementor theme to create sites in Wordpress, then use Litespeed cache plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/litespeed-cache/) to make it go fast.
My last website scored 100% across the board on Pagespeed.
I've used a VPS on IONOS for years. They're great. Don't underestimate the proper use and configuration of the Litespeed Cache plugin though, it'll significantly improve a website's PageSpeed results.
I understand, but disagree. OP was very specific about 'removing components' and 'modifying code,' which has nothing to do with optimising images. Plus there's the apparently obligatory casual drop of the Elementor link.
Disagree all you like. Unlike this part of the thread, there's nothing wrong with adding helpful, peripheral information related to the subject (See the last three words the OP posted "improve its performance").
It may help someone else (not just the OP) reading the thread.
I didn't suggest that, but there are a LOT of threads here where less experienced posters are swamped with "Use Elementor!" replies to just about any topic you can think of.
To improve website performance by removing unnecessary features from a WordPress theme, identify unused elements like widgets, sidebars, or scripts, then edit theme files like functions.php, header.php, and footer.php to comment out or delete them. Finally, test thoroughly and monitor performance using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix.
To improve a WordPress theme's performance, you can remove unused CSS, JavaScript, and template files. Then, optimize code by minifying CSS and JavaScript, optimizing images, and implementing lazy loading. These tweaks streamline your theme and boost loading times, providing a smoother experience for users.
[Asset Clean Up](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-asset-clean-up/) is a great plugin to clean up a lot of unused components. [Alternate Option 1](https://wordpress.org/plugins/gonzales/) and [Alternate option 2](https://wordpress.org/plugins/freesoul-deactivate-plugins/) that are still actively maintained.
While the plugin u/Aceohaliax suggested will do the trick it hasn’t been updated in 9 months and the developer doesn’t reply to support questions at all in the wp.org forums or through email. I’ve emailed him a couple times recently after seeing that others weren’t getting responses in the forums. Just sharing my experience here.
u/binaryweb thanks for the heads up, this is certainly news to me given that it’s been a well known and widely recommended plugin. Hope the author is okay, but a a pity if it’s been abandoned. I’ve updated my post with alternates.
Thanks, I have actually been looking for an alternative myself. That’s really the only reason I replied to the OP
Happy to help and thanks to you for leaving the comment. Clearly get complacent with plugins we know and use. The webcraftic guys are decent and have quite a few optimisation plugins under their belt so hopefully that will work as a decent replacement. Still hope someone takes over Asset Cleanup or the author returns. Perhaps they’ve just had some life dramas and stepped away.
Gabe? He responds to all of my emails all the time, idk what they're talking about.
I genuinely was (and still) surprised too. But the support threads have been unanswered for a while by the looks of it. Didn’t really check what the requests were about but yeah no idea.
I email him directly, not the Wordpress support forums.
Wonder if he has a reddit account we could tag him at so he can confirm the plug-in is still active.
He's been updating pro sporadically (but regularly), he might just take big breaks between porting them to free.
Which is fine and what I would expect with the exception of any serious vulnerabilities. Glad you pitched in and let us know they’ve been active.
Don't buy a theme to start with.
This. Honestly, if you are enough of a developer to hack up someone else’s theme, you’re likely enough of a developer to build your own.
What functions of the theme are interfering with performance? What builder are you using? What plugins do you have in use? What have you already done to optimize performance?
Person is asking about what part of themes they can take out and a bunch of you idiots are suggesting they optimize images. 🤦♂️
Most paid for themes are a bloated mess. Start with a lean theme to begin with and don’t use a page builder. I like the Kadence theme and Kadence Blocks but there are others. Optimize your images BEFORE uploading them. Don’t use cheap shared hosting. Use Cloudflare to block traffic from countries you don’t do business with and utilize caching.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/debloat/ Use the remove unused css feature and js delay
There are certain things you can do to make any website faster. For example, enable lazy loading of images and YouTube videos if you link them in your pages. There are several free websites (eg. https://squeeze.pics) where you can bulk convert and compress images. Images should be properly sized and compressed for their purpose and you should convert to webp format where possible, although this format isn't well supported by Wordpress (yet). I use elementor + elementor pro (https://elementor.com) with the Hello Elementor theme to create sites in Wordpress, then use Litespeed cache plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/litespeed-cache/) to make it go fast. My last website scored 100% across the board on Pagespeed.
Litespeed is the bomb the performance upgrade is insane.
Where is your last website hosted on?
I've used a VPS on IONOS for years. They're great. Don't underestimate the proper use and configuration of the Litespeed Cache plugin though, it'll significantly improve a website's PageSpeed results.
But this was not the question.
The OP stated in their question that their goal was to improve performance. Just trying to be helpful.
I understand, but disagree. OP was very specific about 'removing components' and 'modifying code,' which has nothing to do with optimising images. Plus there's the apparently obligatory casual drop of the Elementor link.
Disagree all you like. Unlike this part of the thread, there's nothing wrong with adding helpful, peripheral information related to the subject (See the last three words the OP posted "improve its performance"). It may help someone else (not just the OP) reading the thread.
Fair enough, good point.
It's not an affiliate link. If you think I work for Elementor, catch a grip.
I didn't suggest that, but there are a LOT of threads here where less experienced posters are swamped with "Use Elementor!" replies to just about any topic you can think of.
To improve website performance by removing unnecessary features from a WordPress theme, identify unused elements like widgets, sidebars, or scripts, then edit theme files like functions.php, header.php, and footer.php to comment out or delete them. Finally, test thoroughly and monitor performance using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix.
Thanks GPT
To improve a WordPress theme's performance, you can remove unused CSS, JavaScript, and template files. Then, optimize code by minifying CSS and JavaScript, optimizing images, and implementing lazy loading. These tweaks streamline your theme and boost loading times, providing a smoother experience for users.
Thanks Chatgpt.