How to improve page load time in Webflow and fix performance issues reported by Lighthouse such as render-blocking resources and unused JS?
Improving page load time and fixing performance issues in Webflow involves optimizing various aspects of your website. Two common issues reported by Lighthouse are render-blocking resources and unused JavaScript. Here's a step-by-step guide to address these problems:
1. Minimize Render-Blocking Resources:
- Render-blocking resources prevent the browser from loading the page until they are retrieved and processed. These typically include CSS and JavaScript files. Minimizing render-blocking resources reduces the perceived page load time.
- In Webflow, go to your project's Settings > Hosting, and enable 'Asset Optimization' under the 'Performance' section. This feature automatically optimizes your stylesheets and scripts.
- Check the 'Preload Fonts' option if you're using custom fonts. This will initiate the font loading process early in the page rendering pipeline.
- Inline critical CSS: Identify the critical CSS required for above-the-fold content and inline it in the `
2. Remove Unused JavaScript:
- Unused JavaScript files add unnecessary weight to your page, hindering its performance. Identify and remove unused scripts to improve loading times.
- In your Webflow project, go to the 'Project Settings' and click on the 'Custom Code' tab.
- Under the 'Before ' section, review the scripts you have added and determine if any are unused.
- Remove any script tags that are not necessary for your site's functionality or design. Be cautious and test your website thoroughly after removing any scripts to ensure functionality is not affected.
3. Optimize Images:
- Large images are a common culprit for slow page load times. Optimize your images to reduce their file size without sacrificing quality.
- Prioritize using WebP image format: Convert your images to the WebP format, which offers superior compression and smaller file sizes. WebP images are supported in modern browsers, and you can use an online converter or image editing software to convert your images to WebP.
- Compress images: Use image compression tools like Squoosh, Kraken.io, or TinyPNG to reduce file sizes without significant quality loss.
4. Leverage Browser Caching:
- Caching allows the browser to store static assets, such as CSS and JavaScript files, so they don't need to be re-downloaded on subsequent visits, improving page load times.
- In Webflow, browser caching is automatically enabled for published sites, and static assets are cached by default. However, you can set custom caching rules on your CDN in the Webflow Hosting settings to fine-tune caching behavior if required.
5. Enable Gzip Compression:
- Enabling Gzip compression reduces the size of your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files, allowing for faster transmission from the server to the browser.
- Webflow automatically enables Gzip compression for hosted sites, so there's no need to manually configure this.
6. Monitor and Optimize:
- Regularly monitor your website's performance using tools like Lighthouse, Google PageSpeed Insights, or Web.dev to identify any new issues and opportunities to optimize further.
- Experiment with different optimization techniques and configurations to find the best balance between performance and functionality as each site's requirements and constraints may vary.
By following these steps, you should be able to significantly improve your page load time and address render-blocking resources and unused JavaScript on your Webflow site. Remember to test and monitor your site's performance to ensure it consistently delivers fast loading times to visitors.