MainWP Blog - Tips & Tricks

Lazy loading images can help improve a site’s front-end load times for visitors. WordPress had native lazy loading for site images added in version 5.0 and was enhanced in version 5.9 at the end of 2021. Besides the support for native lazy loading images, there are several solid WordPress plugins that will allow you to lazy load images on your site. 1. Flying Images Flying Images has been covered before in other articles, but besides allowing images to lazy load, it Continue reading the post...

If you use the Download Monitor plugin on your site to manage downloads and uploads, you can control its options using code snippets. Download Monitor WordPress Plugin The Download Monitor WordPress plugin supports multiple versions of the same file, as well as being able to insert downloads into posts, log and track downloads and for being able to sell downloads on your site. To disable the force download, use this code snippet; add_filter( 'dlm_do_not_force', '__return_true' ); By default, the Download Continue reading the post...

Keeping a track of which plugins and themes have vulnerabilities on sites can be a pain to have to deal with. WordPress plugins and themes are responsible for up to 90% of all WordPress vulnerabilities. Patchstack WordPress Plugin Patchstack (previously WebARX) launched a WordPress plugin and a free plan containing features such as; Component Detection Vulnerability Monitoring Real-time Threat Alerts Actionable Suggestions After you have installed and activated the Patchstack plugin, it will add a new sub-menu item to; Settings Continue reading the post...

If you are already using the iThemes Security Pro plugin for site security on any of your Child Sites then you can use a built-in module to control automatic updates on your Child Site(s). The module is called “Version Management” which will give you control over automatic updates for WordPress core, plugins, and themes. The version management comes in handy if the site has a limited stack of installed plugins and includes mostly the static content without a lot of Continue reading the post...

If your site is using the MailOptin plugin which is used for lead generation, email automation, and newsletters. It is recommended to use a solid well built external platform for email automation and sending out newsletters than using a plugin that can cause performance issues on your site and cause database bloat. MailOptin WordPress Plugin The plugin will store data using the following custom database tables; wp_mo_campaign_log wp_mo_campaign_logmeta wp_mo_conversions wp_mo_email_campaignmeta wp_mo_email_campaigns wp_mo_optin_campaignmeta Wp_mo_optin_campaigns When the plugin is deactivated and deleted Continue reading the post...

Now is the time of the year to clean up WordPress site for better performance and security. One of the easiest ways would be to remove unused plugins and themes. It is very easy for a site to have several inactive plugins on it. This could happen when plugins have been replaced with better-coded plugins, but the original plugins were not deleted on the site. Also if you have been testing plugins on a site for a specific feature but Continue reading the post...

Improving your site server’s Time to First Byte (TTFB) is key to fast a performant site. A slow TTFB will cause site users to experience a blank screen whilst the site then loads. Expected server TTFB times would be between 200 and 500 milliseconds. Some of the reasons why the TTFB could be over 500 milliseconds can be down to a high load on the site server, server infrastructure issues, and high latencies between DNS servers. TTFB slower than 1 Continue reading the post...

One of the most commonly known tool for website performance testing is GTmetrix but it allows only one location, Vancouver in Canada, to test from. To access more testing locations, you need to create an account so that you can select a testing location that is nearest to your targeted audience. The free plan includes seven locations but with the Pro plan, you have access to another fifteen test locations to select from. All of the covered performance test site Continue reading the post...

Being in the industry for nearly two decades, WordPress still does not allow SVG files to upload directly due to security reasons. However, there are several ways to upload SVG files to your WordPress websites. The Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format is commonly used for site logos and other vector-based graphic files. SVG files can be rendered at any size, making them an excellent option for your site. A well-optimized SVG file will be smaller than using a PNG Continue reading the post...

If a client site is already using the Simple History plugin for activity logging then it can be possible that the plugin is causing some database bloat. The activity log retention time for the Simple History plugin is 60 days, and this limit can not be changed. In most cases when the plugin is deactivated and deleted then it should automatically remove the custom database tables it uses. Simple History Plugin for WordPress The Simple History plugin stores the activity Continue reading the post...