My Popular Posts Grid Widget has also gone away

Hey @sean-h,

Thanks for opening a new topic!

So your issue seems to be pretty much the same as this one. Could you please try what I suggested over there and report back?

So, I am using the Siteground Optimiser plugin, on Siteground. Yes, said plugin does partly work on other hosts.

Now I usually have all toggles on and exclude nothing from minification, deferral or combination. In this case though, completely disabling the Deferral of Render Blocking Javascript fixes the problem, but this then defeats the object of optimisation because now nothing is being deferred. I should then be able to exclude the WPP JS from being deferred, but that script is not offered in the drop down list.

• This reply was modified 5 months ago by Sean.
• This reply was modified 5 months ago by Sean.
• This reply was modified 5 months ago by Sean.

Sorry, it was when I completely disabled the combination of JS that WPP worked again. But still, no option to exclude the WPP script from combination.

Another edit: combination of JS is off and WPP is now working on FF and Chrome, but it is not showing in Safari…

I’m busy trying to finish off ‘The Night Manager’ on Prime. Will leave things as they are until morning. Thanks in the meantime!

• This reply was modified 5 months ago by Sean.
• This reply was modified 5 months ago by Sean.

Alright that narrows things down a bit. I’ll install the SiteGround plugin and see if I can find a workaround, thanks for the detailed report!

Got it, this PHP snippet should do the trick:

add_filter('sgo_javascript_combine_exclude_ids', function($excluded_ids) {
	$excluded_ids[] = 'wpp-js';
	return $excluded_ids;
});

Add it to your site either by appending it to the end of your theme’s functions.php file or use a plugin like Code Snippets to do so.

P.S.: I find it a little odd that SG’s Optimizer plugin (it seems it’s called “Speed Optimizer” now) doesn’t allow users to manually exclude scripts/styles. That dropdown is nice and all but it would be nice if manual entries were allowed as well.

By the way, out of curiosity I tested your site on Safari (via BrowserStack) and the popular posts list is loading there as expected.

Thanks, I’ll give that a try in the morning. I’ll also try Safari again, but when I did try it I had already cleared all its cache for the site in question. I’m using it on a MacBook Air M1 with the latest macOS, if that means anything.

I have Code Snippets on all my sites for a few things, but I only use it if absolutely have to as I already have a ton of custom CSS on one site as per client request in order to place ads. That site has WPP which is still working on all browsers, but I have yet to update it.

I tend to avoid customising too far out of the box as it makes inevitable trouble shooting that much easier. You end up having to think…what did I customise that could be causing xyz problem?…

Yes, the plugin is now called ‘Speed Optimiser’ since they made it usable on all other hosts. Yes, I also find it odd they don’t allow manual excluding of scripts, but up until now I’ve never needed to exclude anything, so I’ve let it slide. Maybe you can get in touch with them to suggest allowing that as others have been/are asking for it. I’m not a coder, but if it came from a fellow plugin coder they might be more inclined to implement it. ??

Just checked Safari again quick after clearing its cache, no WPP, just the little red line. But WPP is working on FF and Chrome.

• This reply was modified 5 months ago by Sean.

Checked again via BrowserStack (Windows user here haha), and got the same result as earlier: the popular post list is loading on Safari (macOS Sonoma, latest Safari version).

Try having a look at Safari’s console and see if you can find any errors in there that may be related.

Maybe you can get in touch with them to suggest allowing that as others have been/are asking for it. I’m not a coder, but if it came from a fellow plugin coder they might be more inclined to implement it.

I may actually do that so thanks for the suggestion!

I have not added that code to functions.php yet, but I have turned JS Combination back on in the SG plugin. WPP is now broken on all browsers on the front, but it is now working on Safari if logged in to WP, whereas with JS Combine off it did not work on Safari at all. They (SG) have also just updated the plugin and the changelog mentions something about JS. If I knew php I would do some more digging for details, at least I would be able to better understand what is written in these logs….I haven’t found anything related in Safari console yet. I may try disabling all JS performance features, to test.

Alright, then please:

1. Add that code snippet to your site, and
2. Enable the JS Combination feature again, then
3. Purge SiteGround Optimizer / Speed Optimizer’s cache

These are the steps I followed on my test site and the popular posts list loaded normally even with JS Combination enabled. (It’s probably late over there, please feel free to try this tomorrow morning and I’ll come back on my morning to see what your results were like.)

Good morning.

Code snippet added, JS Combination on, all caches purged, browser and server. (this is on my own Spain website already shared) I generally update and play with my own sites first.

WPP then works on Chrome and FF, but not Safari on desktop or mobile. It is only when I disable all JS combination does WPP work everywhere.

Busy discussing with a client about keeping WPP on her site if I can’t get it to work without spending too much more time on it, as it is only seen if visitors scroll all the way to the bottom, but which no one actually does. 80% of her traffic is mobile. What I am first going to do is update only WPP to the latest version. I will leave WP core and the SG Optimiser plugin, to see what happens.

Nope, no joy. I must be missing something small, but in the meantime I can’t get WPP to work on some pretty stock standard websites on all big browsers, using the custom code and other methods already shared.

So, I have unfortunately deactivated it for now and will try again in a week or 2. Maybe something, somewhere will have changed. It is a pity as WPP has been working fine for a long time, especially on desktop where it is one of the first things seen.

One quick question; if I delete WPP, will the settings and configurations remain in the database? This will be good for when I re-install it another time.

Uninstalling the plugin will delete its data as well (settings, views data, etc). You could just remove the widget / shortcode from the sidebar instead, and the plugin will keep tracking views as well.