Critical CSS generation keeps restarting, performance measurements don’t update

  • Resolved Floris

    (@florismk)


    7 months, 2 weeks ago

    After deactivating and reactivating Boost to (succesfully) debug an unrelated issue, the plugin shows erratic behavior:

    1. With the Critical CSS option enabled, Boost keeps restarting the generation process, cycling between ‘0 files generated’ and the progress bar at about 5%.
    2. The performance indicator bars (Mobile and Desktop) at the top stay at the last updated measurements (73% and 98%), no matter which options I switch on or off (previously, they refreshed to a new performance measure corresponding to the effect of the changed option).
    3. The displayed performance measurements are entirely unrelated to what PageSpeed Insights measures at the same time, which emphasizes point 2: the performance measurements no longer update.
    4. PageSpeed Insights indicates that performance is 10-20 percent down from what it was before with all effective Boost options (including Critical CSS) enabled, so Critical CSS really isn’t working at all.

    WordPress and all plugins are up-to-date. Recently cleared cookies, browser cache and WP Super Cache for unrelated reasons.

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Plugin Support Alin (a11n)

    (@alinclamba)

    Hi @florismk,

    Thank you for writing about the issues you’re facing. Let’s address them one by one.

    1. Critical CSS Generation Restarts: This could be due to server timeouts or memory limits. Check your server logs and consider increasing the memory limit or execution time. Alternatively, it might be a conflict with another plugin, so try deactivating other plugins temporarily to see if that helps. Also, ensure there are no JavaScript errors in your browser console.
    2. Performance Measurements Not Updating: This might be caused by caching issues. Since you’ve cleared your browser and WP Super Cache, also check for any other caching mechanisms in your hosting environment. Make sure Jetpack Boost settings are correct and look for a manual refresh option in the plugin.
    3. Discrepancy with PageSpeed Insights: Differences in performance scores between Jetpack Boost and PageSpeed Insights are common due to varying test conditions like network and server load as can be seen here. Focus on overall trends rather than exact numbers. If you observe a significant performance drop (10-20%), it indicates that the Critical CSS feature may not be working properly, which could be contributing to these discrepancies.

    Let us know if this helps.

    Thread Starter Floris

    (@florismk)

    Hi @a11n, thanks for your response. This is very informative. As it turned out though, the root cause in my case was an incomplete or corrupted DB migration. Re-migrating the DB with much pampering and hand-holding resolved all issues. Thanks though!

    Plugin Support Alin (a11n)

    (@alinclamba)

    Hi @florismk,

    Thank you for sharing the details. I’m glad to hear that you were able to identify the root cause related to a database migration and resolve the issues with Jetpack Boost.

    Given that I’m going to mark this thread as rezolved and if anything else comes up, feel free to open new one.

    Stay awesome!

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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