Theme Best Practices & Performance
Going Beyond the Defaults
Preview
The habits of a healthy site
Keep themes to a minimum
Installed but inactive themes are still a maintenance and security surface. Delete the themes you are not using.
Performance checkpoints
- Test speed with tools like PageSpeed Insights
- Use a caching plugin on a live site
- Serve images in modern formats (WebP) and reasonable sizes
- Avoid installing many heavy plugins that a theme does not need
Security basics
- Always update themes, plugins and core
- Delete unused themes and plugins
- Keep backups you have actually tested
Practical exercise
Delete an inactive theme you do not use, then review your list of active plugins and remove anything unnecessary.
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