John McCarthy j-mccarthy

How WordPress Plugins Should Handle Front End Resources

This is a WORK IN PROGRESS intended for fleshing out and feedback

It's very common for people to be unhappy with how a WordPress plugin adds front end resources to their site. If a plugin needs CSS, the plugin will add a <link> element to that CSS. If the plugin needs JavaScript, it will add a <script> to that JavaScript.

Plugins do this because it works. It's damn important for a WordPress plugin to work, even in adverse conditions. They rightfully want good ratings and little customer support.

But this comes at the cost of additional HTTP requests. In optimizing front end performance of a site, reducing the number of HTTP requests is a huge thing. Front end developers want to decide and control how front end resources are being handled, and WordPress plugins don't typically make this easy on them.

	<?php

	/**
	* Convert a multi-dimensional array into a single-dimensional array.
	* @author Sean Cannon, LitmusBox.com \| [email protected]
	* @param array $array The multi-dimensional array.
	* @return array
	*/
	function array_flatten($array) {
	if (!is_array($array)) {

	// Returns an array of dates between the two dates
	function getDates (startDate, endDate) {
	const dates = []
	let currentDate = startDate
	const addDays = function (days) {
	const date = new Date(this.valueOf())
	date.setDate(date.getDate() + days)
	return date
	}
	while (currentDate <= endDate) {

	/*!
	* gulp
	* $ npm install gulp-ruby-sass gulp-autoprefixer gulp-cssnano gulp-jshint gulp-concat gulp-uglify gulp-imagemin gulp-notify gulp-rename gulp-livereload gulp-cache del --save-dev
	*/

	// Load plugins
	var gulp = require('gulp'),
	sass = require('gulp-ruby-sass'),
	autoprefixer = require('gulp-autoprefixer'),
	cssnano = require('gulp-cssnano'),

	// Filter the title with a custom function
	add_filter('genesis_seo_title', 'wap_site_title' );

	// Add additional custom style to site header
	function wap_site_title( $title ) {

	// Change $custom_title text as you wish
	$custom_title = '<span class="custom-title">WA</span>Estate';

	// Don't change the rest of this on down

	<?php function sz_get_testimonials( $page_id ){
	$testimonials = get_post_meta( $page_id, 'testimonial', false );
	if ( $testimonials ) {
	$testimonial_list = "\n<ul>\n";
	foreach ( $testimonials as $testimonial ) {
	$testimonial_image = false;
	$testimonial_content = false;
	$testimonial_list .= "\t<li class='row'>";
	if ( $testimonial['testimonial-image'] ) {
	$testimonial_image = wp_get_attachment_image( $testimonial['testimonial-image'], 'full', '', array( 'class' => 'columns small-3' ) );

	$base-font-size: 16px;
	$base-line-height: 1.5;

	// this value may vary for each font
	// unitless value relative to 1em
	$cap-height: 0.68;


	@mixin baseline($font-size, $scale: 2) {

	<?php
	//* Do NOT include the opening php tag

	add_filter( 'genesis_seo_title', 'custom_genesis_seo_title', 10, 1 );
	/**
	* Replace Site Title text entered in Settings > Reading with custom HTML.
	* @author Sridhar Katakam
	* @link http://sridharkatakam.com/replace-site-title-text-custom-html-genesis/
	*
	* @param string original title text

	<?php

	/**
	* Add custom body class for Genesis Customizer
	*
	*/
	function gc_body_class( $classes ) {
	$classes[] = 'customizer-options';
	return $classes;
	}

	// Register and Hook Top Navigation Menu
	add_action('genesis_before_header', 'sample_before_header_menu', 10);
	function sample_before_header_menu() {

	register_nav_menu( 'top', 'Top Navigation Menu' );

	genesis_nav_menu( array(
	'theme_location' => 'top',
	'menu_class' => 'menu genesis-nav-menu menu-top',
	) );