[Resolved] SiteGround Optimization conflicts with GenerateBlocks

[Tod]

I’ve been trying to use GenerateBlocks on Siteground (with Generate Press Premium.) No matter what I did, I could not get generateblocks to put items in each grid cell. Everything came out lined up vertically, one grid item per line.

I finally decided to shut off all the frontend optimization features of Sitground’s Optimization plugin, where it minifies the CSS, HTML and JS files. Turning all those features off allowed GenerateBlocks to work as advertised.

Posting this to let others know, in case they’re having a similar conflict. It’s also worth noting that turning these features off in Siteground knocked a few points off my page speed test. Don’t know if there’s a way to have both the optimization and generateblocks. Maybe in the next update.

Nevertheless, posting this in the spirit of FYI.

[Tom]

Hi there,

You may need to disable the external CSS file option in GenerateBlocks.

We’ve added an option to do that in the Dashboard in the next version.

I’ll do some testing 🙂

[Tod]

Hey Tom,

FYI, when looking at the CSS through the browser inspector in Firefox Developer, I noticed that none of the FLEX assignments came through, when minified. When I turned minify CSS off in Siteground Optimization, the FLEX assignments came through and generate blocks worked like a dream. So apparently the minification is chopping out or negating some CSS assignments made by GenerateBlocks.

BTW, allow me the opportunity to say how much I love ALL your plugins. Your WP-Show-Posts-Pro is a real dream come true for me; along with GeneratePress Premium and now generateblocks. Your whole way of visioning and re-visioning WordPress really works for me. I’ll buy everything you design, based on your performance so far.

Just wanted to give heartfelt kudos.

[Tom]

Thank you so much for the kind words, really appreciate it 🙂

Do you see any of the GenerateBlocks CSS coming through? If some comes through, it should all come through. I’ll take a deeper look tomorrow on my test server.

[Tod]

Hey Tom,

GenerateBlocks shows all the grid cells just fine when the minify CSS options on the Siteground Optimization plugin are all turned off.

And when I turn them minify options on (these are on the frontend optimization page of the Siteground plugin), the blocks break and the grid cell contents are each placed on their own line, streaming vertically down the page rather than maintaining their rows.

The minify (HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc.) options seems to be throwing out the FLEX features, causing the cell borders to be lost and causing each cell to take its own horizontal line independently.

I don’t have a fancy page to show on this. I’m just testing things out on an experimental site. But if you want to see what I mean, I have a simple page on https://iqchristian.com/tnp. I currently have the optimization features turned on. You’ll see five lines with Hello, Goodbye, One, Two, Three, each word on its own line.

What SHOULD show (and DOES show with the plugin turned off) is Hello Goodbye on one line, each word in its own grid cell. And a second row with One Two Three, each word in its own grid cell.

I’ll leave the Siteground Optimization plugin turned on until tomorrow, so you can see how it’s messing up with generateblocks if that’s helpful to you. As said, when I turn the Siteground plugin off, GenerateBlocks works like a dream. I really love your vision behind this plug in. The beauty and simplicity are compelling. The toolset provided for headlines is dynamite.

[Tod]

Just realized I missed the point of your question.

Oddly, when the Sitground Op plugin is turned on, I do see GenerateBlocks CSS (gb-grid, etc.) when looking with the Developer inspector. That’s what confused me.

What’s lost is the boundary information between each cell, causing each cell to occupy the entire row.

And, again, with the siteground minify options turned off, the boundary for each cell appears, and in the Firefox Developer inspector the Flex boundaries show up properly.

[Tom]

Yea, it looks like the CSS just isn’t being generated.

In beta.2 (planned for today), there’s an option to generate the CSS inline instead of externally. Let’s see if that fixes the issue, then we’ll go from there 🙂

[Tod]

Hey Tom,

Wanted to let you know I turned off the SiteGround Optimzation plugin and installed the WPRocket plugin in its place. I wanted to find out if this was simply a Siteground specific problem, or a problem GenerateBlocks was having with Optimization plugins in general.

At any rate, I’m able to activate the minify CSS & HTML options in WPRocket (the same options in the Siteground plug in that broke generateblocks) and everything works fine!! (The speed tests of my website also improved quite a bit.) As usual, GenerateBlocks and the Generate plugins in general are great.

Just letting you know, FYI.

[Tom]

Thanks for letting me know! Glad it’s all working for you now 🙂

[Author]

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