Divi

Improving WordPress Sites With Web Standards

Water Fluoridation campaign website screenshot

A new WordPress site for Arcora Foundation’s Washington State Water Fluoridation campaign.

Scope of Work 

This project involved upgrading a DIVI Child Theme running outdated, insecure PHP software to a modern, Full Site Editor Theme running PHP 8.4. Non-semantic DIVI code was replaced with accessible, semantic HTML structure.

  • Accessibility Compliance
  • Performance Optimization
  • Security Hardening
  • WordPress Theme Development

Accessibility improvements include:

  • Scalable viewport for mobile and assistive technology devices
  • Links with 2 visual indicators
  • Skip-to-Content links for screen readers
  • Secondary navigation method: site search

Homepage file size was reduced 50% to 1 Mb, less than half the industry median; and server requests were also reduced 50% from 64 to 32 – resulting in sub 3 second mobile load times.

Benchmarks

Performance MetricOld DIVI WebsiteNew WordPress Website
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility83/10096/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices92/10092/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed57/10094/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed88/10096/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization92/10092/100
WebPageTest Speed Index4.1302.684
Total Homepage File Size2 Mb (612 Kb Images + 1.05 Mb Scripts + 154 Kb CSS + 306 Kb Fonts + 612 Kb HTML)1 Mb (325 Kb Images + 772 Kb Scripts + 99 Kb CSS + 35 Kb Fonts + 75 Kb HTML)
Total Web Server Requests64 (9 Images + 18 Scripts + 13 CSS + 7 Fonts + 11 Other + 6 HTML)32 (6 Images + 11 Scripts + 5 CSS + 1 Font + 4 Other + 5 HTML)
Estimated Mobile Homepage Load Time~4.3 seconds< 1 second
WebPageTest Speed Index: median = ~3.591; top 10% = <1.388
In 2025, the average page size = ~2.4 Mb and median page size = ~2.1 Mb.
Database-driven websites, like WordPress, are more performance optimized when server requests are < 40 – 60.

Site Credits

WordPress Design & Development: Scott Marlow

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Proven WordPress Websites that Nonprofits Love!

Sound Generations’ Project Enhance provides licensing, training and assistance for two nationally recognized evidence-based programs: Enhance®Fitness and Enhance®Wellness.

The new Project Enhance WordPress site features an integrated members-only content area for fitness instructors and affiliates across 43 states. Benchmarks across all measurable areas have improved significantly. Overall page size has reduced 93% from 6.5 Mb to < 500 Kb; web server requests have reduced 69% from 59 to 18. These improvements result in page load speeds less than 3 seconds.

Enhance Fitness and Wellness website

Site Statistics

Performance Metric Old (Divi) WordPress Theme
 New Custom-Branded WordPress Theme
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility 88/100 100/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices 75/100 92/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed 47/100 96/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed 64/100 99/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization 82/100 90/100
WebPageTest Speed Index 6.121 2.008
Homepage File Size 6.46 Mb (6.06 Mb Images + 205 Kb Scripts + 239 Kb CSS +100 Kb Fonts + Kb HTML) 484 Kb (302 Kb Images + 3 Kb Scripts + 33 Kb CSS + 149 Kb Fonts + 8 Kb HTML)
Web Server Requests 59 (16 Images + 17 Scripts + 19 CSS + 5 Fonts + 2 HTML) 18 (7 Images + 2 Scripts + 6 CSS + 2 Fonts + 1 HTML)
Homepage Load Time ~6.1 seconds ~2 seconds

WebPage Test Speed Index: median = ~3.591; top 10% = <1.388
In 2021, the average page size = ~2.4 Mb and median page size = ~2.1 Mb.
Database-driven websites, like WordPress, are more performance optimized when server requests are < 40 – 60.

Other site updates and improvements include:

More readable content with font sizes > 16 pixels and reduced line widths; keyboard-navigable menu with skip to content link for screen readers;  custom-branded browser favicon; improved security, including bruteforce protection.

Project Enhance is a collaboration between Sound Generations, University of Washington and Group Health Cooperative (now Kaiser Permanente).

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