I forwarded your message to the other developers to get their feedback, below are the replies.
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I have mentioned this before but in specific themes. You had asked for examples. The issue, though, isn't just one theme. It appears to be something in the way your code is written.
Since page speed and performance are big issues to good ranking in Google, I try to fix things that come back in test that need to be fixed.
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i'm using the latest versions of your software. Some of the areas that come back on multiple different test on different sites using different shape 5 themes are:
page request - Combine files to minimize the number of HTTP requests your site makes. there are many header request for the various images used in the theme.
Http requests from the theme are for css and js files, there are very few requests to images if any at all; those are called in the css not an http request. It's possible to combine http requests with the compression option. The files have to be separate though or you wouldn?t be able to turn off features like multibox, image scroll, etc. One large file would be very bloated with options that aren?t needed.
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page speed-images optimized. i optimize the images we add, but the ones for the theme aren't.
The images that come with themes & templates (which are very few) are optimized for both speed but also aesthetics. You can?t make them too small or they will look pixelated. Most of the images are from the user?s content and that?s on them to optimize.
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optimize css, keep script below the fold,
render blocking-Remove or defer JavaScript and CSS that interferes with loading above-the-fold content.
Above the "fold" is completely dependent on how the site is set up. It?s just saying that anything that needs javascript effects should show within page view without scrolling.
You cannot defer javascript. Javascript has to be loaded in a specific order or it will break. Ie: one javascript call requires a function that was called previously. There?s no way to change that except for combining some of the files through the theme compression.
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Hopefully that information will be helpful.