Spend Less Time Waiting And More Time Building In Divi!

New Features Come With New Challenges

As we introduce more features to Divi, the layouts that customers build become increasingly complex and that creates new performance challenges. We are dedicated to balancing these features updates with regular performance enhancements so that the Divi Builder experience continues to get better in every way. While there are many angles to look at when it comes to performance, this particular update focuses on reducing the time and resources it takes to load Divi Builder each time you use it. To see just how much loading times were improved, take a look at this before/after comparison

How We Improved Divi Builder Performance

To improve loading speeds we made several enhancements. First, we reduced the size of the Divi Builder options template, which means the builder is now more efficient when parsing and rendering builder content. This also reduced peak memory usage when loading the builder by around 15%. Next, we implemented lazy loading into the builder which means large layouts will load much faster than before. Finally, we adjusted the Visual Builder’s boot method and improved TTFB load times by around 20%. In the end, we found that the time it took to load an average Divi Builder layout was reduced by nearly 50%. That’s almost twice as fast, which is a huge improvement! The video bellow shows loading times for a normal layout using SiteGround’s lowest tier shared hosting package.

Making The New Divi Builder Experience Official

These performance enhancements affect the Visual Builder and the latest Divi Builder experience released earlier this year (they don’t affect the Classic Builder). With this update, we are making the new Divi Builder experience the default experience for all Divi users. The Classic Builder is still available, but we want to make sure that everyone is getting the best experience by default, instead of having to opt-in. This has been a slow transition since the release of the Visual Builder years ago. The new Divi Builder experience has already been the default experience for new users for some time, but until now legacy users who never opted in were still defaulting to the Classic Builder.

If you have been struggling with speed issues using the Classic Builder, you will be pleasantly surprised by the new experience which isn’t just faster, but also includes years of additional features that greatly improve the building experience.

If you still want to use the Classic Builder that’s fine too. You can switch to the Classic Builder in the Divi Theme Options under the Builder tab. That being said, we recommend getting used to the new experience due to its many benefits!

Balancing Features And Speed

We want you to know that we are dedicated to performance and that you can expect continued performance updates just like this one moving forward. Divi is going to keep getting better and it’s going to keep getting faster too. We hope you enjoy this update, so let us know what you think in the comments and don’t forget to check back soon for even more great Divi features coming your way.