At TWDA, we’re obsessed with performance. For our clients, a fast website isn’t just a “nice-to-have”—it’s a vital component of SEO and conversion rate optimisation. In our pursuit of the elusive 100/100 Google PageSpeed score, we often test the latest “all-in-one” optimisation engines.
One plugin that has gained significant traction recently is PhastPress. While it’s a powerful tool for boosting Core Web Vitals, it comes with a specific set of challenges that can leave even seasoned developers scratching their heads and blurting out the occasional naughty word.
The most common issue we encounter—and one that recently cost us significant debugging time—is the “Dead Mobile Menu.”
You’ve likely seen the symptoms: your desktop site is flying, your PageSpeed Insights report is glowing green, but when you switch to a mobile device, the “hamburger” menu simply refuses to open.
” A website that loads in under a second is a technical feat, but a website where the menu doesn’t open on mobile is a broken promise. At TWDA, we spend the extra hours under the bonnet so our clients never have to explain to their customers why the site ‘looks good but doesn’t work’.”
PhastPress achieves its impressive speed by being incredibly aggressive with JavaScript Deferral. It essentially puts all non-critical scripts “to sleep” until a user interacts with the page.
For Elementor Pro users, this creates a major hurdle. Elementor’s mobile menu relies on specific frontend scripts to “listen” for that initial tap. If PhastPress has deferred those scripts too aggressively, the menu won’t trigger. The visitor taps, nothing happens, and they move on to a competitor.
The reason this issue is so frustrating for WordPress owners is that it often bypasses standard testing. If you’re logged into your dashboard, or if you’ve already interacted with the page, the scripts might fire correctly. It’s only your first-time mobile visitors—the ones who matter most—who experience the broken functionality.
Furthermore, because PhastPress has almost no user interface or settings panel, you can’t simply “uncheck” a box to fix the conflict.
When we integrate performance tools like PhastPress or WP Rocket for our clients, we don’t just “set and forget.” We use a refined approach to ensure Elementor Pro and your caching layer live in harmony:
PhastPress is a fantastic tool, but it requires a surgeon’s touch when paired with a sophisticated builder like Elementor Pro. If you’re struggling with a mobile menu that won’t budge or a speed plugin that seems to be doing more harm than good, it might be time for a professional audit.
At TWDA, we specialise in making Elementor websites not just beautiful, but technically flawless and blisteringly fast.
Feel free to reach out, and we can have a straightforward conversation about how we can assist you—perhaps over a cup of tea and a cheeky Jaffa Cake.
Quality and service are very important to us, but don’t just take our word for it. See what our customers say about our service, quality and value of our work.
