GoBlog 0.11.0: pages stop waiting on CDN scripts

GoBlog 0.11.0 is a performance release, with one fix to the post editor.

Scripts no longer block the page

Every page loaded jQuery, Bootstrap and, on posts, highlight.js as plain script tags, each one stopping the browser from parsing the page until it arrived. All 25 external script tags now carry defer, so the HTML parses while they download.

Deferred scripts run after parsing, so the inline code that depends on them now waits for DOMContentLoaded: syntax highlighting, the login page, the markdown editors, the settings tabs and the install wizard. Three tests over the shipped templates guard this, because when it breaks it breaks quietly: the page still renders, it just stops highlighting code.

The editor is a source view again

The editor's stylesheet scaled headings to as much as 200% inside the editing area, a leftover from when the browser rendered markdown. Since 0.10.0 the Preview tab renders through the server, so those sizes were a second rendering that disagreed with the real one, and the line height jumped as you typed past a #. Headings in the editor are now the same size as body text and stay bold.

Update your theme first

If you run Forest or Minimal, install the new theme version before upgrading GoBlog:

• Forest v1.2.1
• Minimal v1.0.1

Those themes carry their own footer, login and post templates, whose inline scripts call jQuery and highlight.js while the page is still parsing. On 0.11.0 with an older theme, posts lose syntax highlighting and the GitHub login button does nothing. Both theme releases also work on older GoBlog, so it is safe to install them first.

Not in this release

The stylesheets from the CDN are still render-blocking; defer does not apply to CSS. That is addressed in 0.12.0.

Full notes: v0.11.0 on GitHub.