What is WordPress Admin Console or WP-Admin panel?
The WordPress Administration Console (also known as the WP-Admin panel) is a centralized panel for creating, administering and maintaining WordPress websites. Only authorized users can access and manage this password-protected area.
How to Fix a Slow WordPress Admin Dashboard
When your WordPress admin dashboard is running slow, you can fix the problem by following these 13 proven tips.
Key Elements of the WordPress Admin Dashboard
- user access: Only users with appropriate roles and permissions can access the admin dashboard, ensuring the security of site data and functionality. User roles and settings can also be managed through the dashboard.
- content management: Users can create, edit and manage site content, including pages, posts, articles and media files.
- Website Creation: Dashboards provide the tools needed to enhance site functionality and customization, such as themes and plugins.
- Plugin and Theme Management: Users can install, update and configure WordPress themes and plugins through the dashboard.
- Web analytics: Website traffic and user behavior data can be accessed and managed from the dashboard.
- Setup Controls: All settings related to the website, general configuration and reading options can be controlled from the dashboard.
What causes WordPress admin panel to run slowly?
Why is my WordPress admin panel so slow? It could be due to the following reasons:
- Slow hosting: If the site has a lot of traffic and the hosting service has limited resources or is under-configured, it may affect the speed of the management panel.
- Burdensome or outdated plugins and themes: Using resource-hungry or outdated plugins and themes can cause the WordPress backend to run slowly.
- Outdated WordPress Core: If the site is running on an outdated WordPress kernel, it may affect dashboard performance.
- Caching issues: As your website grows and gets more visitors, too much caching may cause the WordPress admin panel to run slowly.
How do I test the performance of the WordPress Admin Console?
Before exploring ways to speed up WordPress administration, a speed test can be run to ensure a smooth user experience. Since the admin area is behind the login screen, it is not possible to use the normal website testing tools. Instead, it can be evaluated using the built-in browser tool.
Step 1: Access to the administration area
Log in to your WordPress dashboard, right-click anywhere on the admin page, and select "probe".
Step 2: Go to the Performance tab
Once you have accessed WordPress in Google Chrome, open Developer Tools and select the "Performance" tab, then click "Lighthouse". This will provide detailed information on page load times, network activity and resource requests.
Step 3: Analyze page loads and results
Click the "Analyze Page Load" button to view performance metrics and page load times. With this data, you can analyze potential performance issues and get suggestions for improvement.
How to Fix Slow WordPress Admin Panel
Here are 13 proven tips to help you fix a slow WordPress backend for a fast-running website:
1. Remove WordPress Admin Toolbar
There is a small toolbar at the top of the WordPress site for easy access to various admin settings. However, it can cause the admin dashboard to slow down. To disable the toolbar, add the following code to the functions.php file:
phpCopy codeadd_filter('show_admin_bar', '__return_false');
Toolbars can also be disabled from the user settings:
- Go to the WordPress dashboard and click "subscribers">"Personal Profile".
- Scroll down to the Toolbars section and uncheck the "Show toolbars when browsing websites" option.
2. Keep WordPress core up to date
The WordPress team regularly releases updates to improve performance and fix bugs. Make sure your WordPress core, plugins and themes are up to date.
- Go to your WordPress dashboard and click on "Updates" to check for and install available updates.
3. Update PHP version
WordPress is built on PHP and using an older version of PHP may cause the admin panel to slow down. Check and update the PHP version:
- Go to the WordPress dashboard and click "artifact">"Website Health">"text" to view the PHP version.
- If the version is too old, you can update it in the following ways:
- via cPanel: Use MultiPHP Manager to update the PHP version.
- Via the Managed Account Dashboard: Visit the web hosting server's dashboard, find the PHP Configuration section and select the new PHP version.
- Contact Managed Service Provider: Request them to update their PHP version.
4. Increase PHP memory limit
If the PHP memory limit is too low, it may cause the admin panel to slow down. Check and increase the PHP memory limit:
- Go to the WordPress dashboard and click Tools > Site Health > Info to see PHP memory limits.
- If the memory limit is low, it can be increased by adding the following code to the wp-config.php file:
define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');
- If you are unable to add it yourself, contact your hosting provider's customer support for assistance.
5. Use WordPress caching plugin
Another way to fix a slow WordPress admin panel is to use a caching plugin.
The caching plugin optimizes the database by saving dynamic website pages as static HTML files so that the server doesn't have to reload the pages on each visit, thus saving website resources.
Key Features
- Optimizing CSS and JavaScript: Improve site performance.
- Cleaning up CDN URLs: Enhance site speed.
While caching plugins can be helpful in increasing the speed of your website, using them for object and database caching can lead to problems with live data updates. Therefore, it is a good idea to choose plugins that allow selective caching to exclude database caching from the admin area.
6. Remove administrator bloat
Hide unused widgets, plugins or menu items with the Manage Menu Editor plugin. Remove expired plugin transients with the Delete Expired Transients plugin.
7. Replacement of overloaded plug-ins
Regularly check plugin performance and remove unnecessary plugins. Use the Query Monitor plugin to identify overloaded plugins and replace them with lightweight plugins.
8. Utilizationheartbeat control
The Heartbeat API affects admin panel speed. Use WP Rocket's Heartbeat Control plugin to reduce or disable the frequency of heartbeat API requests.
9. Limit the number of posts or comments per page
Limit the number of posts and comments displayed per page by navigating to Settings > Reading and Settings > Discussion. and comments per page by navigating to Settings > Reading and Settings > Discussion.
10. Time to trace the first byte
TTFB is a measure of how fast a website loads. A high TTFB may indicate an overloaded plugin or insufficient hosting resources.
11. Remove unnecessary dashboard widgets
Disable unnecessary widgets to improve dashboard speed. Use the "Screen Options" tab in the upper right corner to do this.
12. Optimize WordPress autosave intervals
Reduce the frequency of autosave intervals. Add the following lines of code to the wp-config.php file:
define('AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 120);
13. Upgrading Web server RAM
Contact your hosting provider to increase server RAM. if the current hosting plan does not support the upgrade, consider renewing the plan or switching providers.
14. Switch to Better WordPress Hosting
Performance issues can stem from poor hosting services. Consider switching to a hosting provider with more adequate resources and faster servers.
Summary:
The performance of the WordPress admin console can be effectively improved by removing the admin toolbar, keeping the WordPress core and plugins up-to-date, upgrading PHP versions and memory limits, and using caching plugins. Cleaning up unnecessary plugins and widgets, using the Heartbeat Control plugin, limiting the number of posts and comments per page, and optimizing autosave intervals can also help improve site speed. If these methods still don't solve the problem, it is recommended to upgrade the server RAM or choose a better hosting service.