Hi everyone,
I'm hoping to get some guidance from the WordPress community. I'm trying to reduce the amount of HTML code on my website, but it's been really frustrating to find a simple way to do this in WordPress.
I've been learning about optimizing my site for search engines, but I need more access to the source code to make meaningful changes. The **Edit Code** feature in WordPress feels almost like a practical joke — it’s like they just want to say you can edit the code, but you really can’t, especially since there's no access to the `<head>` section. I even downloaded the Head and Footer HTML plugin, but it doesn’t fully solve the problem.
I also don’t know how to approach the PHP side of things. I downloaded FTP software, thinking I could directly edit the files on the server, but that didn’t work out either. I'm a bit familiar with coding from back in the early days of the internet, and I miss the simplicity of just being able to open the HTML, set my homepage to `index.htm`, and link it to another page. Now, it feels like all these plugins and templates just overcomplicate everything.
My site is simple — I just want to promote my small business locally. It doesn’t need to be database-heavy or complex, but these bulky templates slow everything down. Editing the schema has been a nightmare too.
If anyone can offer advice or point me in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it!
Thanks so much in advance!
Why are you doing this? Sounds like a waste of time TBH.
WordPress.com?
There are far higher priorities when it comes to optimising a website than reducing the amount of HTML. You’ll save milliseconds at best.
I’d say you exaggerate a little. You can just take a lightweight theme, like e.g. GeneratePress or some FSE theme, and save time. The amount of unnecessary HTML will be really minimal or negligible. Most of that stuff is there for a reason. You can invest your time better than trying to edit that.
If you come from static HTML you might need a little time to get used to a CMS like WP, but after some practice you should notice significant benefits.
This isn’t HTML, this is PHP, which generates the HTML on the server end. Like others said, it’s better to find a lightweight theme (GeneratePress) and go from there.
Create your own theme for full control?
But first, try to outline what exactly is excess html?
https://youtu.be/ViZLtFIcSfo to get you started.