Prevent W3 Total Cache from Deferring jQuery

Written by Dan Mossop

W3 Total Cache includes the option to minify and combine JavaScript files on your site. This option defers the loading of JavaScript until the end of the page. However, when used on Divi, W3 Total Cache's deferral of the jQuery library conflicts with Divi's own jQuery deferral mechanism. The result is that inline jQuery scripts may not be executed, potentially breaking features of third-party plugins / scripts.

One solution here is to prevent W3 Total Cache from deferring jQuery. I wasn't able to exclude jQuery in the W3 Total Cache settings: for some reason it wasn't accepting the exclusion I was adding (for the file: wp-includes/js/jquery/jquery.min.js). However, I was able to add the necessary exclusion via PHP code, like so:

add_filter('w3tc_minify_js_do_tag_minification', 'dbc_w3totalcache_exclude_jquery', 10, 3);

function dbc_w3totalcache_exclude_jquery($do_tag_minification, $script_tag, $file) {
	if (strpos($file, 'wp-includes/js/jquery/jquery.min.js') !== false) {
		return false;
	}
	return $do_tag_minification;
}

Related Post: Adding PHP to the Divi Theme

If you add this code to your site, W3 Total Cache should leave the jQuery library alone, allowing Divi to defer it and successfully handle the execution of inline jQuery code.

About Dan Mossop

Dan is a Scottish-born web developer, now living in Brisbane with his wife and son. He has been sharing tips and helping users with Divi since 2014. He created Divi Booster, the first Divi plugin, and continues to develop it along with 20+ other Divi plugins. Dan has a PhD in Computer Science, a background in web security and likes a lot of stuff, 

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