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Well that is plenty to start with.

No I am far from a WordPress Dev. but I also have standards for what make a dev 😉 I have seen a dev. ask “Is it reasonable that I should use Firebug for this???”, he was in a hurry, you know “client work”. Others are geniuses. I do not know what title mean.

You can use http://www.webpagetest.org/ for optimization tests. And Chrome Page Speed, Yslow. Pingdom for super fast tests http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/

Find some browser tools that can make things faster. View Dependencies for Firefox is one https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/view-dependencies/ A bit broken right now as it does not show file sizes but click,click and there you have a list of every file loaded. From images to jQuery. Troubleshooting is to look at screen 🙂

Chrome dev. tools can do lots of things http://discover-devtools.codeschool.com/ tells you this is “light” troubleshooting you want to do. Can go much deeper. But then easy becomes debatable.

Firebug still better for HTML/CSS – will be the case until Firefox build in tools are done. But use either one, or both.

For CSS you can check these

http://caniuse.com/
http://css3please.com/
http://csslint.net/ (click arrow, uncheck all boxes, then LINT)
http://css-tricks.com/
http://www.impressivewebs.com/
http://www.css3files.com/
http://webplatformtools.org/
http://webdevchecklist.com/

About WordPress just use Codex. If you dont know what hooks/filters are this is good intro

http://wp.tutsplus.com/tutorials/the-beginners-guide-to-wordpress-actions-and-filters/
http://www.kathyisawesome.com/455/wordpress-filters-fundamentals/
http://www.kathyisawesome.com/412/thematic-hooks-and-functions/

Once you get that rest comes easier. Themes like Thesis will have own termionology so dont get hung up on hook/filter names. You only need to get how it works. Is important because used big time by themes/plugins. Also kind of make it easier to understand how PHP spit out site. Can be big mess of code coming from all directions.

Also you can look for plugins to help, like

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/error-log-monitor/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/log-deprecated-notices
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/p3-profiler
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/plugins/duplicator
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/plugins/plugin-notes
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-database-reset
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/demo-data-creator
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/config-constants/

There are many more, like Debug Bar + add-ons for it.

Some is mainly for local test installs, or online for that matter. You should not reset live site! You should also never test on real site. Go crazy on temporary test sites. Take few minutes to set up.

Always good to have real time view of PHP memory usage and MySql requests

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/info/

Go for big wins like images. And what about your host? Site seem to run nginx so may be you can tune that a bit. HTML5Boilerplate have “curated” setups for servers like nginx https://github.com/h5bp/server-configs/tree/master/nginx But check with host, they have forum? Then see what people with SAME account type as yours are using with WordPress. May be there are hints about caching pluigns.

Not much point in optimizing site if it gets dragged down by wrong setup. You should be able to check via host.

Avoid messing with JS/jQuery like minifying or moving them to footer. Can be done and is also easy but not for you right now 🙂

Be very sceptical about plugins. Not only test them but research as much as you can. Often you can find signs that a plugin or plugin dev. is not approved. You can easily run 100 plugins, no benefit in holding back – but they must be good! Ignore top lists, silly stars and download counter, is not necessarily anything to go by.

Sadly it is not mandatory for devs. to list which JS/jQuery/CSS file plugin loads. I would trade “Review” tab for that any day. I think humanity will win. But not here so you do it. Always check this. Prevent conflicts and make you aware. May be opposite dev. who still use 2 year old version of what ever.

Not so difficult to throw out links but not always a big help as 1. You need to use them correctly and 2. If output requires interpretation you might get it wrong and then things go to hell. Can happen with something as simple as a HTML validator check. Some think they MUST have no errors. Like some think they must score 100 out of 100 on speed tests. Rarely possible without cheating, but you can and should get close.

Be careful about micro-optimization though. If you get obsessed with number juggling you probably end up with a site that seems to be made in Notepad. Rip stuff out and numbers improve. Fantastic, just like some fast responsive sites does, heh. Big ass web font though! Very boring and weird logic. But evaluate input vs. output. There are ways to allow many more script to load without actually impacting performance. Look up conditional tags http://codex.wordpress.org/Conditional_Tags. Is another huge part of WordPress you should get. Simple logic, if X is only used on Y page then only load scripts on Y. Win. Some plugins do this already. There is more to this but pretty important to understand idea behind it. Depends on site but as a rule go with intelligent plugins that load scripts conditionally. Then you dont have to mess with things.

You should look for best tools/plugins/themes and sources of valid current info. Give and take a bit as this is not exact science.

All these issues come from you skipping steps not from lack of freelancer. They should only do what you cant possibly do your self, like adv. custom coding of what ever. Not this easy CSS/JS/site optimization stuff. Comes with self-hosting status so dig in 🙂

EWWW is a bit temperamental. I just got it to work with no PHP warnings, or rather dev did. Can try again if you did not test latest version. Smush-it has new dev so guess that does same job.

Site is ok I think but that button at the top? Is a bit screwed. Check this http://i.imgur.com/TREMk45.png I like that better.

Is tricky as CSS for button come from plugin using Twitter bootstrap CSS, then adds some stuff of its own and your theme CSS is also part of it.

This is current code or some of it for “Get it now” button, the element I changed

#wsb input[type="submit"] {
    font-size: 16px;
    height: 26px;
    line-height: 10px !important;
}

And this is what I used for image.

#wsb input[type="submit"] {
	font-size: 16px;
	height: 32px;
	margin-top: -3px;
	padding-top: 6px;
	line-height: 21px; /* For Chrome? */
}

.btn:hover {
	background-position: 0 -30px; /* Is now 0 -15px */
}

Not sure how they can know value of btn:hover as it will depend on button values. Now only 50% of button get new background on hover. Looks better with 100%. But check image and fiddle.

Test in all browser, there can be small differences and what I did might now be correct. Need to improve button somehow though.

Should probably be more specific with the background trick. There is

.button.red:hover, input[type="submit"]:hover, #cancel-comment-reply-link:hover

already and it seem to work as well. Can add more in front like “#wsb” so it only works on THAT button. You figure it out…

And your logo

1.177px × 353px (scaled to 347px × 104px)

Associated text: How To Get the Perfect Logo Designed

Hmm.

Especially for static images like logo you should optimize. Almost dumb not to. Logo is now 75kb but if you resize to 357×104 or so – plus run it through tinyPNG it becomes 14.3kb. 72% smaller than my resized image site says. Good deal.

Static is one time only, normal image handling can be automated – in one way or another. EWWW is really nifty. If on shared server keep finger off better compression levels though. Things can break. I have done it, site does not go down but PHP warnings go crazy (mysql server has gone away…) and such. Default compression is decent, like WP-Smushit I think. High level is spectacular for strong servers not weak shared. Also host can get very annoyed so take it easy.

I would just ignore this – until dev. has made an update and error is still there. Then nagging starts for real 🙂 Is not a permanent notice and is not even an error or warning. If it was why are there warnings and errors? A notice can be sign of something problematic that should get fixed but not like it break site.

Reminds me of http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/23255 I use a framework that allow you to filter in new get_template parts based on what ever you tell it to look for. This http://dev.themeblvd.com/tutorial/incorporating-post-formats/ show how to make new templates for specific post formats. Ok, so when told to add new template part for a format, like “link” – it will do that. Works 100% but there is a “Trying to get property of non-object, line 768” in post.php notice, only WHEN on a category index/archive page. “Checking of post format” in other words, see the file. I tried all sorts of things, thinking internals were broken. I dont think so as the “fix” in trac remove notice. “Fix” is not approved of, though core devs. also will say a notice is sort of an error right?, but in “nightly” WordPress 3.6 code for post-format checking in post.php is split out in to a new post-formats.php. So I wait it out.

A bit more weird than what you have but things can be more complicated than they seem, also for plugin devs. 😉

One more post as I just had an idea. Remove both jQuery 1.8.3 and jQuery 1.7.1. Then load jQuery 1.9.1 + migrate.js http://blog.jquery.com/2013/01/15/jquery-1-9-final-jquery-2-0-beta-migrate-final-released/

Migrate.js is most interesting https://github.com/jquery/jquery-migrate/#readme

What make me confused about what it can do is this

The plugin can be included with versions of jQuery as old as 1.6.4 to identify potential upgrade issues via its JQMIGRATE console warnings. However, the plugin is only required for version 1.9.0 or higher to restore deprecated and removed functionality.

So there might be a chance migrate.js fix compatibility issues between jQuery 1.7.1 and 1.8.3 – or what? It is only active on 1.9.x?, logs on older? How much does it “migrate”? I dont know. You cant fix script code so this is a workaround, may be… Best is you will only have 1 jQuery loaded.

You have to deal with this as WordPress 3.6, may be even 3.5.2, will come with jQuery 1.9.x and migrate.js And then what? Test sooner than later is good tactic.

Best is not to use conflicting deprecated wrong crappy code. Truth is you need new modern theme right? – except you dont want to change! And where did developer go btw? 😉 Can almost only go downhill if you “dont want or can change” and code is dusty.

If ??? then good because you should not risk breaking stuff, but all you need is a little plugin or functions.php, preferably one in a child theme but I somehow doubt that will be the case. Just make a plugin. https://codex.wordpress.org/Writing_a_Plugin#Standard_Plugin_Information and there it is. Under that you paste something like

add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'jqueryfix_perhaps' );
function jqueryfix_perhaps() {
	wp_deregister_script( 'jquery' );
	wp_enqueue_script( 'jquery', 'http://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js', array(), NULL, FALSE );
	wp_enqueue_script( 'jquery-migrate', 'http://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery-migrate/1.1.1/jquery-migrate.min.js', array(), NULL, FALSE );
}

Upload to a new folder under /wp-content/plugins/ and you can activate/disable as normal. You are now plugin author.

No problem getting rid of jQuery from WordPress but I dont know how to remove the one from jbox. This you will have to remove:

<!-- MAIN JQUERY LIBRARY  -- REQUIRED for menu !!
--><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.edparton.com/blog/jbox/js/jquery1.7.js"></script>

Is what view source says. I smell old 🙂 This is likely hardcoded and you might have to edit source file of plugin or what it is.

What you say break “menu” might not be a whole lot, I bet it can work with jQuery 1.8.3 and 1.9.x but who is going to fix? And does it make sense if theme is abandoned? Seems to be? What else is outdated is relevant question. Forcing new jQuery 1.9.1 is not really a solid solution. Migrate.js is not permanent fix but a big hint you need to change/update code, contact dev. Here may be find new theme? Migrate.js will be essential file in upcoming WordPress but also kind of hide problems. Not sure you even see what it does unless “dev” version is used. In your case it might make sense to try this, but if theme dev. has site covered in old jQuery code, and is gone!, I think you should start looking for something current. If it works it is only temporary fix.

I would try this trick though 🙂 Some say dont even think about changing “core” jQuery, but right now that is bogus as TONS of issues will pop up with 1.9.x comes with latest WordPress. Devs. are “supposed” to test. And a minority will… You are also supposed to help developers right? 😉 Be certain those coding WordPress code have tested already, are testing. You WILL get jQuery 1.9.x so deal with it, heh. If you soonish want to deregister jQuery 1.9.x + migrate.js on shiny WordPress 3.6, return to old “working” combo of jQuery 1.7.1 + 1.8.3 you will be on your own I think 😉

Well it is risky business running more than 1 jQuery, much worse than notices from PHP I think. Now I see why some freak out about notices because I feel your site is broken if it require 2 jQuery versions, heh. Actually it is very common to have 2 but then it will be because out of your control. If you embed what ever that external script can load version no. 2. I dont know how well jQuery or jQuery code can limit itself. I dont trust more than one.

But there are more “errors” with Lightbox Plus 🙂 I get 3 on a “rrr” search, 2 is pointing to same line though.

Notice: Undefined property: WP_Query::$post in C:\UniServer\www\wp2\wp-content\plugins\lightbox-plus\lightboxplus.php on line 196

Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in C:\UniServer\www\wp2\wp-content\plugins\lightbox-plus\lightboxplus.php on line 196

Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in C:\UniServer\www\wp2\wp-content\plugins\lightbox-plus\classes\actions.class.php on line 78

I did mean you can Google. See how WP core fixed the first, http://core.trac.wordpress.org/attachment/ticket/15059/fix-undefined-property-post.diff Undefined variable, undefined index, non-objects – all about the same I guess. Loads of hits. “Dont ask for what is not possible to answer or I will notify your logfile” seems to be what its about.

Dont remember error but here is how I fixed one of them in another plugin

//			if ( 'checked' == $widget_logic_options['widget_logic-options-filter'] )  {

			if ( isset( $widget_logic_options['widget_logic-options-filter']) && 'checked' == $widget_logic_options['widget_logic-options-filter'] )  {

First line give error so id commented out.

So you can get the idea of this and race through all plugins. Or ignore until dev. fix. Of course not without risk to start editing source files.

I use similar external trick but I think a better one, check this http://stackoverflow.com/a/12042162/1024532

I cut it down a little. Also had to exclude things. Imagine a lightbox with a Youtube. That is not external and yet script think it is. Will I ever want what ever external action on a lightbox link? I think not. Check the link which is where I got it from.

// http://stackoverflow.com/a/12042162/1024532
$.expr[':'].external = function(obj) {
	return (obj.hostname != location.hostname) && !obj.href.match(/^javascript\:/)
}

$("#content").find("a:external").not("#content a:external[rel^='lightbox']").attr('target', '_blank');

Your theme is a bit weird as it use both #content and #content2 so above wont work. You should change #content to #contentwrap can use body as well but idea is to limit area of what to work on. To speed up jQuery 0.1ms. Just like with notices we aim high 🙂