[REQUEST] Higher partner standards, ring-fenced apps, proper uninstallers

[Ben31]

Hi There,

Over the years, Shopify has directed us to third-party apps for missing functionality which was always frustrating (relying on someone other than Shopify, extra costs etc).

But with Speed Score, we can see that our store is riddled with uninstalled/unused partner app cruft which is killing our page score.

After pulling our theme locally, it's an unbelievable mess with endless snippets, unused code, unused calls to JS, multiple versions of jQuery - all of it from expensive, high-rated apps, and much of it from apps recommended by Shopify Support.

Surely we can agree that uninstalling an app shouldn't create messy, low-quality code. It's unacceptable, incredibly frustrating, and kind of embarrassing sorry.

It's 2020, you guys need to get this sorted ASAP - right?

[Ben31]

If anyone from Shopify is reading this, maybe support need help getting up to speed with Speed Score.

Support said...

• That a score of 23 is acceptable for an ecommerce store but our previous shop had a google speed score of 79
• That code and snippets left by uninstalled apps is normal. Well, maybe on Shopify but try Concrete5, it's apps are ring-fenced in separate directories and uninstalling the app, uninstalls all code and files
• They also said that code and snippets from uninstalled apps won't affect speed. However, I just upped our Shopify score by removing calls to JS libraries being loaded from unused app code

I'm not sure Shopify appreciates how messy the uninstall process is and what that does to page speed.

[AronE]

I couldn't agree more, this is a huge mess and there is no quick fix for it, we need shopify to take this under control 

[Ben31]

So Shopify support told us that every partner has app uninstall instructions and that when an app is uninstalled, it stops loading assets. However, I can verify that neither is true. 

Secomapp apologised for not having uninstall instructions and after uninstalling their 'Free Gifts' app, their JS file, snippets and sections were still loading. And after asking them to remove their code, our theme was still riddled with their files and assets.

Free Gifts was an app recommended by Shopify support because Shopify's automatic buy X get Y discount, won't automatically add a gift to the cart - a basic requirement for running a successful promo in 2020. This should be a core feature and is something we've requested previously but like many requests, it disappears into the abyss. There's zero visibility on requests - right?

I now see files from other uninstalled apps like Bold and Gem page builder app. I'm also trying to trace 3x different versions of jQuery and jQuery UI that are being loaded on our site - all are killing our page speed.

In fact, Shopify support told me that a speed score of 23 is normal and acceptable for an ecommerce site so God knows what other merchants think. Our last store (on Concrete5) had a Google page score of 79!

This is all fine for people who don't care to keep things organised but in our experience, their lives and businesses are characterised by problems arising from confusion.

Overall, this situation is unacceptable and shockingly bad - right?

[oreoorbitz]

Yup, if shopify is going to display a PageSpeed score and give merchants anxiety, they should have a better infrastructure for  improving performance. 

You know what would help improve performance? create a performance score for shopify apps based of all the resources they load and have that placed on the apps shopify page. This would force apps to be more conscious of their performance.

Also apps loading their jquery is ridiculous, I've had clients with 4 different versions of Jquery

[Ben31]

Love that idea, a speed score for apps and a coding standards star rating for how cleanly an app uninstalls.

[AronE]

Amazing idea

[Preben_Frenning]

This, yes! 

ALL OF THEM using it, should have a checkbox for loading jquery or not. And also get their very own speed score, from everything related to liquid rendering, all the way up to images, image sizes, gzip and so on.

And all apps should have some kind of uninstaller that removes code that gets added to your theme.(with warnings for code it couldn't remove so you can do it manually yourself)

[Ben31]

Bump.

[GemPages]

Hi my friend, 

Regarding your concerns about Jquery lib which is still loaded even you remove GemPages, I would like to share something about that.

GemPages will only call the Jquery lib if your page doesn't have the Jquery on your theme. Besides that, GemPages will only affect the pages that are created by GemPages, and it will not affect other original theme pages or another page builder. Could you please email us with the Jquery lib loaded on your page through support@gempages.help, our expert will help you check it more carefully? Also, if you have any questions about GemPages, please don't hesitate to let us know, we will be happy to help.

[Cll22]

Shopify, please take a page out of Wordpress' book. Their app (or plugins as they call them) setup is so clean. No code injected all over the place and they can be disabled/enabled (or deleted) with the click of a button. Really useful when there's an issue or conflict with another app, which inevitably WILL happen.

It also makes updating your theme an ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE! A truly daunting task that makes you wonder whether you've made the right decision to go with Shopify...

Other platforms can do it, so what's stopping you Shopify?

Look forward to hearing your comments on this.

[Preben_Frenning]

They should also enforce a policy for "advanced install" where the store can choose to position the scripts and assets in the code themselves. 

I have never seen an app doing this, but they all should. Either go for vanilla - apps adding their assets in the script header themselves, or advanced (Warning! Might break functionality) where you get the src for all required assets so you can combine, minify, defer and so on for apps that either doesn't need to be loaded in the script header for all pages, or doesn't need to be loaded in the critical render path for objects above the fold.