Mobile Friendly Issues

[King of Snakes]

Hello,

I run infographic website created using wordpress cms and using sahifa paid wordpress theme. Its been more than 4 years since i have created the website and it was running good until December 2018.

Post December, in GSC account, there was an alert message indicating some of the pages are not mobile friendly.
I tested manually, using Google mobile friendly testing tool, sometimes it shows pages are mobile friendly and other time not.
And also i have tried validating the urls through GSC, but not success and indicating still some pages are not Mobile friendly.

Should i change the theme? I don't want to do this, because it takes lot of work to modify and update,the site contains around 2k posts.

Can anyone help me how to fix this issue?

[not2easy]

If your theme is four years old the theme functions might be coded for older versions of php. PHP 5.6 is no longer supported (end of life was December 2018) and if that is the cause, you will need a new theme.

Your theme does not control the core WP files and as long as you have been updating WordPress, it should function with newer versions of php. It is possible that the functions.php file of your theme is what has failed to modernize with WordPress updates.

You can select a new theme and your posts will continue to be seen as they are now. Themes don't store your WP settings and content, but a new theme may mean time to customize the appearance. My only suggestions are to choose a free theme with the appearance you like from the WP Theme repository where they are approved for functionality. OR if you're buying a new theme, get one that gives you 'lifetime' free updates because WP is not a static platform, it continues to evolve. Never use the actual theme but create a child theme so new updates don't overwrite your theme's appearance and settings.

[tangor]

Query: Do you allow UGC images? Is it possible your images are too large? Ran into that the other day. Nothing wrong with the theme for that WP install, other than it would not auto resize.

[bocah]

From 4 years ago, how many times your theme updates? When did you last update the theme? Usually, for premium theme, they will be update regularly. You can check inside your account where your theme bought, and check it for menu updating , is still exist or not?

[Dimitri]

In chromium (Google Chrome), you use the Audit tool (lighthouse) it will tell you all what is not right with your page and its mobile accessibility.

That being said, if you have third party codes (ads, social networks, etc... ) they might mess up your page layout on mobile devices.

[TorontoBoy]

The Sahifa theme was last updated 2019 May 19, so it should be pretty current. Is your theme the current version? The site says it is current to WP 5.2.x. You should not run with a theme that is not the most current, unless you have a really good reason, such as there is a bug in the current version and the developer is working on it.

[not2easy]

The question was posted last January. That makes a difference..

[tangor]

Sadly, all too often we don't hear back from OPs whether they were successful with any advice given. Most times I chalk that up as one of two things:

1. It worked and off they were to do whatever ...

or

2. The advice was either too hard or not what they wanted to hear and never came back.

I choose to believe #1 more than #2. :)

[sophiedooley54]

try to change setting into mobile view ..maay be it would be helpful...or check image optimizationn
you should change the theme....