Your issue likely stems from how Elementor and WordPress handle rendering and loading of Lottie animations. The glitch you’re experiencing happens because the animation takes longer to load, causing the layout to shift once it’s ready. This is known as Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), and it can be addressed with a few strategies. Here’s how you can fix it:
Reserve Space for the Lottie Animation
Ensure that the space where the Lottie animation will load is reserved in advance. This avoids layout shifts.
To do this:
Add a fixed height and width to the container of the Lottie animation via Elementor or custom CSS.
Example CSS:
css
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.lottie-container {
width: 100%;
height: 500px; /* or the expected height of the animation */
}
This will prevent other elements from “jumping” into the Lottie animation’s space.
Lazy Loading Optimization
Elementor supports lazy loading, but Lottie files might not work seamlessly with default lazy-loading settings.
Use a plugin like WP Rocket or Perfmatters to control the loading priority of Lottie animations.
Ensure that the Lottie animations are preloaded or assigned a high loading priority using a script like:
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3. Load Lottie Animations Asynchronously
Use a Lottie library that supports asynchronous loading or defer the Lottie animation initialization script.
Add this code to your functions.php file or a custom plugin to defer Lottie scripts:
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function defer_lottie_scripts($tag, $handle) {
if ('lottie-script-handle' !== $handle) {
return $tag;
}
return str_replace(' src', ' defer="defer" src', $tag);
}
add_filter('script_loader_tag', 'defer_lottie_scripts', 10, 2);
Replace lottie-script-handle with the actual script handle used by your animation library.
4. Optimize Lottie File Size
Compress your Lottie files using tools like LottieFiles Compressor.
Smaller files load faster, reducing the delay and improving user experience.
5. Use Elementor’s Custom CSS or JavaScript Features
In Elementor, you can use the Custom CSS option (Pro version) to add CSS for the animation container.
Alternatively, add a script in the Custom JavaScript section to ensure that the Lottie animation loads in the correct order.