Seeking Solutions & Insights on Handling 504 Errors with Content-Rich Pages on Webflow

Design help General
1

Hello fellow Webflow enthusiasts,

I’m reaching out to this community in search of insights and solutions regarding a issue I’ve encountered with content-rich pages on my Webflow site, which have recently started generating 504 errors. En axample of one of the affected pages is: https://www.debitura.com/debt-collection-netherlands

Background:

My website, which has been operational and performing smoothly for the initial two weeks post-launch, has suddenly started facing these errors without any recent changes or updates from my side. This was quite surprising, especially since performance tests (including Lighthouse) showed no issues, indicating fast load times and optimal functionality. I have already cleaned up unused styles, site CSS and JS are minified, unused interactions are removed, and images are compressed.

Webflow Support’s Response:

Webflows support team mentioned that the 504 errors could be attributed to the high volume of content on my pages, particularly pointing out an abundance of static rich text elements. They say these elements, due to their complex nature involving several child elements and text nodes, are apparently causing the pages to be too large to render and publish.

My question(s)

While I understand the general advice provided, I find myself at a crossroads due to the lack of specific guidelines or limitations provided by Webflow regarding the amount of content a static page can handle. This information is crucial for me to efficiently redesign or optimise my pages without compromising the rich content that I believe adds value to my site’s visitors.

  • Has anyone else faced similar issues with content-rich pages on Webflow, and how did you resolve them?
  • Are there specific guidelines or best practices to follow when designing content-heavy pages to avoid such errors?
  • Does anyone have insights into the technical limitations of Webflow concerning page size, element count, or any other relevant metrics?
  • Any tips or tools that could help in optimising content without significantly altering the design or user experience?

Thank you in advance for your time and help!

Here is my site Read-Only: Webflow - Debitura

2

@Robin_Tam

Based on what you said was the response from Webflow, I am stunned that Webflow can’t isolate a 504 error on their own infrastructure or did not bother to investigate it.

Since the page won’t even render there is no way to debug it in the browser so no way to help you there.

Inspection of that page on your read-only shows no scripts that I would attribute to the issue. The only thing I see is the amount of designer content and large/deep structure. As far as I know Webflow has never provided any limits on page size and If they had one it should be enforced within the designer.

Webflow is a frustrating black box sometimes and this is an example.

So what can you do?

Test. Duplicate the page then start removing elements a section or container at a time, publish, then test. If the page loads after a specific element is removed then take note of it. You may then be able to ascertain a threshold you need to stay within. You could do the same for any other page that triggers the 504 and see if there is a pattern.

So if you rely only on the designer then you would be stuck with the new “page element” limit. If you wanted to still render all the content then I would load partials via JavaScript from another server or some pages in the site. Webflow does not allow for not serving up the HTML, head, or body elements which is an issue when chunking content. Also, there is an SEO impact when using this strategy since the browser is loading the chunked content.

If you would like to discuss options to solve your issues then feel free to reach out via a DM (click my name) and we can schedule a brief free consultation.