TL;DR
NitroPack’s Optimize Interactive Elements feature makes your website feel instantly responsive by providing immediate visual feedback when users click, tap, or interact with a page. This eliminates frustrating “dead zones,” reduces rage clicks, improves user experience, and delivers significant gains in Interaction to Next Paint (INP)—a Core Web Vital that measures real-world responsiveness.
When users interact with a website—clicking a button, opening a menu, or tapping “Add to Cart”—they expect something to happen immediately.
But too often, it doesn’t.
Even if the site is technically working in the background, a short delay with no visual response can make the page feel frozen or broken. This leads to frustration, repeated clicks, and higher bounce rates.
And now, with Google’s increased focus on Interaction to Next Paint (INP), these moments matter more than ever.
One way to fix this and speed up your WordPress site—without rewriting your JavaScript?
Optimize Interactive Elements to give users instant feedback.
See INP improvements with NitroPack
What Does “Optimize Interactive Elements” Mean?
Optimize Interactive Elements is a responsiveness optimization that ensures users receive immediate visual feedback the moment they interact with your site.
Instead of waiting for JavaScript execution to complete before anything changes on screen, NitroPack introduces an instant visual cue that confirms the interaction was registered.
Simply put: users see that the site is responding—even if processing continues in the background.
This dramatically improves perceived performance and directly impacts INP scores.
Why is passing INP important?
In March 2024, Google officially replaced First Input Delay (FID) with Interaction to Next Paint (INP) as a Core Web Vital.
INP measures the time between:
- A user’s action (click, tap, type)
- The next visual update (“paint”) the browser shows
If that visual feedback is delayed because the browser is busy executing JavaScript, users experience input lag—the feeling that the site is slow, unresponsive, or broken.
Currently, INP performance varies dramatically by device:
- Desktop: 97% of sites pass the INP threshold. Falling behind puts you in the bottom 3% of the web
- Mobile: Only 80% of sites pass. That means 1 in 5 mobile sites feels sluggish and unresponsive
With Google’s long-standing mobile-first focus, poor mobile INP is a serious SEO and UX disadvantage.
Optimize Interactive Elements is designed specifically to close this gap—turning sluggish mobile interactions into “Good” INP scores.
With vs without Optimize Interactive Elements
Optimize Interactive Elements is created for virtually every website.
If your website has:
- Buttons
- Menus
- Forms
- Product pages
…this feature is a significant boost to your Core Web Vitals.
Without Optimize Interactive Elements, user interactions—like clicking a button or opening a menu—often have a short “dead zone” where no visual feedback appears. During this time, the browser is busy processing JavaScript, leaving users unsure whether their action was registered.
With Optimize Interactive Elements, NitroPack provides immediate visual feedback the moment an interaction occurs. This signals responsiveness right away, significantly improving Interaction to Next Paint (INP) by:
- 36% on desktop
- 32% on mobile
| Scenario | Without Optimize Interactive Elements | With Optimize Interactive Elements |
| Visual feedback | Delayed until processing completes | Shown instantly on interaction |
| User perception | Site feels slow or unresponsive | Site feels fast and responsive |
| Core Web Vitals | Poor or unstable INP | Improved INP scores |
| User behavior | Rage clicks, frustration | Confident interactions |
| Mobile experience | Noticeable input lag | Smooth, responsive interactions |
Why Optimize Interactive Elements Is Important
Browsers can’t always provide instant visual feedback when JavaScript-heavy tasks are running. NitroPack bridges that gap by ensuring responsiveness feels immediate.
This results in:
- Better perceived performance: Users see feedback instantly
- Improved Core Web Vitals: Especially INP
- Fewer rage clicks: Clear signals reduce repeated interactions
- Lower bounce rates: Users stay engaged longer
- Higher conversion potential: A responsive site builds trust
Bonus: Helps Resolve PageSpeed Insights Warnings
Delayed visual feedback after user interactions often contributes to PSI warnings related to INP and main-thread blocking, such as:
- Long tasks blocking the main thread
- Reduce JavaScript execution time
- Minimize main-thread work
- Interaction to Next Paint (INP) issues detected
In short, NitroPack doesn’t just make your site feel faster—it helps PageSpeed Insights reflect that improvement as well.
How Optimize Interactive Elements Works
NitroPack handles the complexity automatically.
Optimize Interactive Elements:
- Detects interactive user actions
- Injects an immediate visual response
- Triggers a fast “Next Paint” for INP measurement
- Maintains proper processing flow in the background
The result is a site that feels faster—even under heavy JavaScript load.
NitroPack vs Manual INP Optimization
Manually improving INP often requires:
- Deep JavaScript refactoring
- Framework-specific fixes
- Ongoing maintenance
NitroPack offers a simpler alternative.
| Feature | Manual Optimization | Optimize Interactive Elements |
| Setup complexity | 🔺 High | ✅ One toggle |
| JavaScript changes | 🟡 Required | ✅ Not required |
| Maintenance | 🟡 Ongoing | ✅ Automatic |
| Mobile impact | 🔺 Hard to tune | ✅ Immediate |
| INP gains | 🔺 Unpredictable | ✅ By 36% on desktop; 32% on mobile |
How to Enable Optimize Interactive Elements
This feature requires manual activation for eligible plans (Plus, Pro, and Agency).
- Log in to your NitroPack dashboard
- Go to Cache Settings → JavaScript
- Enable Optimize Interactive Elements
That’s it.
From that point on, NitroPack ensures your site responds instantly to user interactions.
Optimize your INP score for desktop and mobile.
Get started with NitroPack →
FAQs
Does Optimize Interactive Elements affect site functionality?
No. It doesn’t block or alter logic—it only improves visual responsiveness.
Will this work on mobile devices?
Yes. Mobile users benefit the most due to limited processing power.
Does it require code changes?
No. It’s enabled directly from the NitroPack app.
Will it increase bandwidth or requests?
No. It improves timing and perception, not payload size.
