DataSag guides · Updated 27 October 2026

Load analytics without blocking rendering on Pelican

Use the platform's non-blocking external script mechanism and install the tracker once. Measure the published page before and after the change; script size alone cannot predict the effect on your website. This guide applies to Pelican.

Start with the Pelican installation

Find the Pelican theme selected by THEME or the build command's theme option. Add the deferred tracker to its shared templates/base.html head, preserving existing Jinja blocks and inherited content. Use a maintained theme copy or supported override, then build and deploy the generated site.

Pelican can use a different configuration for publication and a different theme for one build. Verify the command and settings used by deployment. Page and article templates must inherit the shared base for a base-template installation to cover them.

Use the public project key from the DataSag project you are inspecting. A test on a preview domain does not confirm that the production domain has the same code or settings.

Load analytics without blocking rendering in Pelican

  1. Keep one deferred external script in the active base-template head. Inspect inherited blocks and generation plugins for duplicate insertion before comparing timing; the browser may reuse the download while executing multiple copies.
  2. Build the public site with the same theme and settings used for deployment, then measure a representative article under fixed cache and network conditions. Pelican generation time is separate from the resulting document's runtime loading cost.
  3. Test an early primary-action click after direct entry. If you replace defer with custom delayed loading, document which short visits or actions are omitted. Preserve the required public-key attribute through any template refactor.

The publishing theme uses one deferred script, with loading measurements grounded in generated public output and early-action coverage.

Complete the collection checks

  1. Record a baseline of the published page using the same browser, device emulation and network settings you will use for comparison. Include a representative content page, not only the homepage.
  2. Use defer for a normal external HTML script, or the framework-specific loading strategy shown in the installation example. Do not add a parser-blocking synchronous script as a shortcut.
  3. Keep one installation in the shared document or layout. Duplicate execution adds work even if the browser reuses the downloaded file.
  4. Inspect the Network waterfall for tracker.js and /api/track. Compare transfer size, timing and request count on a cold load and a cached load.
  5. Check that measurement still starts at the intended point. Loading only after idle or interaction can omit short visits and early clicks; performance and coverage must be evaluated together.
  6. Repeat the measurements and record variability. Report measured results for your page rather than claiming a universal speed improvement or zero performance cost.
// Browser Console, after loading the published page:
performance.getEntriesByType('resource')
  .filter(entry => entry.name.includes('/tracker.js'))
  .map(entry => ({ url: entry.name, durationMs: entry.duration }));
// Cross-origin transfer details may be unavailable.

What a successful check looks like

The script uses a non-blocking loading mechanism, appears once and records the intended visits. Any performance claim comes from repeatable measurements of the actual site.

Record the public path you tested, the browser state, the approximate time and the observed request. Check one direct page load and one later navigation so the result covers more than the homepage.

Common mistake

A faster lab result does not prove every visitor has a faster experience. Avoid mixing a warm-cache result with a cold-load baseline.

Installation snippet for Pelican

The shared installation belongs in the head of the active theme templates/base.html. Use this as the installation reference while checking the procedure above.

<script defer src="https://www.datasag.com/tracker.js" data-datasag-key="YOUR_PUBLIC_KEY"></script>

Related Pelican guides

Full Pelican setup guide · Search and AI visibility

References

Official Pelican documentation covers the integration point. For DataSag data handling, read the privacy policy. Use support if a request fails after these checks.