Deactivated W3TC lazy loading and rely on Wordpress' own lazy loading

approach to enable images for non-JS users.

functions.php

@@ -40,6 +40,20 @@ function c1024_2026_assets() {
 // Load public assets through WordPress so dependencies and plugin integrations remain ordered.
 add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'c1024_2026_assets' );
 
+/**
+ * Keep W3 Total Cache from converting every image into a JavaScript-only placeholder.
+ *
+ * Native browser lazy loading can still be enabled elsewhere, but W3TC's output-buffer
+ * mutator removes `src` entirely and therefore prevents images from working without JS.
+ */
+function c1024_2026_disable_w3tc_javascript_lazyload( $can_process ) {
+	$can_process['enabled'] = false;
+	$can_process['reason']  = 'Commander1024 theme preserves non-JavaScript image delivery';
+
+	return $can_process;
+}
+add_filter( 'w3tc_lazyload_can_process', 'c1024_2026_disable_w3tc_javascript_lazyload' );
+
 function c1024_2026_block_editor_assets() {
 	// Load the complete canvas stylesheet inside Gutenberg's editor iframe.
 	wp_enqueue_style( 'c1024-2026-editor-style', get_theme_file_uri( '/editor-style.css' ), array(), '1.0.0' );

style.css

@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ Description: A clean, retro-tech inspired classic WordPress theme.
 Author: Commander1024
 Version: 1.0.0
 Text Domain: c1024-2026
-License: GNU General Public License v2 or later
-License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
+License: GNU General Public License v3
+License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html
 */
 
 /* Self-hosted typefaces: keep these paths relative to the theme stylesheet. */