speed up that site! - a guide to caching plugins

semperfiwebdesign.com semperfiwebdesign.com

Speed Up That Site! A guide to caching plugins

Peter Baylies

semperfiwebdesign.com

My site is slow!

•  Why is my site slow? –  I have no idea.

•  What could it be? –  HosEng –  Theme –  Plugins –  Server –  Gremlins


Can I improve this?

•  Sure! –  Install a caching plugin

•  What is that? –  Let me Google that for you


Cache /kaSH/ (verb)

gerund or present parEciple: caching 1. store away in hiding or for future use. COMPUTING store (data) in a cache memory. COMPUTING provide (hardware) with a cache memory


Analogies…


Analogies – it’s like…

•  Squirrels –  Stockpile for winter, you might need it then!

•  Going to the store –  Stock up on groceries!

•  Pancakes –  Make your own pancake mix, save Eme later!

•  Recipes


Understanding the Environment

•  “LAMP” Environment –  Linux –  Apache –  MySQL –  PHP

•  and… WordPress!


Major Caching Plugins

•  WP Super Cache –  Pro: Does page caching well –  Pro: Easy to set up –  Con: Doesn’t have an object cache

•  W3 Total Cache –  Pro: comprehensive caching plugin –  Pro: Has a lot of opEons –  Con: Has a lot of opEons


Ok But What Is It Really?

•  Page caching – save the page for later •  Object caching – save a result for later •  Database caching – save a query for later •  Browser caching – ask the user to save it •  CDN – get another server to help you


Avoiding Extra Work

•  Page caching – avoiding MySQL and PHP •  Object caching – avoiding MySQL (and PHP?) •  Database caching – avoiding MySQL •  Browser caching – avoiding Apache •  CDN – avoiding your server enErely


Awesome! What else?

•  Caching backends –  memcached –  APC

•  Caching frontends –  Varnish

•  WordPress features –  Transients –  Drop-‐ins


QuesEons?

•  Thank you! •  Further Reading:

–  hap://tollmanz.com/core-‐caching-‐concepts-‐in-‐wordpress/ –  hap://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_OpEmizaEon/Caching

speed up that site! - a guide to caching plugins

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