GDI WP101 - Week 4

Introduction, Hands-On, and Exercises for Class #4: Site Speed; Managing WordPress: Security, Backups, User Accounts, Updates...

Transcript

1. ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
2. Agenda  Questions ???  Site Speed  Managing WordPress  Updates  Backups  Security  User  Comments  Course Wrap-Up ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
3. Questions???  Plugins???  Themes??? ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
4. Site Speed ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
5. Agenda  Why Be Concerned?  Site Loading: Factors & Causes  Resolving Your Problems  Diagnostic Problems  Resources & Tools  Exploring a “CDN” ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
6. Why Be Concerned? ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com Slow sites cause…  You’ll lose traffic! ◦ Google can downgrade your ranking  A poor UX for your site visitor… ◦ They will leave! ◦ You have 4 seconds!  You’ll lose business! ◦ Your site visitors will go elsewhere
7. Site-loading Factors/Causes  Too many/too large images  Conflicts among plugins  Conflicts between plugin(s) & theme  Badly-coded theme  Poor bandwidth/hosting issues  For shared hosting, could be too many sites on a single server  Your site may have outgrown your hosting plan: ◦ have you added lots of large downloads (like videos or software)? ◦ have you added a forum? ◦ have you added e-commerce? ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
8. Resolving Your Problems  2-step process:  Diagnose thoroughly ◦ Make sure you know the whole picture! ◦ Do your homework…  Taking Action: FIX IT! ◦ Resources & Tools ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
9. Diagnostic Problems  It may be difficult to isolate  “Conflict" issues are a slow process to isolate  ie, it could be multiple conflicts/causes  IF it's hosting, you could have trouble proving it, or getting the host to remedy  Tools help you document the real issue! ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
10. Diagnose Completely First!!!  Do your homework!  Use online resources & tools to definitively isolate the problem  Use online resources to troubleshoot  Assess hosting  Research theme & plugins  Examine content-handling ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
11. Diagnose Completely First!!! Explore the obvious:  Examine recent changes  When did your site begin to slow down?  Was it always slow?  Do you have lots of images?  Have you optimized them?  How does your theme handle the images?  Do your research:  Google "plugin conflicts ______________ (your plugin[s])"  Do the same research on your theme  Do the same for theme/plugin conflict ◦ If you can't find anything obvious, check with your theme support staff ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
12. Google Tools (all free!)  Google Analytics  Google Page Insights http://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/  Google Page Speed Tools https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/ ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
13. Google Tools (all free!)  Google Page Insights ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com Enter your web page url
14. Google Tools (all free!)  Google Page Speed Tools ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
15. Tools http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/ ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com Customize with Settings!
16. Tools (continued)  Plugin Performance Profiler https://wordpress.org/plugins/p3-profiler/  This plugin will advise you if there is any plugin problem…  Download & run: it will tell you about any problem plugins  Some problematic plugin areas: ◦ Social Media ◦ Web stats ◦ Gravatar ◦ Fonts ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
17. Tools (continued)  Plugin Performance Profiler ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
18. Tools (continued)  Plugin Performance Profiler ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com Example Plugin Report
19. Caching Plugins  WP Super Cache  https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-super-cache/  W3 Total Cache  https://wordpress.org/plugins/w3-total-cache/  Search “wordpress caching” for more information ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
20. Don’t Ignore the Obvious#2!  Theme Issues  Contact your theme support  Give them diagnostic reports  Ask for a fix  Hosting Issues  Contact your host support  Give them diagnostic reports  Ask for a fix: move you, or you’ll leave!  Google your specific problems, after diagnostics ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
21. Some Caveats  Not all tools are for the beginner!  There can be several factors…  If you’re over your head, get expert help! ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
22. Image/Script Overload  Consider using a CDN (Content Delivery Network)  Google “WP CDN” ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
23. Caveats #2: CDN Searches  Few tutorial resources  Most are highly technical!  Beware: Sponsored Listings! ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
24. How a CDN Works  Your content (images/scripts) are stored elsewhere  No WordPress database calls  External storage around saves speed & bandwidth ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
25. If You Need A CDN…  They can be expen$ive  Consider FREE CDNs  Jetpack “Photon”  Cloudflare ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
26. Caveats #3: Other CDN Issues  Many solutions  Image-only options  Javascript calls, for LOTS of scripts  Make sure you know what you really need!  Few tutorial resources  To DIY is highly technical!  Get a 2nd opinion from qualified specialist!  You probably need to outsource it! ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
27. CDN Alternatives…  Photo-sharing services  Photobucket  Flicker  Imgur  Similar to Vimeo & YouTube for hosting videos ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
28. Managing Your WP Site WP Updates: WordPress: automatic, hopefully! ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
29. Managing Your WP Site Plugin Updates: *Always check compatibility! ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
30. Managing Your WP Site Theme Updates Remember my ‘theme’ caveat: every theme is different TIP: Always do a manual compatibility confirmation of plugins & your current theme whenever WP is updated! ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
31. Backups ! Don’t rely on your host for backups!  Read the fine print…  Most hosting companies don’t guarantee their own backups!  Take control…manage backups yourself 1. Plugins 2. Paid Hosting Add-ons ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
32. Backups: Options Plugins:  Backup Buddy  VaultPress (by Automattic)  Updraft Plus  Lots more…just Google it!  Host Options Differ… Check with your hosting company ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
33. Backup Plugins: What to look for: 1. Storage options ◦ Dropbox or other cloud locations ◦ Email option 2. Scheduling ◦ Daily ◦ Weekly 3. Simplicity of restoring! ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
34. Managing Users  Users Menu  Create new  Manage  Delete  Codex: http://codex.wordpress.org/Users_Add_New_Screen  Important TIPS here… READ! ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
35. Users: “LEVELS” Codex: http://codex.wordpress.org/Roles_and_Capa bilities ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
36. Users: TIPS  Use LOWEST user level necessary  Subscribers can register themselves…option in ‘Settings’  Why ‘self-registration’? ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
37. Security Overview  “Open Source” means…  Security “holes”  Publication  Global Access  “Admin” login  Vulnerable…  Change it! ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
38. Security  Login Tips  Don’t use “admin”  Create hard passwords ◦ Use a Password Generator  Secure “User Account” Policy  Plugins:  “WordFence”  “LimitLoginAttempts”  Consider removing “WordPress” ID in footer ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
39. Practice & Questions Site Speed 1. Try Pingdom on your own site (must be "online") ◦ NOTE: take a look at the different reports  understand what you're looking at  can be a little cryptic 2. Locate, download and activate P3 Profiler ◦ Run it on your site (doesn't need to be live, but it has been quirky on a few client sites...) ◦ Once you've run it, you can save the results (screenshot) and delete the plugin ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
40. Practice & Questions User Accounts 1. Create some user accounts 2. Delete one or more user accounts 3. Change the "level" of a user account (You can delete these when done) ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
41. Practice & Questions Backup & Security 1. Create your own non-‘Admin’ login account, if necessary 2. Check out “WordFence” 3. Look at “LimitLoginAttempts” 4. Research various backup options ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
42. Comments  In-class ‘Hands-On’ minimal  No ‘practice’ for updating…  Just the beginning…  You now have a website!  More importantly… ◦ Tools ◦ Resources ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
43. ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com Email me: kmccamy@freelancetechnologyreview.com