Intro to Caching with WP Super Cache

What is caching and why would I use it? Is it difficult to set up? What settings do I use to get the best results? How do I check to see if my page is being cached?

This presentation will cover the basics of caching, and how to configure WP Super Cache with a focus on the scientific approach to testing and optimizing your site to get the best results, which will ultimately lead to better retention and conversion.

Transcript

1. Intro to Caching with WP Super Cache 1.3.2 Suzette Franck 2013 WordCamp Orange County Sunday, June 2, 2013 12:00pm Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple
2. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple Suzette Franck with a “ck” ★(mt) Media Temple WordPress Evangelist ★18+ Years Hand Coding & Web Development ★Regular Speaker: WordCamps & Meetups ★Reg. Contributor on WPwatercooler.com ★Blogs frequently at: suzettefranck.com ★Twitter: @mt_Suzette ★Slides: speakerdeck.com/suzettefranck
3. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple Suzette Franck with a “ck” ★Using WordPress Since 2008 ★Exclusively Since 2010 ★5-year-old Chihuahua Mix “Puppy”
4. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple What We Will Cover “Learning is like rowing upstream, not to advance is to drop back.”
5. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple ★Caching : What it is, Why and How to Use it ★Testing & The Scientific Approach to Optimization ★WP Super Cache Prep and Configuration Optimization with WP Super Cache
6. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple What is Caching? “A component that transparently stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster.”
7. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple Types of Caching ★Browser Caching ★Page Caching ★DNS Caching ★Server Caching ★more...
8. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple Page Caching ★Processes all code and creates a static HTML file ★Serves static file to user instead of asking to reprocess ★Dynamic content varies with the method that you use ★Caveat: widgets may not update as often as you like ★Expiration time of files can be indicated
9. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple Why Cache? C.R.E.A.M. Cache Rules Everything Around Me
10. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple 5 Reasons to Take Advantage of Caching ★Reduce outages during traffic spikes/heavy load ★Improve speed and performance of server ★Create a better experience for the user ★Improve SEO with better page load times ★Increase conversion and retention
11. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple Before Installing Any Plugin “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” - Benjamin Franklin
12. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple FIRST, Back That Junk Up! ★Backup files AND database ★WordPress Codex: WordPress_Backups ★Check your web host's documentation on backing up MySQL (RSYNC, cPanel, Plesk, proprietary, etc.) ★ALWAYS use SFTP or SSH! (FTP is Evil) http://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryqueensland/6167277447/ FTP X
13. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple Recommended Backup Plugins ★BackUpWordPress ★BackupBuddy ★WP Migrate DB Pro (database only) Tip: Don’t store backups on your server!
14. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple NO, FOR REALS
15. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple Don’t leave the fire insurance documents in the house unprotected!!! ★Backup files are valuable! ★Don’t leave unprotected for hackers ★Uses up server resources, not its purpose ★Randomly test emergency procedures ★Redundancy is a good idea
16. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple If You Can’t Do A Backup or Update Your Site ★Maintainn - Managed WordPress Maintenance ★VaultPress - Daily backups for $5/month per site ★wordpress.meetup.com - Hire a developer from your local WordPress Meetup, Feed The Economy! ★Remember: having a website is a responsibility ★If none of these work, reconsider commitment
17. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple Before Performing Configurations “Science, my boy, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.” - Jules Verne, Journey to the Center of the Earth
18. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple Adopt a Scientific Approach ★Specific and measurable results ★Create a repeatable procedure for testing ★Make sure to log out of Admin! ★Record results with dates and times ★Note conditions (i.e. plugins/configs) ★Average/compare multiple test results
19. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple Web Page Tools ★Online Website Tools: Specify Location, Browser, & Connection Type ★Browser Extensions for Firefox/Firebug: Your Location, Your Browser, & Your Connection Type ★Set up your own standards for testing
20. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple WP Super Cache “Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.” -Peter Drucker
21. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple ★Verify WordPress compatibility ★Updated this year 04/2013 ★Total Downloads: Over 4.5 million ★Good Star Rating 4/5 ★Avg 3,000 downloads/day ★Excellent inline documentation ★WP-Cache 2 forked in 2007 by: Donncha Ó Caoimh WP Super Cache
22. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple ★Developer at Automattic ★Has written 19 WordPress plugins ★Lives in Blarney, Ireland ★1 Dog and 2 Cats ★Avid Photographer: inphotos.org Donncha Ó Caoimh
23. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple Configuration Iteration, Patience, Precautions; not Perfection
24. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple ★mod_rewrite module ★PHP ★Legacy 3 Ways to Serve Static Files
25. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple ★Most recommended method ★Fastest, bypasses PHP processing ★Uses Apache’s mod_rewrite module (custom permalinks) ★Requires changes to .htaccess file ★Serves “supercached” static html files mod_rewrite
26. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple ★Server intensive process, slower ★Requires custom permalinks ★Static file will be served if it exists ★Allows portions of page to be dynamic (widgets) ★Easier to setup: no .htaccess modification PHP
27. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple ★Use when other methods fail ★Most flexible but slowest ★Can incorporate dynamic parts ★Avoid if possible Legacy
28. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple Validation How do I know if my site is serving static pages?
29. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple ★Turn on Debugging in Settings ★View Source in Chrome ★Scroll to bottom, look for similar to: Confirming Cached Pages
30. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple WebPageTest.org (Cached)
31. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple ★Caching FTW! ★Make change, test, repeat ★Be organized and systematic ★WP Super Cache rules! Next Settings Demo... but let’s review so far
32. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple DISCLAIMER: Use YOUR best judgement & always take precautions! (i.e. Backups) Magic WordPress Unicorn Demo
33. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple ★Resources to Reach Your WordPress Potential ★Optimizing WordPress for Shared Hosting Environments ★Demystifying Hosting and Domains ★Jetpack 2.2.5 (Photon CDN for images) Other Related Speaker Decks by @mt_Suzette http://speakerdeck.com/suzettefranck
34. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple Questions? Suzette Franck sfranck@mediatemple.net https://speakerdeck.com/suzettefranck @mt_Suzette