This session will cover how to use popular free plugins to speed up sites and optimize them for better performance. We’ll go over basics of caching and discuss the pitfalls and issues you have to watch out for especially when working with typical shared hosting services.

1. Speed
Up
That
Site!
A
guide
to
caching
plugins
Peter
Baylies
semperfiwebdesign.com

2. My
site
is
slow!
•
Why
is
my
site
slow?
–
I
have
no
idea.
•
What
could
it
be?
–
HosEng
–
Theme
–
Plugins
–
Server
–
Gremlins
semperfiwebdesign.com

3. Can
I
improve
this?
•
Sure!
–
Install
a
caching
plugin
•
What
is
that?
–
Let
me
Google
that
for
you
semperfiwebdesign.com

4. 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
semperfiwebdesign.com

5. Analogies…
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6. 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
semperfiwebdesign.com

7. Understanding
the
Environment
•
“LAMP”
Environment
–
Linux
–
Apache
–
MySQL
–
PHP
•
and…
WordPress!
semperfiwebdesign.com

8. 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
semperfiwebdesign.com

9. 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
semperfiwebdesign.com

10. 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
semperfiwebdesign.com

11. Awesome!
What
else?
•
Caching
backends
–
memcached
–
APC
•
Caching
frontends
–
Varnish
•
WordPress
features
–
Transients
–
Drop-­‐ins
semperfiwebdesign.com

12. QuesEons?
•
Thank
you!
•
Further
Reading:
–
hap://tollmanz.com/core-­‐caching-­‐concepts-­‐in-­‐
wordpress/
–
hap://codex.wordpress.org/
WordPress_OpEmizaEon/Caching
semperfiwebdesign.com