WP Super Cache is a plugin designed to help speed up the performance of your website through caching your pages into static content. WP Super Cache generates static html files from your dynamic WordPress blog. After a html file is generated your webserver will serve that file instead of processing the comparatively heavier and more expensive WordPress PHP scripts. The static html files will be served to the vast majority of your users, but because a user’s details are displayed in the comment form after they leave a comment those requests are handled by the legacy caching engine.

1. Intro to Caching with
WP Super Cache 1.3.2
Suzette Franck
Topanga WordPress Meetup Group
Thursday, July 18, 2013
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
What We Will Cover
“Learning is like rowing upstream,
not to advance is to drop back.”

4. 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

5. 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.”

6. 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...

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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
★WordPress Backup to DropBox
★WP Migrate DB Pro
(database only)
Tip: Don’t store backups on your server!

12. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple
Adopt a Scientific
Approach
“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

13. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple
Be Organized and Intentional
★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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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 (Dunaka O Quiv)

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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?

24. 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

25. Media Temple // 8520 National Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 877-578-4000 / mediatemple.net / @mt_Suzette © 2013 (mt) Media Temple
WebPageTest.org (Cached)

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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