Seriously go get it, here’s the link. There are only two plugins I feel are required for a WordPress blog, that’s Akismet (if you allow comments) and WP Super Cache. I’m pretty sure it will eventually be written into the WordPress core.

What’s it do? Makes your site faster and uses a lot less CPU resources. Good for shared hosting and good for getting Dugg.

I apologize for not posting about it prior to now, I had only previously posted about WP-Cache. WP Super Cache has WP-Cache built in, but goes to Super Cache mode for the majority of visitors. WP-Cache still requires running PHP (software on your server that runs WordPress), which is necessary for users that have commented or logged in, like you the Administrator (who needs “edit this post” pages), you will get WP-Cached pages. They are pages that have been called up dynamically, but then saved to a static file (like having a regular old HTML file on your server). But the majority of visitors, especially coming off a link like Digg, will get your Super Cache pages. These are also pages that have been written to HTML files on the server, the difference is, these are routed to these pages right at the Apache level, so it’s basically the equivalent of a static site (like your site is just made up of HTML files) aside from when it first creates the cache file. Even with a dedicated server you will notice a speed difference jumping around pages. There is even an option for GZip compression that will speed it up even more to capable browsers as well as cut down on bandwidth.

The plugin is not necessarily an effortless install. It is actively being developed, with constant updates, by the very talented WordPress Contributing Developer, Donncha O Caoimh, who is quite friendly and helpful as well. Mainly your server needs the mod rewrite module, which it has if you are able to use custom permalinks. Also the .htaccess file will need to be edited as well as the wp-content folder writable by the plugin, those permissions will vary depending on your server. I suggest making your .htaccess file totally writable (777) to allow the plugin to edit it, then change it back to what it was. Again, wp-content folder will vary, might just have to play with it, this is where the cache files will be written.

One more thing to be aware of, if you make a new post, the plugin will know and will update pages accordingly, but if you are editing the theme, you are going to need to turn off caching or “delete the cache” (there is a handy link now at the top of the admin panel) to reflect any changes you have uploaded to the theme folder. Also, if you have any PHP running random stuff on the page, like an ad system, it is going to be cached. You will need to look into the hooks that allow a section of the Page to run PHP, or put it in an iFrame (easy solution), or use JavaScript for such things (JavaScript can be good over PHP when possible as it runs on the Web browser’s CPU and not the server).

Now, go get Dugg. Krishna over at PC Weenies will tell you, got a Digg link yesterday with no Super Cache, site was pummeled, today running Super Cache, site is flying and he’s enjoying his best traffic day evuh!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 at 5:17 pm and is filed under WordPress Plugins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.