Category: WordPress

Reusable blocks in WordPress Gutenberg are an amazing feature that has greatly improved the maintainability of code on websites. I use them all the time for block scripts, special CSS instructions, and even for some repeatable patterns. The WordPress pattern directory is still a work in progress, and you can’t create your own patterns without […]

Caching is the secret sauce that can transform a slow page into one that loads blazing fast. There are many layers of caching – you can cache on the origin server, a POP endpoint, and even the browser. Using these techniques, you can obtain cache hit ratios of over 90% on networks like Cloudflare. However, […]

It’s important to support your content with what Google calls “secondary content” or “supporting content”. This is distinct from the main content or MC of a website, that directly deals with the topic in the heading or title. A good example of this supporting content is “Related Posts”, and you often see them on the […]

There’s a saying “If you build it, they will come”. While it doesn’t apply to everything, I certainly see the truth when it comes to the WordPress Gutenberg editor. Before, my articles used to be mainly ordinary text with some images. Now with Gutenberg, it’s full of lists, quotes, and other advanced layouts. It’s completely […]

This article ties together a series of articles I’ve written on caching for WordPress. Ever since I migrated from shared hosting to a VPS, I’ve found myself obsessing over the necessary caching configurations I need to set up. My site is a WordPress site, and my previous web host automatically installed memcached for me. But […]

For a long time, I didn’t give much thought to caching static content on a server level. After all, I already use a CDN (Cloudflare), so why should I bother about how fast static files are served? A few days back as the previous year rolled over into the other, I understood how important it […]

Earlier, I’d written a tutorial on how to install memcached on a VPS that integrates with PHP. In this tutorial, I’ll write about how to do the same with Redis. Like memcached, Redis is another caching mechanism that can speed up reads and writes by using your (much faster) RAM instead of accessing the database […]

If you’re running WordPress on a VPS – managed or unmanaged – your web hosting provider won’t include memcached as part of the installation. A managed VPS takes care of OS updates, setting up the control panel, e-mail, etc., but only goes so far. Unlike shared hosting, where your web host might have a checkmark […]

One of the downsides of no longer using sidebars is that you lose space to put stuff like “Related Posts”. But I still stick with my decision to do away with sidebars on my site – mostly because when it comes to long-form content, the sidebars vanish quickly anyway. For lasting benefits, you’ll have to […]