Why Do You Need WordPress Caching Plugins? Overview, Tips and Best Resources
I am sure everyone knows WORDPRESS as an amazing CMS platform which enfolds a multiple number of features and functions on it. One excellent thing with WordPress is it has got a plenty of plugins and resources which helps in enhancing the functionality of any website.
Every site owner is concerned about the speed of his website and has eventually started to rely on the various caching plugins.
An Overview
If you’ve still not taken into consideration the speed factor of your website, do remember one thing in mind ‘The faster your webpage loads, the better is your user experience’. With over 1,000 plugins tagged as cache at the WordPress plugin directory, it has become widely optional for site owners to easily progress the speed of their site pages. This is how caching works with WordPress: Caching generates a copy of your web page and stores it on your server as static files, say as HTML documents or cached database queries. Then after, when a visitor reaches a particular page of the site, the server shows off a cached page rather than re-querying your database and generating it dynamically. This process speeds up the page response time and reduces the server resources needed for creating and serving a web page.
The simplest and quickest way to implement a caching system on a website or webpage is by using WordPress plugins WordPress cache plugins are available in various types that serve individual purposes. There are specialized plugins that cache the whole HTML pages, plugins that cache all SQL queries and data objects, plugins which minimize Javascript and CSS files and even more server side solutions. Prior to seeing some of the top WordPress cache plugins, there are few tips which you got to be aware of in order to best use caching methodology.
Caching Tips & Techniques for WordPress:
Although you use definite plugins, making use of caching methods for database and objects that subjects to a good development process is quite vital. WordPress comes with excellent options to to easily implement varying degrees of data caching. There are two different caching methods accompanied by WordPress. Non Persistent and Persistent. The non-persistent type of data remains in the cache while the page is loading. Persistent kind of data depends on the database to work and cached data can auto expire after sometime.
Based upon the SQL query, widgets that depend on both these caching methods can be easily created. Tow widgets created out of these two approaches will essentially make the same output by making use of different methods for data retrieval and results caching. Below mentioned are few tips that help in speeding up WordPress site with caching.
1. MySQL Query Cache
As WordPress uses MySQL and almost all page load results in MySQL queries for logins, it is quite proven that this data didn’t change since the past request. In order to change the MySQL configuration file, you would possibly accomplish the root access which would not be available on shared hosts.
2. PHP Compiler Cache
WodPress also has a PHP application that allows calling from the web server to the PHP interpreter. This program reads the script files and compiles them into opcode which can be executed easily. However, this process could consume some time based upon the size of your script. APC and eAccelerator are few of the well known PHP compiler caches.
3. WordPress Internal Caching
If you are using a slow database server, it is indeed a great idea to store frequently used data in a serialized form on disk. WordPress also has an integrated disk-cache that stores barely changing data such as categories and users in a special folder.
4. Static Pages
If you are not able to apply all the other caching methods or if they are not enough to handle with, there is only one absolute solution to go with. It is nothing but caching the entire generated pages. This can be done by means of an amazing plugin named WP Cache. This plugin will cache the entire generated page on the disk and skip the complete WordPress execution on upcoming requests. The cache will be generated and cleared once again after a particular time or when you publish a new post. Though this method is extremely fast, it will eventually break some functionality like plugins which add dynamic content to your blog.
5. Additional Tips to rely on
Consider using the latest or current WordPress version. Updating to the latest available version of WordPress lets you to avail on the newest features, security fixes and performance optimizations.
Disable all those unused plugins. Check on your plugin management page whether you will be using all installed plugins. If not, deactivate them so that the PHP parsing and processing time gets speeded up.
Also think about optimizing your theme. Hope the above tips help you to some extent. Read further as we will be discussing about the top WordPress Caching plugins, which are used in common to enhance the speed of WordPress sites.
Best Resources – Top 8 WordPress Cache Plugins
1. Hyper Cache Extended
As the name says, this plugin is an upgraded version of the most popular Hyper Cache WordPress plugin. With a couple of additional features, Hyper Cache extended offers excellent solutions for 404 error page caching, support for mobile devices and other compression options. The plugin is good to go with mobile devices and loads the sites at greater speed in iPhones and other smartphones (the speed is almost thrice as that of before).
2. DB Cache Reloaded Fix
This plugin is an updated / modified version of DB Cache Reloaded and is patched for WordPress 3.1 compatibility. DB Cache Reloaded Fix is capable of caching the MySQL queries performed on your database to optimize the site’s speed. The plugins performs pretty good as one of the latest WordPress cache plugins out on the market.
3. W3 Total Cache
This is one of the most popular caching plugin for WordPress which is used by a plenty of top WordPress-powered brands like Mashable and Smashing Magazine. The plugin assures that your site loads ten times faster one it is installed on your site. Another best factor with this plugin is, it is capable of improving the load times for older posts and static pages. It also offers a plenty of other options and optimization features like source code minification and integration with your content delivery network (CDN).
4. WP Super Cache
WP Super Cache displays static HTML pages to your site visitors. If your site makes a large amount of traffic and you are really having an underpowered server, then this plugin will definitely make some difference. This plugin also helps in enhancing your site performance to some greater extent. Six revisions is one popular site to use this plugin and blindly recommends this plugin to be installed in all websites for a better site performance.
5. Quick Cache
Quick Cache is developed by Primo themes. User friendliness and light weight are the primary features of this WordPress cache plugin. Options are detailed under the admin interface, so that you know exactly what option does. One best feature it offers is the ability to disable caching for logged-in users and for users who have just posted a comment.
6. WP-Cache
WP-Cache is one of the first WordPress caching plug-in to mark trend in the WordPress.org system in 2007. With its great back up record, the plugin operates well and offers you the ability to specify which posts, pages and files shouldn’t be cached.
7. WP Simple Cache
This plugin generates static HTML files of a WordPress site’s content. It allows you to specify the timeout settings for cached pages and the auto clean frequency of cache files. Apart from it, there are not a plenty of other options to mention.
8. WP File Cache
This plugin pursues a different style of caching approach. Instead of caching an entire web page, WP file Cache only caches parts of it, generally those parts which remain static for a long period of time. This plugin is best suited for high traffic sites that regularly update web pages and which portions of a web page should be cached.
These cache plugins in wordpress do not just improve the speed of web pages, but also help in enhancing your blog user experience and also save your bandwidth usage especially if you are a blogger on a shared hosting.
fine post and good stuffing. thanks for a sharing this..
for me its all new i.e caching plugins
such a detail information from Maria…good writing/information and thanks
Caching plugins will cause certain WP shopping cart plugins to not work properly. So beware…