WordPress Upgrades and Caching
I upgraded WordPress today (2.5.1) and installed WP-Cache 2 at the same time and the site feels snappy. The plugin’s FAQ explains that it’s a preventative in the event that you’re linked to by a high traffic site, or if you’re on a slow server, but that WordPress is fast enough that caching usually only adds a few milliseconds of performance that isn’t really perceptible by users. I did notice a subjective increase in the load speed of my site’s pages, so I guess I’m on a slow server. But since an uncached instance of WordPress can cause a heavily hit server to stop responding, and given the amount of time involved in making even minor upgrades, these two things are at the top of my wish list for inclusion in the core package. WordPress Automatic Upgrade sounds promising, but since I can do those things myself, and because I like to keep my plugins to a minimum, I’m going to wait a while.