For those who attended my session at PubCon New Orleans or came across my slides, here is a rundown of resources that I use or recommend for setting up a better WordPress site. Bookmark this page because I will be keeping it updated with new info when appropriate.
NGINX – Fast, lightweight alternative to Apache.
wp_debug – Use this when setting up a new theme or making changes to your current theme to help find and fix errors.
W3 Total Cache – Caching plugin with additional performance features. This is my preferred caching plugin.
CloudFlare – CDN + security
Amazon S3 – Quick & easy way to serve static files, free up server connections, and allow more files to download to browsers at the same time.
Redis – Serve your site much faster than a standard setup. Can alleviate the need for a caching plugin. A good rundown on getting set up can be found here.
Google Hosted Libraries – Use these to speed up loading of javascripts. Frees up server connections, they’re on a CDN already, and users may already have them cached in their browser.
wp_enqueue_script – Use this to load javascripts in WordPress. It will help prevent duplication and dependency issues.
Errorception – Monitor for javascript errors.
Segment.io – Cut down on the number of javascripts that have to be loaded separately. Handles many common javascript integrations relating to analytics, CRM, monitoring tools, and more.
Chartbeat – Real time site monitoring
Pingdom – Uptime monitoring and performance testing.
New Relic – Backend performance monitoring. Integrates with W3 Total Cache.
Binary Canary – Cheap and simple uptime monitoring. Can also monitor databases, domain expirations, email, dns, SSL certificates.
Custom Post Types – Don’t be afraid to use custom post types if pages on your site don’t fit into the standard post and page type.
