Wow! Caching is the cure for what ails yer!

Thu Jul 30

I run a site which has been performing very badly recently – lots of crashes, memory exceptions and the like. It’s hosted by the wonderful Dreamhost and I contacted them to see what the problem was. Basically the site was using too much memory. Ho hum.

So I took a quick look around and found this article on improving BuddyPress performance written by my friend Andy Peatling. Basically I just turned on wp_cache in my wp-config.php file and enabled XCache and look:

Caching makes the world faster

If that’s not a fantastic result I don’t know what is.

So if you’re a DJ and you’re looking for free mix hosting, BeatsBase.com is now working again!

I’m also rewriting the site to have some more Web 2.0 Social Networking features (using, you guessed it, BuddyPress) such as cool member profiles, groups and friends, on-site messaging and more. I also aim to get some kind of integration with Facebook and Twitter going, but of quite what nature I’m not sure yet. This is all dependent on time, of course.

Collection of web dev links

Tue Jul 21

I send myself interesting web development links I find, with the intention to do some further research and enhance my uber-skills. It never works out. So instead here’s a list of links I’ve sent myself over the last few months (newest at the top) which I’ve not had chance to look at properly:

  1. BBC releases a JavaScript library: http://www.bbc.co.uk/glow/
  2. Google web code optimizer, not sure what this is: http://code.google.com/p/web-optimizator/
  3. Easily embed video in web pages: http://camendesign.com/code/video_for_everybody
  4. PHP security tips: http://www.noupe.com/php/php-security-tips.html
  5. CSS3 cheat sheet: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/13/css-3-cheat-sheet-pdf/
  6. Build apps without any code: http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2009/07/08/10-web-apps-to-build-the-next-big-thing-without-writing-any-code/
  7. Best free WordPress themes: http://www.blogperfume.com/45-best-free-wordpress-themes-of-all-time/
  8. Beautiful free icons: http://webdesignledger.com/freebies/22-extremely-detailed-and-beautiful-icon-sets
  9. Anothernew JavaScript library: http://rightjs.org/
  10. Handle dates in JavaScript: http://www.datejs.com/
  11. Diagnosing technical issues with SEO: http://www.slideshare.net/janeandrobot/diagnosing-technical-issues-with-search-engine-optimization
  12. LiberKey, massive collection of portable apps: http://www.liberkey.com/en/liste-des-logiciels-liberkey-ultimate.html
  13. Great add-ons for FireBug: http://www.webresourcesdepot.com/13-must-have-add-ons-to-strengthen-firebug/
  14. Create charts with JavaScript: http://www.webdesignbooth.com/14-javascript-resources-and-plugins-for-creating-a-stylish-chart/
  15. SEO toolkit for IIS: http://www.iis.net/extensions/SEOToolkit
  16. Gmail/Facebook style chat: http://anantgarg.com/2009/05/13/gmail-facebook-style-jquery-chat/
  17. Get visitor geographic location with Google JavaScript API: http://briancray.com/2009/05/29/find-web-visitors-location-javascript-google-api/
  18. Growing social networks: http://www.scribd.com/doc/15712612/Growing-Social-Networks
  19. jQuery performance rules: http://www.artzstudio.com/2009/04/jquery-performance-rules/
  20. Free screen recording apps: http://www.webresourcesdepot.com/10-free-screen-recording-softwares-for-creating-attractive-screencasts/
  21. WYSIWYG for jQuery: http://code.google.com/p/jwysiwyg/
  22. Find alternatives to commercial apps: http://alternativeto.net/