Tag: Phoenix

From URL to Query–WordCamp Phoenix 2013

Today at WordCamp Phoenix, I presented my newest talk, From URL to Query. Briefly, this was the intent of my talk:

Ever wonder what process WordPress undertakes when someone visits your site? Or how it translates that nice permalink to the database query that ultimately delivers the content your visitors requested? Or what it takes to load the appropriate template from your site’s theme?

In this talk, I’ll walk through WordPress’ loading process and shed some light on the various APIs used. I’ll also discuss how these APIs work together to make the software function.

Slides are available at http://slides.ethitter.com/wcphx-from-url-to-query/.

WordCamp Phoenix 2013: WP401

Yesterday, Paul Clark (@pdclark, pdclark.com) and I ran WordCamp Phoenix 2013’s WP401 session. We covered everything from object-oriented plugin development to CSS preprocessors to WordPress’ rewrite system.

The session was recorded, so video should eventually be available on WordPress.tv.

In the meantime, slides for those topics I prepared them for are available:

Thanks to all who attended! It was a great day, due in no small part to the great audience we had. It was a pleasure to work with Paul on this as well!

How to Scale WordPress (WordPress Phoenix)

Today, Chris Lauzon (@squireX2) and I presented a talk at WordCamp Phoenix entitled How to Scale WordPress. Here’s how we described our talk:

Developing and managing an optimized WordPress site can be challenging for anyone not familiar with how to scale a site. This presentation will cover some of the basics of putting together a WordPress site designed for excellent performance and scalability, followed by discussion about more advanced infrastructure topics.

Running a high-scale WordPress site starts with code optimization, including effective use of WordPress’ APIs. We’ll discuss WP_Query and the advantages of using it instead of direct database queries. We’ll also delve into the appropriate and effective use of WordPress’ two native caching APIs, which will lead into the infrastructure portion of our talk.

There are a million options when it comes to hosting your WordPress site, such as shared hosting, managed hosting, VPS, etc. Each has its advantages, which we’ll explore while discussing when stepping up to the next level becomes appropriate. We will also cover different methods of caching, including using database optimization methods, and implementing a content delivery network (CDN).

Our slides are available at http://goo.gl/p92Ja. The video is available at http://wordpress.tv/2012/03/04/erick-hitter-chris-lauzon-how-to-scale-wordpress/.