Is this the safe way to use WP Super Cache?

Hi @elevated420 ,

am I supposed to disable this plugin first so it resets everything to dynamic?

Also, if I forget to disable the plugin before I update my site, will that mess up or damage my site??

You don’t need to disable WP Super Cache before updating your site. The plugin will automatically regenerate the cache for updated pages.

However, if you notice any issues after updates, you can manually clear or delete the cache from the?Settings -> WP Super Cache?page.

Hope this was helpful! Please let me know if you need further assistance or if you have additional questions.

Hey Tamirat.

Thanks for your reply.

I don’t mean to challenge you, but my WordPress theme, PORTO, specifically states the following:

“Note: You should disable below plugins while development. They may affect your changes not applied.”

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This is my reason for asking. It might sound like a stupid question, but I have spent the past year working on my website, and do not want to mess it up. Currently, I have WordPress and all my plugins set so that they auto update. If your WP Super Cache is enabled, and WordPress does an auto update, I do not want there to be any problems. I am about to start my first paid ad campaign with Google, and I do not want to be sending traffic to my site if an auto update breaks my site and my site visitors can’t place any orders.

That being said, why do you think my WP theme is telling me to deactivate your plugin before doing any development / work / updates to my site? You are a software developer and obviously a lot smarter than me. I am interested in what your response is.

I have already tested your plugin, and according to gtmetrix.com, it greatly improves loading time. Just to be safe, I will turn off WP auto updates, and I will also disable your WP Super Cache plugin when working on my site. I am still very interested in your response as to why PORTO is telling me to deactivate your plugin while in development.

I look forward to your response. Keep up the good work!

-el

Hi @elevated420,

There’s a good reason why the theme says caching should be turned off “while developing”. It’s because you’re probably changing PHP files in a text editor. There’s no way for a caching plugin to know that the file was updated. With caching disabled, you’ll see any changes immediately.

However, when you’ve finished the main work on your site, then enable caching. If you need to tinker with your theme by editing PHP files, then clear the cache, or “disable caching for logged in users” on the settings page. You’ll see changes immediately, and you can clear the cache when you’re finished, so other visitors to the site then see the changes.

Thanks Donncha. I wish I was as smart as you guys.

I think I feel safe using your plugin now. I will reply back here if I have another question in the future.

Thanks for the help.

-el

Hi @elevated420,

Thanks for the kind words – it means the world to is knowing that you feel safe using WP Super Cache. ?

I’m going to mark this thread as solved. If you have any further questions or need more help, you’re welcome to open another thread here. Cheers!

Ok, I think I got it. I have been playing with your plugin for a few hours on and off…

1.) So, it is perfectly 100% safe to work on my website with caching turned on, but it is preferred to keep it off during development. Is that correct?

2.) And then, if I forget to turn off caching while working or updating my site and plugins, I just delete the cache, and that fixes everything. Does that sound right?

3.) And also, I assume if WordPress or a plugin does an auto-update, everything will be fine, but if not, just delete the cache. Is that correct?

4.) Also, if there is any type of plugin auto-update or WordPress does an auto-update, will WP Super Cache automatically clear the cache after the update?

5.) Last, does WP Super Cache auto delete the cache? If so, how often?

I have some other questions so please keep this thread open. Thanks so much guys! My homepage went from a “C” to an “A” on gtmetrix.com! I am learning a lot!

Hi there, @elevated420,

I have re-opened the thread ?? It’s great to hear that your site has already benefitted a lot from the usage of the WP Super Cache plugin! ?

I’m going to answer your questions one by one as follows ??

1.) So, it is perfectly 100% safe to work on my website with caching turned on, but it is preferred to keep it off during development. Is that correct?

That is correct. Disabling caching for logged-in users is an easier way to handle it, so you may want to go with this instead.

2.) And then, if I forget to turn off caching while working or updating my site and plugins, I just delete the cache, and that fixes everything. Does that sound right?

That is correct as well. You might have pages cached from before you updated your plugins or some PHP code.

?3.) And also, I assume if WordPress or a plugin does an auto-update, everything will be fine, but if not, just delete the cache. Is that correct?

Are you saying that you’re worried that an an auto-update will change how something is displayed but the cached version will still be shown? If an autoupdate wont’ go through, deleting the cache won’t help fixing the issue – that would depend on the nature of the auto-update fails. Caching won’t break auto-updates ??

4.) Also, if there is any type of plugin auto-update or WordPress does an auto-update, will WP Super Cache automatically clear the cache after the update?

A plugin could clear the cache, but it probably won’t. WP SuperCache won’t auto-clear the cache after an update, mostly because there’s usually no need to.

5.) Last, does WP Super Cache auto delete the cache? If so, how often?

Yes, you can do it via the Advanced settings. The cash deletion happens periodically set in the advanced settings page, so if you set it too long and you have a large site, you might have a huge cache directory to flush. ?If your site is “fast enough” already, as you said, you can set the Garbage Collection to 3600 seconds (1 hour), with a schedule of 600 seconds (10 minutes). That should ensure a smooth cache cycling.

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Hope that answers your questions!

Thanks for the replies.

Please keep this thread open. I will get back to you guys in a few days. I have other projects I am working on.

-el

Ok, here are a few more questions. This is all very new and interesting to me, but it is also way over my head. It is slowly all beginning to make sense. Sorry for all the questions…

1.) Is JetPack Boost a product of yours? What is the benefit of installing it? I mean, I assume it will make my site faster, so why is it not installed by default?

2.) If I enable CDN support, won’t that cost me money? This I need to know for the future once I have a lot of products listed on my site.

3.) Under “contents” it says, “WP-Super-Cache” –> “2 cached pages”. I have about 12 pages on my site. I thought when I enable caching, the plugin will turn all my dynamic WordPress pages into simple static html pages. What am I missing?

4.) Preload: “This will cache every published post and page on your site. It will create supercache static files so unknown visitors (including bots) will hit a cached page. This will probably help your Google ranking as they are using speed as a metric when judging websites now”… Ok, so this is totally confusing. I guess I just don’t understand, what is the difference between caching and preloading? I thought preloading was when a user hovers their cursor over a link, and the web browser loads up that page into memory so if the user clicks on the link, the page loads up instantly. Your definition of preload is it will make a “supercache static file.” I am lost. Hope you can simplify this for me.

5.) Do you think my site of only 12 pages should have preload enabled? If so, I assume I just check off the two boxes and click the “preload cache now” button?

I think that should do it for now. I have spent a lot of time playing with this plugin and thinking about it. Thanks for all your support and keep up the good work!

• This reply was modified 3 days, 8 hours ago by elevated420.