WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache – with genesis?

[ray-zin]

Hi all.

I'm deciding whether or not to install a wp caching engine on my site. http://www.cambalala.com

2 stand out the most: WP Super Cache (4+ million downloads) or W3 Total Cache (2+ million downloads)

Which do you use? Do they both work seamlessly with genesis and studiopress child themes? any preferences between the 2?

thanks in advance.
R.

http://www.cambalala.com

[David Chu]

Hi,
Interesting, my 2nd Super Cache question of the day. 🙂 I've used both. They are great. They both are very advanced plugins and usually work fine, Genesis or not. I'd say Super Cache is maybe a little easier to understand and set up. Total Cache is what I'd recommend to any super cache geek who loves tweaking zillions of different settings for every last drop of speed, including CDN. If you don't know what CDN is, you're probably not geeky enough for Total Cache. 😉

The other question I saw today had to do with why site changes seem work, but then not be visible. When working with any cache, it's important to remember that emptying the cache out regularly may be needed while developing.

For a non-technical user, I usually suggest Quick Cache. Is it going to beat those? No. But it does boost performance, and it's far easier to set up.

Dave

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Dave Chu · Custom WordPress Developer – likes collaborating with Designers

[delectablychic]

I had a problem with Quick Cache - it threw off the theme on Safari - the sidebars were pushed downwards. I'm not sure if it's still the case, now that there have been a few updates with both Genesis and WordPress, but this was why I switched to Super Cache.,

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DelectablyChic!, an online lifestyle publication with a focus on style, dining, travel and more.

[ray-zin]

@david - Thanks for your very concise response and suggestions.
@delectably - Thanks for helping to make up my mind about which to try firs.

I think I'll give Super Cache a go.

[David Chu]

Ray,
Cool! Super Cache is very fast once you get it dialed in.

Delectable,
I would tend to suspect Safari for that, rather than Quick Cache. Safari has the most annoying cache processing I've seen. It's harder to dislodge than a 12-ton boulder. Even if a site is not cached at all, I've had Mac Safari clients swear up and down that I did nothing to fix/change their site. I give them the "uber kill safari cache" command, and that works some of the time. If not, the changes will show up days later, and they say, "oh, it's fixed now!" 🙂 I work with various Mac designers, and none of them use Safari for basic testing, because they're aware of this.

Cheers, Dave

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Dave Chu · Custom WordPress Developer – likes collaborating with Designers

[nazz]

David: How true. What is the "uber kill safari cache” command?

[David Chu]

Nazz,
I'm not a Mac guy, so I'm not an expert, but I have found tips here and there.

These steps may work to kill the Mac Safari cache. See the "force" part....
http://www.refreshyourcache.com/en/safari/

And as I understand it, on iPad and iPhone this is entirely different. I did just find this video in a web search. I enjoyed the Indian accent, too.

Dave

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Dave Chu · Custom WordPress Developer – likes collaborating with Designers

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