On this episode of WPwatercooler, the panel delves into various facets of WordPress performance, notifications, and user experience. The discussion begins with the obsession many users have with performance metrics, particularly the scores from tools like Google PageSpeed Insights and GTMetrix. The panelists argue that while these scores are informative, they’re not the end-all-be-all; the actual loading time is often more crucial. Conversations around WordPress’ site health feature and the nuances of updating PHP versions segue into a broader discussion about the potential for “notification fatigue” among users. Developers share their favorite advanced tools for maintaining site performance, such as Sentry for PHP logging and Ghost Inspector for visual checks, revealing that these notifications are routed directly to Slack channels for immediate action. They also discuss the usefulness (and occasional annoyance) of downtime notifications from tools like Pingdom and Jetpack. Overall, the episode underscores the importance of balancing performance optimization with usability, both for developers and end-users alike.
00:00 Introduction
02:15 The Obsession with Performance Metrics
07:30 Real-world Loading Time vs. Metrics
12:45 WordPress Site Health and PHP Updates
19:00 Notification Fatigue in WordPress
25:15 Advanced Tools for Performance Maintenance
32:40 Notifications Routed to Slack
38:30 Downtime Notifications: Pingdom & Jetpack
44:00 Balancing Performance and Usability
50:00 Conclusion
Join us on this episode of WPwatercooler by visiting our Participant guidelines page.
Links from the episode
- GTmetrix|Website Speed and Performance Optimization
- Query Monitor – WordPress plugin | WordPress.org
- Sentry is cross-platform application monitoring, with a focus on error reporting.
- Sentry for Open Source
- Automated Website Testing and Monitoring-Ghost Inspector
- Uptime Robot
- tools.pingdom.com
- Downtime Monitoring
- CC Devs – WordPress plugin | WordPress.org
WPwatercooler network is sponsored by ServerPress makers of DesktopServer. Be sure to check them out at https://www.serverpress.com
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