Cristián Lávaque wrote:
I'll ask Jason to comment what could be done about the hosting service.
About the template's skin, maybe it's the theme slowing things down. Did you try changing to a theme like TwentyTen?
What Alt. Views setting is the one that sped it up for you and which one seemed to be the slowest?
That's a tough question, because there are just so many things that can be done to optimize a website, it's difficult to know in this specific case ( i.e. without having done a full review myself ), to know what move to make first. I can make some general recommendations, but that's about it.
Generally speaking, your hosting company is probably NOT the problem, it's probably your site. That's not to say that a good hosting company ( i.e. server selection ) won't make a huge difference, but more often than not, when a site is slow, it has more to do with the way it's coded/configured than anything else. Especially when/if you're slow before your site is even live ( i.e. not under a heavy load yet ).
In certain cases, when issues ARE related to a hosting company, they often have to do with your MySQL database or Apache server configuration. Since WordPress is a database-driven publishing platform, a good "dedicated" MySQL server will help tremendously on a large site with lots of traffic. Either that, or a really good caching plugin like Quick Cache with a configuration that suits your site and optimizes things nicely.
Having an experienced WordPress developer do a full review of your site is a VERY good idea, as there are MANY little things that can be done, which make a HUGE difference collectively.
Here are some articles that I recommend:
http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html
http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Optimization
http://codex.wordpress.org/Category:Wor ... timization
In the case of s2Member, Alternative View Protection will cause your site to slow down if you have LOTS of protected content. This is a known issue that we're trying to improve upon with each new release. If you have more than 1000 Posts/Pages/Categories, I would recommend turning off s2Member's Alternative View Protection to help optimize your site. Also, WordPress in general can become slow on sites with lots of Posts/Pages, particularly if your Permalink structure is not well optimized. See: http://www.cloudcomputingetc.com/2011/0 ... e-for.html
For high traffic sites ( i.e. more than 200k visitor/month ).
I recommend a server cluster, or a cloud computing model, combined with a dedicated MySQL server running on a dual core processor ( or better ) with lots of RAM ( i.e. 4GB+ ). This way high traffic spikes on the cloud ( aka: grid/cluster ) won't hurt performance, because most cloud computing models can scale up automatically, allowing good performance, even when under a heavy load. The dedicated MySQL server needs to be tuned for a large number of connections and optimized overall, in terms of configuration.
For cloud computing, I recommend Rackspace Cloud Sites, or Media Temple's (gs). If you go with Media Temple's (gs), be sure to buy a MySQL Grid Container as well, this will give you a dedicated MySQL server as I recommended above. MySQL is a common bottleneck for sites powered by WordPress.
For moderate traffic sites ( i.e. less than 200k visitors/month ).
If you just want blazing fast speed, go with a dedicated server from a reputable hosting company. This way you're not sharing resources with anyone else, like you would if you were on a shared hosting platform, or sharing resources on a cloud computing model. In other words, if a cluster of servers ( or a cloud computing model ) is not needed for super high traffic, then your best bet is stick with a dedicated server to maximize speed. Just be sure to get a dedicated server that can meet your needs now, and also give you room to grow. A dedicated server has a limit, when you reach that limit, you'll need to go into a better dedicated server, a cluster of servers, or a cloud computing model. So the trick with a dedicated server is to choose one that is powerful enough to keep you fast under a heavy load, because a dedicated server ( although very fast ), does not have the ability to scale up automatically under a heavy load like a cluster of servers does, or a cloud computing model does.
Please understand that both of these are VERY generalized recommendations. I would always suggest that you consult with a hosting company about your needs, and/or employ a developer to review the structure of your site and give you a personalized recommendation, based on that review.Statistics: Posted by Jason Caldwell — August 4th, 2011, 11:54 am
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