Zemalf.

com Website Optimization Kung fu for WordPress

HOMEABOUTCONTACTSITEMAPRESOURCESBEST OFARCHIVESSUBSCRIBE
Zemalf.com » WordPress » WordPress Optimization » Install and Configure W3 Total Cache
in 7 Easy Steps
Install and Configure W3 Total Cache in 7 Easy Steps
This guide will show you how to easy install and configure W3 Total Cache -plugi
n on your self-hosted WordPress blog to make it work better and faster

The extended version of the W3 Total Cache guide is available as a free eBook:

Download the W3 Total Cache Installation and Configuration Guide from Scribd.
Introduction
Installing and configuring the W3 Total Cache -plugin for WordPress is part of a
step-by-step process to optimize WordPress for speed that will make it easier t
o retain readers and keep the site speed on a level that Google appreciates as w
ell.
The initial steps to speed up WordPress are laid out as the WordPress Speed Chal
lenge here at my blog.
Why W3 Total Cache?
With this free guide, you can easily make your WordPress blogs pages load faster
than before and save money on hosting bills as you can stay on shared hosting a
nd still make your blog withstand huge amounts of traffic without compromising t
he performance.
Installing W3 Total Cache is just like installing any other plugin for WordPress
(super simple via the Dashboard). The default options will make W3 Total Cache
handle page caching, which it does similarly, and even a bit better, than the WP
Super Cache.
But with proper configuration, W3 Total Cache does much more, like combining and
minifying (compressing & making smaller) JavaScript and CSS-files, and also cac
he Database queries and make using Content Delivery Network easy (read: automati
c). Because of all this, W3 Total Cache is the best caching plugin for WordPress
.
This guide is meant for WordPress blogs on shared hosting, who can't use more ad
vanced caching solutions like Opcode caching and/or memcache, which are availabl
e on dedicated servers and virtual private servers. With this guide, you can han
dle loads of traffic with a blog on shared hosting, and you can stay on shared h
osting until you can afford to pay for better (if you need it then).
For blogs that do need more powerful hosting solutions, W3 Total Cache is even b
etter. With the advanced options like Database Caching and automated use of Cont
ent Delivery Network, W3 Total Cache is the ultimate caching solution (the "Tota
l" in the plugin name is there for a reason) and this is why huge blogs like Mas
hable use it.
How to Install and Configure W3 Total Cache for WordPress
The first step is to uninstall any other caching plugin you might be using, like
WP Super Cache. We don't need (or even can't have) two caching plugins running,
so you need to uninstall WP Super Cache before you move on.
Installing and configuring W3 Total Cache is a simple step-by-step process... an
d actually since you don't necessarily need to take one of the steps and one you
can skip altogether, it's really 3-7 steps, depending on how you count it :)
How to install W3 Total Cache
Here's the installation in short (as installing any WordPress -plugin):
(Uninstall WP Super Cache, or any other caching plugin you might have installed)
Install W3 Total Cache -plugin: Go to 'Plugins', Click 'Add New', Search for 'W3
Total Cache', click 'Install now' for W3TC, confirm the installation and activa
te the plugin.

How to Configure W3 Total Cache

W3TC - General Settings
Page Cache: Enabled ('Enable' checked), Disk (enhanced)
Minify: Enabled ('Enable' checked), Disk
Database Cache: Disabled ('Enable' unchecked)
Object Cache: Disabled ('Enable' unchecked)
Content Delivery Network: Disabled ('Enable' unchecked)
Browser Cache: Enabled ('Enable' checked)
W3TC - Page Cache Settings
Page Cache Settings - General
Enable (checked) - Don't cache pages for logged in users
Enable (checked) - Cache home page
Enable (checked) - Cache feeds
Disable (unchecked) - Cache URIs with query string variables
Disable (unchecked) - Cache 404 (not found) pages
Page Cache Settings - Advanced
No need to touch these.
Page Cache Settings - Cache Preload
With Cache Preload, you can automatically "fill the cache", using a XML sitemap.
This means serving pre-cached pages to all visitors, even if a page has not bee
n visited recently. It's OK to leave this disabled, and keep it disabled if you
run into performance problems when the preload activates, or lower the number of
'Pages per interval'.
Enable (checked) - Automatically prime the page cache
Update internal - 907
Pages per interval: 7 (increase/decrease as needed)
Sitemap URL: Your blogs sitemap.xml URL, e.g. http://example.com/sitemap.xml
W3TC - Minify Settings
This is where the magic happens, and also, this is the hardest part of W3 Total
Cache configuration. If you're uncomfortable to look into HTML source and find C
SS- and JS-files there, skip this section. You won't have minify, but Page Cache
will work just fine. However, for performance optimization and site speed, this
is essential.
Skip the General, HTML and JavaScript for now, and scroll to...
Minify Settings - Cascading Style Sheets
CSS Minify Settings:
Enable: Enable (checked)
Disable: Combine only (unchecked)
Enable: Comment Removal (checked)
Enable: Line break removal (checked)

If you run into problems with badly coded CSS, try disabling the Comment- and Li
ne break removal. Well coded CSS will still work, bad ones might get into proble
ms.
CSS file management
Theme: The active theme should be chosen, but you can set configurations to all
installed themes here (even for non-active ones, in case you ever activate them)
.
Open another browser window or tab, and open your blog.
Open the page source (right-click, show page source).
Open Find (e.g. CTRL+F or from menu: Edit > Find)
Search for ".css" (without quotes)
Copy the full URL of the first .css-file you find, e.g. http://example.com/wp-co
ntent/themes/yourtheme/style.css (do not copy this URL, you must get it from YOU
R BLOGS page source)
Go back to the window/tab with W3 Total Cache settings and the Minify Setting -p
age, click 'Add a style sheet' under Cascading Style Sheets...
Paste the .css -file URL in, unless the css-file is specific to certain page/tem
plate, choose 'All Templates'. Just in case, click 'Veriry URI' to see that the
URL is correct
Go back to the page source, hit next on the find to locate the next css-file. Co
py the URL to the W3 Total Cache, Verify.
Repeat until you've added all css-files from the page source to W3TC.
Notes: If there is "version number" like "?ver=2.4.1" in the CSS-files URL, remo
ve it.
For example: /styles.css?ver=2.4.1 would go into W3TC as /styles.css - This way,
W3TC will pick up the CSS, even if the plugin/theme updates and the CSS-version
changes.
After you 'Save changes', W3TC might remove part of the URL, this is normal.
Minify Settings - Advanced
Update external files every: 216000 seconds
Garbage collection interval: 216000 seconds
For high traffic sites, lower the Garbage collection to 86400, or just leave it
there by default.
Save Changes.
Minify Settings - JavaScript
TO AVOID PROBLEMS - DO NOT ADD AdSense, Chitika or such advertising code to W3TC
!!!
The process is similar to adding the CSS-files, but the problem is that many plu
gin- and theme-authors are not very good JavaScript coders, so they code can't h
andle minification.
Enabled: Enable (checked)
Disabled: Combine only after <head>
Disabled: Combine only after <body>
Disabled: Combine only before </body>
Enabled: Comment removal
Enabled: Line break removal

Go to your blogs page source, find ".js" files. Add them one by one to W3TC. Aga
in, remove the "?ver=2.4.1" and similar version numbers if you see'em. For perfo
rmance, it's better to Embed JavaScript to the bottom of the page = Embed before
</body> and use the "Non-blocking" -option
Non-blocking can be used if the functionality of that script is not needed when
loading the page, but only after the page is loaded. (In general, interface scri
pts can be non-blocking, and scripts that modify the content usually need to be
"blocking")
If a script doesn't work correctly when embedded to the footer (before </body>),
embed it to the same location you found it, e.g. Embed script located originall
y in the <head>, in <head> = Embed in <head>.
If a script is only used/needed on certain pages, use the Template selector to c
hoose the correct template from your theme, e.g. Page for page.php, Category for
category.php, etc.
Disable 'Comment removal' and 'Line break removal', if you're having problems. A
nd if everything else fails, remove JS-file from W3TC (and seriously consider ge
tting rid of that poorly coded script!!)
Save changes.
Test your site functionality before enabling the HTML minify! If you're on Previ
ew-mode, test your site after 'Deploy' and change configuration if needed.
Change the settings (e.g. Comment-/Line break removal, remove scripts from W3TC,
etc.) if there's problems.
Did you have a lot of CSS- and JavaScript -files to go through? Maybe you're run
ning a few unneeded plugins, widgets and external scripts? Do you really need th
em all? Remember - best performance optimization trick is to remove stuff.
Minify Settings - General
Enable: Rewrite URL structure (checked)
Enable: Automatically upload mofified files (checked)
Minify error notification: Enable this to get error notification if something go
es wrong.

Minify Settings - HTML

Note: After enabling HTML, your page source will become somewhat difficul to rea
d, so adjust CSS- and JS-settings before enabling this. And if you ever need to
look into your blogs source, disable HTML minifying then.
Best Performance:
Enable: Enable (checked)
Disable: Don't minify feed (checked)
Enable: Inline CSS minification (checked)
Enable: Inline JS minification (checked)
Enable: Line break removal (checked)
Best compatibility with HALF-ASS coded themes:
Disable: Enable (unchecked)
Add stuff to ignore-field as needed (Advanced stuff)
Save changes.
Skip Database Cache-, Object Cache- and CDN settings, as those are probably disa
bled + the default options work OK, even if you do have opcode-/memcache running
on your VPS or dedicated server.
W3TC - Browser Cache
The browser cache settings will change rules in your .htaccess-file if you have
the Browser Cache enabled.
Advanced users probably want to tweak their .htaccess manually, but this is an e
xcellent way for non-techies to get .htaccess-based browser cache set-up.
Go through the settings, and set'em like this...
Browser Cache - General / Default
Enable (checked): Set expires header
Enable (checked): Set cache control header
Disable (unchecked): Set entity tag (eTag)
Enable (checked): Set W3 Total Cache header
Enable (checked): Enable HTTP (gzip) compression
Disable (unchecked): Do not process 404 errors
Save changes.
Browser Cache - Cascading Style Sheets & JavaScript
(default = OK, no changes)
Enable (checked): Set expires header
Expires header lifetime: 31536000 seconds
Enable (checked): Set cache control header
Cache Control Policy: cache with validation
Disable (unchecked): Set entity tag (eTag)
Enable (checked): Set W3 Total Cache header
Enable (checked): Enable HTTP (gzip) compression
Browser Cache - HTML
(default = OK, no changes)
Enable (checked): Set expires header
Expires header lifetime: 3600 seconds
Enable (checked): Set cache control header
Cache Control Policy: cache with validation
Disable (unchecked): Set entity tag (eTag)
Enable (checked): Set W3 Total Cache header
Enable (checked): Enable HTTP (gzip) compression
Browser Cache - Media & Other Files
(default = OK, no changes)
Enable (checked): Set expires header
Expires header lifetime: 31536000 seconds
Enable (checked): Set cache control header
Cache Control Policy: cache with validation
Disable (unchecked): Set entity tag (eTag)
Enable (checked): Set W3 Total Cache header
Enable (checked): Enable HTTP (gzip) compression
Save changes.
You might change the Cache Control policies if you have issues with proxies, but
other than that, the above config is solid.
You don't have to, but if you now go and check your root .htacces-file, you'll s
ee that W3TC has added loads of rules there.
W3 Total Cache and Mobile Browsers: User Agent Groups -settings
This is where you'll do tweaks for different agents, e.g. mobile users, but you
can skip these for now.
W3TC - Content Delivery Network settings
This is where you'll configure W3 Total Cache to use your CDN or (sub-)domain to
server files in the Media Library, the Theme-files, minified-files, etc. W3 Tot
al Cache does all this automatically.
Preview Mode & Deploying the changes
After you've done all the settings, go back to the General Settings -page and hi
t 'Deploy'.
You'll see 'Preview settings succesfully deployed'
Hit 'Disable' to disable the preview mode and "go live"
Hit 'Empty Page Cache'
Hit 'Empty Minify Cache'
(as noted at the start, the 'Deselect this option to disable all caching functio
nality.' option seems to be broken, just ignore it, even if its unchecked by def
ault)
If you want, check 'Combatibility Check' for some info. If you're on shared host
ing, these are pretty much out-of-your-control, but will give some clue in case
you have problems with W3 Total Cache.
It is normal that Opcode cache and Memcache extension are 'Not installed', unles
s you have a Virtual Private Server or dedicated server and have'em installed th
ere.
But now you're done, you have succesfully installed and configured W3 Total Cach
e on your blog.
The Extended W3 Total Cache Guide
Installing and configuring W3 Total Cache is not overly complicated, but there a
re a lot of options in it (even that some are OK by default). I noticed that wit
h all the step-by-step instructions, screenshots and additional tips, this guide
started to bloat beyond a blog post - so I turned a detailed version of this po
st into a PDF and uploaded the eBook to my Scribd (embedded below).
W3 Total Cache Installation and Configuration Guide

Don't be too scared about the 30+ 45+ pages, it's a simple step-by-step guide, b
ut there are many options with the plugin and I wanted to include clear screensh
ots of the settings to make things easy for you.
Download the PDF version of the W3 Total Cache Guide for free from Scribd: W3 To
tal Cache Installation and Configuration Guide
Updates and Versions
2010-07-12: 1.0 Post published.
2010-08-15: 1.02 Minor updates and corrections.
2010-10-30: 1.1 Total post re-work and update to the PDF guide.
Summary
Installing and configuring W3 Total Cache is a simple 7 5 step process, which yo
u can take right now to speed up your WordPress blog:
(Uninstall WP Super Cache, or any other caching plugin than W3TC, like WP Cache,
WP Minify or such)
(Place the essential rules to your WordPress htaccess)
Install the W3 Total Cache -plugin
(Optional: Check the General Settings, defaults OK, can be skipped)
(Optional: Adjust the Page Cache Settings)
Adjust the Minify Settings
Adjust the Browser Cache Settigs
(No need to touch the Database Cache or Object Cache -settings, the easiest step
!)
Advanced: Configure the CDN settings if you're using one (or skip!)
Download the W3 Total Cache Installation and Configuration Guide from Scribd for
detailed step-by-step instructions.
If you have questions or problems getting W3 Total Cache to work, comment on thi
s post, or if you want me to help you - contact me and tell me what you need.
p.s. I've been told I should be selling my own products, and ask money for eBook
s like this one, instead of putting it out there for free... I don't know about
that, but if all goes as planned, there'll be plenty of opportunities for you to
buy stuff from me at some point, but for now, you'll just have to get it all fo
r free. Sorry.
p.p.s. If you like what I'm doing here, subscribe to this blog via RSS or email
and connect with me on my Facebook -page.
Bookmark and share this post:
Here's more cool posts similar to this one:
How to uninstall WP Super Cache
WordPress htaccess: The Definite Guide
Top 4 WordPress Optimization Steps for Speed

Posted by Antti Kokkonen

Published on Jul 12, 2010 (Last updated on Nov 03, 2010)
Topic: WordPress Optimization
Tags: eBooks, Free, Guide, How-To, Plugins, W3 Total Cache, WordPress
Comments: View Comments
« How to uninstall WP Super CacheWordPress htaccess: The Definite Guide »
Comment policy: We're gonna be like little Fonzies here. And what's Fonzie like?
Cool. Correctamundo, and that's how we roll here -- cool. Critical is OK, but i
f you're rude, spam or otherwise misuse the blog comments, I will delete your co
mment. Do not put your URL in the comment text. Use your PERSONAL, real name (yo
urname@example is cool, example.com without your name is not). Have fun, be exce
llent to each other and thanks for adding to the conversation!
LikeDislike 4 people liked this.
Community
Disqus
Comments for this page are closed.
Showing 66 comments
Sort by Subscribe by email Subscribe by RSS
Andrew Rondeau 8 months ago
Thanks, Antti.
Today I uninstalled super-cache and installed W3-total-Cache following your exce
llent guide.
As a result my home page speed now loads in 6 secs (was 8 secs).
Yslow scores still 'E' and went from 51 to 54.
Google page speed from 67 to 74.
I just now need to get wp-smush.it to work and it could be even faster!
Thanks for the series - I've really enjoyed it.
Andrew
1 person liked this. Like
Antti Kokkonen 8 months ago in reply to Andrew Rondeau
Awesome news Andrew. There are two more optimization steps, additional .htaccess
rules (I think you have them already) and the WP Smush.it. With scores of 54/74
there's still stuff to do - I think I'll take a look at your blog to see what I
'm missing from my "steps" :)
biggest decrease in loading times comes from decreasing components (e.g. less im
ages). W3 Total Cache does that for JS- and CSS-files. Combining the background
images (from theme) into a CSS sprite is a way to do that for images, but that g
oes a bit beyond the speed challenge.
Like
Andrew Rondeau 8 months ago in reply to Antti Kokkonen
Antti,
I did notice I had several .css files ending in "?ver=x.x.x" in my source code.
I didn't add those to the css groups.
Plus some .css files messed up my design when I added them to the group, so I re
moved them.
Andrew
Like
Antti Kokkonen 8 months ago in reply to Andrew Rondeau
In general, the ones with "?ver=x.x.x" can be added to W3 Total Cache without th
e "?ver=..." and it should work (or if that doesn't work, add them with the "?ve
r..." if the version doesn't change that often).
With CSS-files that mess up the design, those CSS files might be poorly coded an
d minify messes them up or they should be loaded in specific order for them to w
ork.
Like
Andrew Rondeau 8 months ago in reply to Antti Kokkonen
I added some more .css and .js files to the cache and I reckon I've knocked off
another 0.5 secs. Now need to be ruthless and remove some plugins!
Thanks, again.
Andrew
Like
Andrew Rondeau 7 months ago in reply to Andrew Rondeau
Forgot to mention - I removed 7 plugins. It all helps!
Andrew
Like
Ted Rheingold 4 months ago in reply to Andrew Rondeau
Hi Andrew and Antti. I was wondering if you worked out how to get smushit to pro
cess before the file is moved to S3. I see my local file is smushed, but the s3/
cloudfront version is not, so I'm guess W3TC moves the files before Smushit can
modify it. My wordpress add_action() knowledge isn't what it should be.
Also I just found: https://github.com/tylerhall/A... which dives thru s3 and smu
shes unsmushed files
Like
Antti Kokkonen 4 months ago in reply to Ted Rheingold
Interesting. I thought W3 Total Cache would move stuff to CDN after it's in the
media library, not pass it, and WP Smushit would process image when putting it t
o Media library, but you might've proven me wrong...
Answer to your question, I haven't worked it out. In fact, I hadn't even noticed
:)
This might be something to pass to W3 Total Cache / W3 Edge as suggested feature
(= let WP Smush it do its magic before moving images to CDN).
p.s. Autosmush might be a good solution on the long run thou, since then you'd g
et smushed images even if you upload them directly to S3 from other sources.
Like
Ted Rheingold 4 months ago in reply to Antti Kokkonen
Thx for the response. My tests kept finding the unsmushed version was moved to s
3/cf, yet the local copy was smushed.
We've since modified the autosmuch script and have been running on our S3 bucket
s to full success. I think you are right in your P.S. in that it's almost cleare
r to not add the smush functionality to each upload or xfer process and just hav
e it run on it's own
Like
gerlaine 8 months ago
I've downloaded the w3 total cache. Now, I will use this guide to optimize. Than
x.
Like
gerlaine 8 months ago
I just downloaded your guide and will be working on using it later this evening.
Wish me luck, huh?
Like
Antti Kokkonen 8 months ago in reply to gerlaine
Awesome to have an active commenter here, thanks! :) Tell me how you do with the
guide, I'd love to know if there's something to be improved there, or if you ha
ve any questions/obstacles with it
Like
Dave Doolin 8 months ago
If you worked out an arrangement with the author of Total Cache, perhaps you cou
ld advertise these 34 pages on the admin page of the plugin.
For, say, $5.
You and he could split the proceeds.
Like
Antti Kokkonen 8 months ago in reply to Dave Doolin
Good suggestion Dave - and one I expected from you too :) I'll look into such op
portunity for sure... think of this free release as kind of a smoke test for the
guide.
Like
Abhijeet Mukherjee 7 months ago
Great guide, Antti. I am planning to install it on my site (www.guidingtech.com)
. Now here's the thing - Few days back, I followed this article - http://daverup
ert.com/2010/06/... to install WP-Minify, add a bunch of stuff to my .htaccess a
nd change some other settings.
As a result, the speed increased significantly. But I should still go for W3 Tot
al Cache, right? And I know I need to uninstall super cache but what about wp mi
nfiy plugin and other stuff in .htaccess? Do I need to get rid of them too?
Finally, although I have heard praises for W3 Total Cache, I've also heard some
horror stories. I have been told that it isn't for every site. Hence I have some
apprehensions before going ahead. Hope you'll help. :)
Thanks again,
Abhijeet
Like
Antti Kokkonen 7 months ago in reply to Abhijeet Mukherjee
As far as I know, W3 Total Cache takes care of the same stuff that WP-Minify doe
s, so you don't need that one. Separate .htaccess rules are still needed for pro
per configuration of compression (gzip/deflate) and browser/proxy caching, and y
ou can find them from my post at http://zemalf.com/1343/htacces...
W3 Total Cache is not harder than any other plugin, and if you've already manage
d to get WP-Minify working, you'll have easy time with this one :)
Like
seo services 7 months ago
I removed all optimized settings and speed-increasing plugins from the blog, thu
s simulating a fresh WordPress installation.
Like
Ileane 7 months ago
Hi Antti, this tutorial might seem easy for more experienced bloggers but for so
meone like myself with minimal CSS skills and SEO knowledge its pretty intimidat
ing. I would love to install this on my new Wordpress blog and create a screenca
st based on your instructions. What do you think of the idea? Thanks for creatin
g this guide for installing W3 Total Cache.
Like
Antti Kokkonen 7 months ago in reply to Ileane
Screencast is a great idea. I was planning to do one to go with the guide but li
fe got the better of me since last month went into moving to another city :)
But speaking of tech-skills, all that is needed to configure W3 Total Cache is t
he ability to find CSS- and JS-files from the source code - so not too hard. Twe
aking CSS is advanced stuff and good themes/plugins should have that covered alr
eady. But as said, showing things on video is great way to show how it's done.
Like
Shawn 7 months ago
Thanks a lot, this helped a lot.
Like
Joshua Dorkin 7 months ago
Thanks for the walk through, Antti. Much appreciated.
Like
Feerab 7 months ago
WP Super Cache is better for my site Godaddy shared hosting work better for me
The speed with W3 Total Cache is very slow but with WP Super Cache more speed ac
hieved Thanks any way
(Edited by a moderator)
Like
Antti Kokkonen 7 months ago in reply to Feerab
I've heard GoDaddy sucks as a host, and if they can't handle W3 Total Cache, tha
t proves it. I've understood they don't even have mod_deflate enabled for HTTP c
ompression. This is quite sad since GoDaddy is so popular, and there are a lot o
f people making fools of themselves recommending the service just because it's p
opular.
Christian liked this Like
Kathy 6 months ago
I did not realize that W3 Total Cache was supposed to be better than WP Super Ca
che. I will give it a whirl. I am not afraid of the techie stuff either. I can s
ee why some people would be intimidated though.
 Like
Antti Kokkonen 6 months ago in reply to Kathy
Awesome Kathy, let me know how it goes with W3 Total Cache.
Like
Superfishnz 6 months ago
Thanks for the guide. Also to add too this, you can see the before and after spe
ed differences after implementing W3 Total Cache from here as well: http://thisi
shelpful.com/speed...
Like
Antti Kokkonen 6 months ago in reply to Superfishnz
Awesome results! Configuring the plugin, minifications and all is not the simple
st of tasks, but well worth it.
Like
TwentyEleven 6 months ago
Wow, thats all I can say. From using this guide I got to Grade B (80) on Yslow a
nd cut homepage loading time down to 2.5s. Still a few more things to be done bu
t will bookmark this guide for future use
Like

Antti Kokkonen 6 months ago in reply to TwentyEleven

2.5 total loading time is an awesome result already! Good stuff :)
Like
hen dos 6 months ago
Tell me how you do with the guide, I'd love to know if there's something to be i
mproved there, or if you have any questions/obstacles with it ,Thanks for sharin
g this blog with us.
Like
TheCuriosity 6 months ago
Thanks for this, you are a life saver!
A couple of clarifications:
for minfying .js files, do we also do it to google adsense and google analytic f
iles, too?
RE: the guide.. there are a handful of differences in the new version of W3 Tota
l cache, where some of the options you suggested to select either moved to a com
pletely different spot, or no longer exist (eg js in footer is no longer an opti
on, only header or body and their are now check boxes relating to the body) and
there are a couple of options that are appear to be "new". I followed as best as
I could and just left other stuff that was new 'as is'.
Either way, it all did wonders. When I first attempted this prior to following t
he tutorial, I managed to make my blog slower/worse! But by starting at the begi
nning and following your instructions it has improved significantly.
Like
Antti Kokkonen 6 months ago in reply to TheCuriosity
I wouldn't minify Analytics code with W3 Total Cache. The same with AdSense, I p
ersonally don't minify it, and advice against it. Google does a relatively good
job optimizing their scripts and leaving them out of the minification ensures th
ey work correctly.
With Analytics, just use the Google Analytics for WordPress -plugin, which uses
the asynchronouos code correctly. Not so practical, but for true byte-crunching
there's also the optimized async Analytics snippet, but plugins other features m
ake it a much better option than copy-pasteing the code directly.
p.s. I'll be updating the guide. As you mentioned, the updated W3 Total Cache is
quite different, while it's a lot better now, it makes the guide a bit out-date
d.
p.p.s. almost forgot, thanks a lot for taking the time to leave a comment :)
Like
Tom 4 months ago
when I check the box: "Deselect this option to disable all caching functionality
" i get the error: "Content Delivery Network Error: The "Replace default hostnam
e with" field must be populated. Enter the hostname of your CDN provider. This i
s the hostname you would enter into your address bar in order to view objects in
your browser."
However when I uncheck CDN, the box "Deselct this option...." unchecks... What's
happening?
Like
Antti Kokkonen 4 months ago in reply to Tom
First of all, you don't need to touch the "deselect..." (= disable everything),
unless you want to turn W3 Total Cache off. So, just think that option is not th
ere at all...
Secondly, disable the CDN (= uncheck the enable option on CDN) on the General Se
ttings view and save. I'm assuming you don't actually have CDN to use, so go to
the CDN settings and empty the fields, like FTP hostname, and save.
I haven't updated my guide to the new version of W3 Total Cache, but you can use
the Preview mode to finish the configuration before you take it into use to avo
id issues like this.
Like
Tom 4 months ago in reply to Antti Kokkonen
Oh, ok, thanks. However, i have some problems with certain options. When I minif
y js files they simply don't work. The other thing is that in the footer I have
a banner which is a link to stats4u but when the plugin is active it is not disp
layed.
Like
Antti Kokkonen 4 months ago in reply to Tom
True, the minify options are tricky, and the hardest part to configure as well.
Especially because I can't give one advice that fit all blogs as all blog is uni
que when it comes to combination of .js-scripts and css-files...
What you can do is to have just the Page Cache enabled (making W3 Total Cache "j
ust" WP Super Cache replacement) and run your blog like that. Then you can try t
he different minification options one-by-one if you like and see if you can get'
em to work.
Like
Tom 4 months ago in reply to Antti Kokkonen
thanks, I just minified css files and the js files which do not cause any proble
ms. I also added some exceptions to html minify and everything works fine. thank
s for your help a lot of useful posts.
Like
cacher 4 months ago
I have a very strange problem. I've installed the plugin. The site loads really
decently and the plugin seems to work properly. However, when I checked stats I
noticed that my bandwith is being "consumed" as rapidly as it used to.. Is it po
ssible from a technical perspective that my hosting provider doesn't allow for a
ny caching? Sorry for the question which may seem simpply stupid but I'm not a w
ebmaster in the proper meaning of the word. I can add that the test described in
one of your posts shows the following: MOD_mod_deflate=0 MOD_mod_gzip=0. Should
I simply change hosting?
Like
Antti Kokkonen 4 months ago in reply to cacher
What hosting you're on now?
Anyway - Yes, as your hosting does not have any kind of compression enabled no d
ata is "zipped"... As you checked for mod_deflate and mod_gzip, you verified thi
s.
W3 Total Cache can save bandwidth when you configure the minify settings, minify
+combine css- and js-files and enable mininy for HTML, but the compression (mod_
deflate or the older mod_gzip) usually does a lot more...
Nowadays, with a good hosting you should have mod_deflate and shouldn't even nee
d to even need to worry about bandwidth. So yeah, I would definitely change host
ing if I were you. My recommended hosting options can be found from the resource
s-page.
Like
Increase RSS 4 months ago
anyone can tell me how to measure loadtime of my site?
Like
Antti Kokkonen 4 months ago in reply to Increase RSS
> anyone can tell me how to measure loadtime of my site
Here: http://zemalf.com/1428/analyze...
p.s. read my comment policy, your "name" is keyphrased = spammy. I prefer talkin
g to people with their real names, so if you wish to comment on this blog after
this, use a name instead keywords.
Like
Sascha Hillen 4 months ago
Hi Antti, first of all: THANK YOU. Im not really familiar with all the functiona
llity of W3TC but I found my way through because of your great summary here. But
there's one big problem I have. When W3TC is activated some posts/pages are sho
wing up very strange. This has something to do with german umlaut: "Neue Löcher in
alten Schuhen" should look like "Neue Löcher in alten Schuhen".
Im/We're still working on the site but it would be great to get your opinion on
this. What am I missing? What could cause this problem.
Cheers
Sascha
EDIT (combined two comments):
Forgot to post this: http://itsplash.de
(Edited by a moderator)
Like
Antti Kokkonen 4 months ago in reply to Sascha Hillen
That's odd, I'm running W3TC on my Finnish blogs, and the Skandinavians (ä,ö,å) have w
orked just fine... Looks that things look OK in the front page, but gets mixed i
n the individual post... Yes, very odd.
It might be some other plugin or script that gets it wrong (because W3TC minifie
s it)... Have you tried removing some .js-files from minify settings, or do you
have anything there?
p.s. edited your comment (combined the two comments)
Like
Antti Kokkonen 4 months ago in reply to Sascha Hillen
I think I got it now. It's most likely a problem with charset conflict in MySQL,
database and WordPress. If everything is UTF-8, it should be OK, but I'm guessi
ng somewhere a different charset is in use/default...
Check this post for similar issue:
http://www.ethannonsequitur.com/wordpress-dreamhost-utf8-character-encoding.html
Check charset's in WordPress and in the MySQL Db. If there's conflict, I'm prett
y sure that's the issue. I'd contact your hosting company support as well for as
sistance.
Like
Sascha Hillen 4 months ago in reply to Antti Kokkonen
Wow. Quick reply. Thank you Antti.
Yes this UTF-8 problem is a pain in the a..
When checking it says that it is config. for iso-.. but I dont know how to chang
e it to utf-8?
I tried WP Super Cache but the loading time is not as it was with W3TC :o(
Anyway. I'll figure it out. Somehow. Change back to W3TC and try again.
Like
Sascha Hillen 4 months ago in reply to Antti Kokkonen
Found the bug: had to turn "add_default_charset" off in server settings.
Like
Antti Kokkonen 4 months ago in reply to Sascha Hillen
Awesome!
(I deleted that above comment of yours with the code, as it wasn't that relevant
)
Like
Hunter 4 months ago
This is the best guide I have seen. I have a problem with the set expires not sh
owing up when I run Y-Slow. Thanks
Like
Antti Kokkonen 4 months ago in reply to Hunter
For expires, check that the rules are set correctly in the .htaccess. W3 Total C
ache ads them there if the Browser Cache option is enabled. Of course, you might
get expires warnings from files not on your server, so always check the details
.
1 person liked this. Like
Alfred Cabaltican 4 months ago
Thank you so much for this real guide.
 Like
Alfred Cabaltican 4 months ago
Question, is it recommended to export media library and upload includes files, t
hemes, minify files and custom files to CDN? I just created cdn folderwhere the
files to be stored.
Like
Antti Kokkonen 4 months ago in reply to Alfred Cabaltican
Hi Alfred! Yes, as you have CDN (what CDN you're usign btw?), you should export
media library and the other static files there. After you set it up, do the manu
al export/upload once, it'll be automatic, which is awesome.
Like
Mouad 3 months ago
Thanx indeed for the great explanation.
1- I wanted to know, based on what are you giving these recommended settings ? A
re you part of Total Cache dev team? or are you a shared hosting expert? I am as
king since I have been looking for a tutorial that explains how to configure thi
s very confusing and complicated plugin to work on my Hostmonster shared hosting
. When I found it, I only wanted a reassurance that "this is what I need".. and
it was important for me to know what are the basis of your recommendations.
2- I followed the whole guide. Now I want to know if this is working for me ! I
want to know, want to notice and feel that my website is now faster. I browserd
it normally, and did not notice anything different.. it is still slow as I saw i
t before installign and following your guide.
How can I be sure that it is actually working ? is there a tool or something ?

the page I installed it on is http://personal.al-rasid.com

Thanx !
Like
Antti Kokkonen 3 months ago in reply to Mouad
Short answer to "what are the basis of the recommendations" is my extensive test
ing, tweaking and researching for the best possible ways to speed up WordPress b
logs, even on shared hosting.
I've tried and tested different settings, configurations and plugins on multiple
WordPress blogs in order to find the optimization steps that work the best, tak
e the least amount of effort to do, and are not too hard or technical to complet
e.
1: I'm not developer for the plugin or anything like that, but as a WordPress co
nsultant and a blogger, I've tested many ways to ensure good performance and fas
t loading times as said above. And as many bloggers run WordPress on shared host
ing, I wanted to find the best practices for speeding up WordPress with limited
resources (= shared hosting).
Using W3 Total Cache is part of that process. W3 Total Cache does the essential
page caching, but what makes it exceptional is the ability to combine and minify
CSS, JavaScript and HTML-files. W3 Total Cache also scales all the way to the h
igh performance blogs, with database and object caching, in addition to managing
and delivering static files via CDN.
2: Use tools like YSlow and Google Page Speed (Firefox addons) to check how your
 page loads. For loading time, use Pingdom Tools or WebPageTest. Here's my post
which explains how to do all this: http://zemalf.com/1428/analyze...
I quickly checked your site, and looks to me you could still add CSS- and JS-fil
es to Total Cache to speed those things up, and personally I would clean the pag
es from all the blinking and unneeded images (and optimize the images too).
Page Cache alone does not do that much (but you'll definitely notice the differe
nce if you disable it, and page cache is essential for managing higher number of
visits). And it also might be that your host does not support server side compr
ession, which is the single most effective thing to speed up a site. Check out t
he post explaining all the optimization steps here: http://zemalf.com/1430/wordp
re...
Like
Mouad 3 months ago in reply to Antti Kokkonen
You are truly a great guy. I deeply appreciate that you took my questions seriou
sly and answered them in detail. I will see all those links you have posted. Yet
, what is "image optimization".. and "blinking" you referred to?
Also, is there a way to test the speed of the blog with W3 active and in active,
without having to disable the plugin? I think Yslow gives the speed of the blog
Now (while under the effect of W3 Cache), but I want to see what it would be li
ke without the plugin, but without disabling the plugin :)
Thank you again. Btw , Do you provide paid WP services? I got some issues on som
e of my blogs needs to be resolved. Do you do that?
Like
Antti Kokkonen 3 months ago in reply to Mouad
Yes, you can just disable W3 Total Cache and test things. But do run test with W
ebPageTest.org, pay attention to the difference between the first view and repea
t view. It's the repeat view (someone re-visits, or checks another page) that be
nefits the most from caching. Also, unless you minify the CSS- and JS-files, W3
Total Cache alone won't improve YSlow that much, but you can still check it.
With the images, you can make reduce the file size of the images without losing
the quality - when you read the post about image optimization you'll learn about
that. And I think the "movement" in the header caught my attention, and I calle
d it blinking :)
I do consultation and support, yes. Use the contact form and give details on wha
t kind of help you're looking for and we'll go from there.
Like
Mouad 3 months ago in reply to Antti Kokkonen
Thank you again man.
1- I recently added most of the js and css files to the minifier. Only now I can
see a speed change! Before, no change was noticed at all despite following your
guide bit by bit. Now, I am really seeing a difference ! BUT:
A- There are some js files that are external; not stored on my web space but loa
ded by plugins, from an external address, for instance:
(EDITED the URLs)
Can I add these also to the minify ?
B - Is it possible to add captcha js files, like:
plugins/si-contact-form/captcha-secureimage/ctf_captcha.js
2- Regarding that template selection thing, I am not sure what it does, and no d
escription is provided. Is it where and where not the minification of the releva
nt js/css file is done? but why is ths important? I may select all files to be "
all templates" just to be sure. is that okay? or is it performance costly?
3- Although pages now load faster, there is a delay between clicking the link an
d starting to load the target page. Namely I have to wait for 1.5 - 3 seconds af
ter clicking the link, until the loading of the called page starts, which now ta
kes much less time than before. What causes this?
Btw, I installed the FF plugins you mentioned and am experimenting with them now
. Thank you for everything.
(EDIT: removed the URLs from the comment)
(Edited by a moderator)
Like
Antti Kokkonen 3 months ago in reply to Mouad
1: Usually you can add external JavaScripts to W3TC and minify them, but first y
ou should think hard if you really need all those and only add the ones you need
.
Also, if the scripts are big, it might be better not to serve the script locally
, so check how long it takes to load them (e.g. with Firebug) and then decide if
you leave them external or minify them to the local file (big file might be slo
wer when server from your own server). If one uses CDN to server the minified fi
les, then this is not an issue and all scripts should be added to combine and mi
nify them.
I don't know about the captcha, you'll have to test and see. Well-coded scripts
won't be affected by minification. Poorly coded ones might break and cause error
s.
2: "All Templates" is the default and "safe" way. Individual templates can be us
ed if you know certain script is only needed on specific page. For example, if c
ontact form uses script, that script is only needed on the page with the contact
forms.
3: It's hard to say, but since you listed so many JavaScript files, I'm guessing
that's part of the reason. Again, think carefully if you really need them all.
Although, minifying them with "non-blocking" setting will help too.
Like
Dave Radovanovic 3 months ago
Anyone available for configuring a current installation, especially Amazon CDN?
Like
Antti Kokkonen 3 months ago in reply to Dave Radovanovic
You're looking for someone to configure W3 Total Cache for you, including Amazon
CDN?
Like
Robert S. Lawrence 3 months ago
Very helpful. I just did this on my own two days ago after spending 3-4 hours lo
oking through incomplete and/or contradictory "how-to" guides on the web. I post
ed on another site that someone should really do a comprehensive guide for the n
on-techie, and yours looks to fit the bill. Irritating that I didn't find it bef
ore wasting Friday night reinventing the wheel.
Like
How2CentOS 3 months ago
Great article - With the help of W3 cache, APC, Memcached and Cherokee web serve
r I managed to reduce the load time of http://www.how2centos.com from +- 15 sec
all the way down to 3 seconds.
Like
SiteOptimo 2 months ago
Thank you for the clear howto. I'm wondering why W3 only exists for wordpress. I
s it that hard to port it to something cross blogplatform?
Like
Rohit 2 months ago
Its a nice plugin, but when i use it with thesis theme its showing "internal ser
ver error", What should i do?? plzz help me!!
Like
Mike E. 2 months ago
Great article. Very useful guide. Thanks for posting!
Like
dave 2 months ago
Hi Zemalf I recently configure w3 total cache on my wordpress please bare with a
newbie here. I use buddypress 1.2.7 wordpress 3.0.3 and my theme and so far it
shines but I am looking for help to make this work for multisite.
I want to create and host sites for users either via domain mapping or just let
them have their own directory while taking advantage of this plugin. Is this pos
sible? If so where do I get help to make this happen? I ma searching high and lo
w but no success so far.
Thanks
Like
Reactions
danrippon 2 months ago
From Twitter via BackType
@JCDFitness W3TC? Sure can - and this is the most useful guide I've found to con
figuring it: http://zemalf.com/1443/w3-total-cache/
themerepublic 2 months ago
From Twitter via BackType
Install and Configure W3 Total Cache in 7 Easy Steps | Zemalf.com: w3 cache tuto
rial wordpress buddypress memory... http://bit.ly/i8vzC7
wpblackbelt 3 months ago
From Twitter via BackType
Install and Configure W3 Total Cache in 7 Easy Steps http://ow.ly/3gxod
guru_kscope 3 months ago
From Twitter via BackType
@billbennettnz I found this helpful: http://zemalf.com/1443/w3-total-cache/
davethackeray 6 months ago
From Twitter via BackType One more retweet from davethackeray
Best #wordpress plugin for miles: W3 Total Cache. Best guide to rocking your sit
e with it: http://bit.ly/99qIAG // @zemalf - you're a legend
FamousBloggers 7 months ago
From Twitter via BackType
RT @Zemalf Install and Configure W3 Total Cache in 7 Easy Steps http://bit.ly/8Z
hzwM
kevincumbria 7 months ago
From Twitter via BackType
RT @Zemalf: Install and Configure W3 Total Cache in 7 Easy Steps http://bit.ly/8
ZhzwM
maresjohan 8 months ago
From Twitter via BackType
RT @pann1x . @Zemalf wrote a book: Speed Up #Wordpress - W3 Total Cache-Plugin -
Installation & Configuration #blog http://bit.ly/8ZhzwM
pann1x 8 months ago
From Twitter via BackType
. @Zemalf wrote a book: Speed Up Wordpress - W3 Total Cache-Plugin - Installatio
n & Configuration #wordpress #blog http://bit.ly/8ZhzwM
Show more reactions
Trackbacks
Trackback URL
Suspended due to high system resource usage
08/13/2010 12:06 AM
[...] configuring some settings on W3 Total Cache to avoid using too much CPU. T
his is a useful guide: http://zemalf.com/1443/w3-total-cache/ ...
20 Most Useful WordPress Plugins « This is Zemalf
08/27/2010 02:04 PM
[...] for WP, making blog A LOT faster. (WP Super Cache only sees the rear light
s of this one). To ...
TwentyEleven
09/01/2010 02:48 AM
How To Install & Configure W3C Total Cache...
Installing and configuring the W3 Total Cache -plugin for WordPress is part of .
..
BlogLiving » 4 Plugins to Super Speedup Your Wordpress Site
10/07/2010 12:10 PM
[...] You must see and read this tutorial by Zemalf in details to configure the
W3 Total cache to its ...
The W3 Total Cache -guide gets a major update « This is Zemalf
10/31/2010 12:48 AM
[...] and configured W3 Total Cache to the rest of my blogs today, and used the
opportunity to tune my ...
WordPress Speed Challenge - The 4 Optimization Steps
10/31/2010 11:20 AM
[...] WordPress optimization steps are...Install WP-DBManager -plugin to optimiz
e and backup your Databaseinstall and configuring W3 Total Cache -pluginputt the
...
How many "must-have" WordPress plugins can there be?
10/31/2010 11:21 AM
[...] on your hosting, use WP Super Cache)Check my W3 Total Cache guide for step
-by-step instructions on how to install ...
WordPress Speed: How fast is your blog?
10/31/2010 11:21 AM
[...] up WordPress a bit (same blog as above, now with my speed-optimized WordPr
ess htaccess rules and W3 Total Cache ...
villesdesign.fi » Blog Archive » Caching my site to make it faster
11/02/2010 10:52 PM
[...] said to be even better. W3 Total Cache. I followed these orders and now it
is working fine:Install and ...
Make WordPress Scale, on a Budget | Interconnect IT - WordPress Consultants, We
b Development and Web Design
11/10/2010 07:29 PM
[...] The plug-in comes with quite comprehensive documentation in the form of a
readme file. Other setup guides can also ...
Velocizzare Wordpress ottimizzando con W3 Total Cache plugin | OkkiO
11/19/2010 12:53 AM
[...] informazioni su W3 in italiano e diverse preziosissime guide in inglese tr
a cui consiglierei:Come Installare e Configurare W3 Total ...
Aumentare la velocità del vostro blog Wordpress in 8 modi | Simo Blog
11/25/2010 03:46 PM
[...] le impostazioni nel dettaglio è possibile seguire l’ottima guida (in inglese)
di Zemalf.com e/o [...]
Weekly WordPress Review - WPCanada
12/08/2010 09:31 AM
[...] Install and Configure W3 Total Cache in 7 Easy Steps (Zemalf.com) [...]
W3 Total Cache: Tips « WPVerse
01/12/2011 05:01 AM
[...] here’s a great in-depth guide to W3TC at Zemalf.com. Share and [...]
What is the optimum way to cache static content in Wordpress? - Quora
01/18/2011 11:14 PM
[...] and W3 Total Cache is the best.I had the best experience setting up the pl
ugin using this guide:http://zemalf.com/1443/w3-total-...It doesn t ...
blog comments powered by DISQUS
This blog has 536 awesome RSS subscribers: Subscribe now! ...or get free updates
sent straight to your inbox by entering your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner
Search this blog

Custom Search
Recent Posts
A blog between something and everything
The Fuzzy Logic of the WordPress (.com) Terms of Service
Why Some People Never Make Money Online
Disqus LOOPHOLE for SPAM Comments in WordPress
WordPress htaccess: The Definite Guide
Install and Configure W3 Total Cache in 7 Easy Steps
How to uninstall WP Super Cache
How to Backup and Optimize the WordPress Database
How to automatically backup and optimize WordPress database
Top 4 WordPress Optimization Steps for Speed
Zem-what? Antti-huh?
Read the about -page
Follow Antti via Twitter (1477 people do too)
Find Antti s Facebook -page
Things to do
Subscribe: RSS / email
Read the good stuff (articles)
Browse the blog (archives)
Write an awesome post (guestposting)
Mmm, free cookies... (resources)
Get out (links)
Browse the site
Best of
Archives
Useful Stuff
Resources
Links
Find me elsewhere
Twitter
Google Buzz
Facebook
FriendFeed
YouTube
Digg
StumbleUpon
HomeAboutContactComment PolicyPrivacyDisclosure
All posts and comments © their original owners. Everything else is © Antti Kokkonen
2009 - 2011. Antti s posts can be reused and republished non-commercially as the
y are licensed under a BY-NC-SA Creative Commons License.