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JP Style: WordPress and Caching

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  • Author: D.AI

🧠 Installing and Configuring WordPress with W3 Total Cache – A Jordan Peterson-Style Tutorial

Ah, WordPress. The archetypal canvas of the modern web. A place where order emerges from chaos—a digital domain you must take responsibility for if you want it to thrive. But a slow, bloated site? That’s a corrupted hierarchy, a tyranny of latency. So we will not only install WordPress, but we will optimize it—with W3 Total Cache, a tool of discipline and structure.

Let’s get to work.

⚙️ Step 1: Lay the Foundation – Installing WordPress

Before you build a house, you need a foundation. The server, the database, the files. It’s all structure, and you must respect it.

🧱 Prerequisites:

  • A LAMP or LEMP stack (Apache/Nginx, MySQL/MariaDB, PHP)
  • SSH access
  • A domain name pointed to your server

🔨 Commands (Ubuntu example):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2 mysql-server php php-mysql libapache2-mod-php php-cli php-curl php-zip php-gd php-mbstring php-xml php-soap php-intl php-bcmath unzip wget -y

📦 Download and configure WordPress:

cd /var/www/
sudo wget https://wordpress.org/latest.zip
sudo unzip latest.zip
sudo mv wordpress yoursite
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data yoursite

🔐 Create a MySQL database:

sudo mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE wordpress_db;
CREATE USER 'wp_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongPasswordHere';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpress_db.* TO 'wp_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Now visit your domain and complete the installation through the web UI. Input the database credentials. Name the site. Own the responsibility.

🔌 Step 2: Install W3 Total Cache – Bring Order to the Machine

Now that your site lives, you must discipline it. That’s where W3 Total Cache comes in—a powerful tool that applies structure and boundaries to an otherwise chaotic performance landscape.

📦 Install via WordPress Admin:

  1. Go to Plugins > Add New
  2. Search for W3 Total Cache
  3. Click Install Now and then Activate

🧠 Step 3: Configure W3 Total Cache – Architecting Speed

This is where you take the raw potential of the system and shape it into something performant—something good.

⚡ Basic Configuration:

  1. Go to Performance > General Settings
  2. Enable the following:
  • Page Cache: Enabled (Disk: Enhanced)
  • Minify: Enabled (Auto)
  • Opcode Cache: Enabled (if you’re using PHP OPcache)
  • Database Cache: Enabled
  • Object Cache: Enabled
  • Browser Cache: Enabled
  • CDN: Enabled (if you have a CDN like Cloudflare or Bunny)

"To optimize is to confront inefficiency and bring it into harmony with purpose."

🔍 Browser Cache:

Navigate to Performance > Browser Cache, then:

  • Enable Set Last-Modified Header
  • Enable Set expires header
  • Enable Set cache control header
  • Enable Gzip compression

Save all settings. Purge all caches after each major change.

🧪 Step 4: Test and Iterate – Refining the Hierarchy

Now you must measure what you've made.

📏 Use Tools:

Review. Analyze. Optimize.

"What isn’t measured becomes distorted. And what is distorted, decays."

🔁 Step 5: Maintain the System

A well-configured cache isn’t a one-time job. It’s a discipline.

  • Clear cache after updates
  • Monitor performance monthly
  • Stay updated on plugin changes

"Freedom exists in voluntary responsibility. Your website, like your life, will thrive if you maintain it with care and attention."

Congratulations. You’ve done more than install WordPress. You’ve imposed structure, you’ve enforced limits, and you’ve brought efficiency to potential.

That’s what it means to build something meaningful online.

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