Tracking Real User Website Load Times

One thing I have been struggling with lately is making WordPress websites load faster of our VPS.  Still working on things go faster but thought I would mention a tool that I have been using on my personal site for a while. The tool is called Pingdom, which I have have been using for a few years to monitor uptime on the website. They have added a new tool called the Real User Monitor which with a bit of code added to your template’s header.php file will show you load times for visitors to your site.  This is great because it gives you real visitor information and not just a test machine accessing your site.  The key to making anything faster is having an accurate measurement of speed so you can tell if you are making things better.

 

 

34th America’s Cup – Highlights

A few hours ago the 34th America’s Cup finished, in what I consider the most spectacular comeback in sporting history. In the 19th race, an all or nothing winner takes all final race, the USA team won. The New Zealand team dominated the early races. They have been at match point for 8 races but had not been able to capture that final point. During a lighter wind race #13, New Zealand was ahead by over kilometre when the race reached the time limit and was abandoned, they only had 3 minutes of sailing left to win the whole event.

This was an amazing event.  The coverage was unbelievable, with live streaming from YouTube and amazing on water graphics that really allowed an audience to understand what was going on. San Francisco was an amazing venue to the event, providing fans great viewing from shore.  Larry Ellison’s vision for this cup had many critics but it came together in an amazing way, close match racing in boats travelling 40 plus knots. I can’t wait to see what he has planned for the next one.

Here are a few highlights worth checking out.
Emirates Team New Zealand bow down in race 1 (3 min)
Emirates Team New Zealand nearly capsizes (2 min)
Highlights: America’s Cup Finals Races 9 &10 (46 min)
America’s Cup: Apparent Wind (2 min)

The first two are just crazy things that happen on these boats. In the first check out the amount of engine power that the rescue boat requires to keep up with the AC72.

Race 10 was amazing, really worth watching.

The Apparent Wind video does a really nice job of explaining the concept and why on these boats it is so important.

My thanks to everyone involved in the event, special mention to my favourite team Team New Zealand who should be proud of their performance and sportsmanship. Big congratulations to Oracle Team USA on an amazing comeback, especially Jimmy Spithill for his never wavering conviction they could win.

WordPress 3.6

WordPress 3.6 “Oscar” has arrived – always nice to see a great Canadian musician be recognized internationally. Looks like some great new features, the improved revision control system is very nicely done. The built-in video and music players will be handy for a few projects. My thanks to the entire WordPress team who have put out another great release which will be sure to keep WordPress at the top of the CMS list.

Happy Birthday WordPress #WP10

WordPress 10

Dear WordPress,

Happy 10th birthday.  You seem so much older than 10, mature beyond your years. I first meet you around your 2nd birthday.  You have grown so much.  I can’t wait to see what you do next.

Jamas

What happened on this day:

1703 – St. Petersburg was founded by Czar Peter the Great.

1936 – The Queen Mary left England on its maiden voyage, arriving in France four hours later.

1937 – Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco opened.

 

Beer == Solar Power

Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co., located about 1 hour outside of Ottawa, produces some mighty fine beer, burp! They also have the most impressive graphic designs that I have ever seen from a beer company, their beer labels are real works of art.

As part of a new project, to lighten their environmental impact, they are adding solar panels to the roof of the brewery. They have come up with an ingenious way to get this project funded by selling memberships to their Greener Futures Project. Membership is $300, which entitles you to 30 large bottles of barrel aged beer, that are only available to members. I have had 5 of the bottles so far, 4 have been stellar, with the one sour beer being a little too much for me.  If you like beer and live in Ottawa or Toronto then this is a great way to help the planet while enjoying some very tasty brews.

Greener Futures Project