The first release that does more than cache. Two new tools, and a page that
looks like the rest of Hostney.
New: Reduce background work
WordPress does a certain amount of work on every page view, and a certain amount
every few seconds in the background, whether or not your site uses the features
behind it. This turns off the parts you do not need.
- Background activity. An open admin tab checks in with the server every 15
seconds by default. You can slow that to every two minutes, or limit it to the
places it actually does something. - Emoji script, embeds, front-end Dashicons and the extra head
tags (RSD, Windows Live Writer, shortlink, generator) can each be removed
from the front end.
Every option is off by default and applies only to the site you set it on.
The post editor always keeps its background activity, whatever you choose.
That is what drives autosave and the warning when someone else is editing the
same post, and neither is worth trading for a request every two minutes.
Two of these need a look at your site afterwards, and the page says so where you
turn them on: some themes use Dashicons, and removing the embed discovery links
stops other sites embedding yours. Embedding YouTube and the rest into your own
posts is unaffected.
New: Database cleanup
WordPress keeps a great deal it never removes — every revision of every post,
drafts nobody finished, comments you binned months ago, expired temporary data.
None of it is served to visitors, and all of it is backed up and restored with
your site.
The page shows you how many rows of each kind can go before anything is
removed. "Remove 12,904 revisions" is a decision you can make; "Optimise
database" is not.
- At least one revision per post is always kept. Revisions are the only undo
an edit from last week has, so there is no setting that removes them all. - Removal happens in batches, so a site with a very large backlog takes a few
presses rather than going unresponsive while it works. - Optionally weekly or monthly, using the same limits.
A page that looks like Hostney
The plugin page has been rebuilt to match the control panel — the same colours,
buttons, inputs and dialogs — and organised into four tabs:
| Tab | What is on it |
|---|---|
| Overview | Cache status, purge, and flush and pre-fetch |
| Object cache | Engine status, drop-in, and what each site on the account is holding |
| Optimisation | Reduce background work, database cleanup |
| Activity | The purge log |
Confirmations are now proper dialogs instead of browser pop-ups. That is not
only about appearance: a browser prompt cannot show a list, so "this also clears
shop.example.com" had to be squeezed into a line of text — and browsers suppress
repeated prompts, meaning the warning before clearing every site on an account
could sometimes not appear at all.
Removing the object cache drop-in now asks first, and says what stops working.
It previously happened on a single click with no warning.
Upgrading
Nothing to do, and nothing changes on your site unless you turn it on. Every new
option is off by default, and the two existing caches carry on exactly as before.