Docket CacheOur New Website
Today we moved docketcache.com to a new website. It looks different, but the bigger change is under the hood. The old site was a WordPress site. The new one is a set of plain HTML pages. This post explains why we made the change, what is new, and what stays the same.
What we had before#
The old docketcache.com ran on WordPress with the Neve theme and 16 active plugins. There was a plugin for the contact form, one for sending email, one for spam, one for SEO, one for PayPal, two for the login page, and more. Of course, it also ran Docket Cache.
The documentation lived on a different site, docs.docketcache.com, hosted on GitBook. So the project had two websites, with two designs and two menus. A visitor who came for the docs did not see the home page, and the other way around.
Why we changed it#
Most of the website is pages that do not change from week to week. The home page, the docs and the sponsor page only change when we have something new to say. A full WordPress site is more than these pages need.
And a WordPress site needs care. WordPress, the theme and every plugin get updates, and each update can change something. With 16 plugins, there was always something to update or check. Every plugin is also more code that can have a security problem. We would rather spend that time on Docket Cache itself.
We had three goals for the new site.
- One place for everything. The home page, the docs and the blog should share one address, one design and one menu.
- Less to look after. No database, no plugins and no theme to update.
- Fast and light. Plain pages that load quickly on any host and any phone.
Why not WordPress?#
We expect this question. Docket Cache is a WordPress plugin, so why does its own website not run on WordPress?
The short answer is that we picked the right tool for this job. WordPress is great when a site changes often, has many authors, or needs a shop, a forum or user accounts. Our website needs none of these. It is a few pages that we write ourselves and change now and then.
Docket Cache makes WordPress do less work. WordPress asks the database for the same things on every page view. Docket Cache keeps the answers, so WordPress does not ask twice.
Our pages need no work at all. We build each page once, when we change it. After that, every visitor gets the same file. No PHP runs and no database is used, so there is nothing to cache. A plain HTML page is faster than any cached WordPress page.
This does not mean we left WordPress. We still use WordPress all the time, on the test sites where we build and check each release of Docket Cache. That is where WordPress and Docket Cache belong. And if your site is built on WordPress, Docket Cache is still made for you.
What is new#
- Plain HTML pages. There is no database and no PHP behind the pages. Only the contact form, the blog feedback box and the PayPal notifications use a small PHP script each.
- The docs moved home. The docs are now at docketcache.com/docs, with the same design as the rest of the site. We still write them in Markdown, and a small script turns them into pages. Old links to docs.docketcache.com send you to the right page.
- A simpler home page. One page tells you what Docket Cache does, how it works, where it runs, how to sponsor the project and how to contact us.
- Light and dark mode. The site follows the setting of your device.
- Analytics only with your consent. Google Analytics loads only after you accept cookies. If you do not, nothing is sent.
- The same spam protection. The contact form still uses Cloudflare Turnstile, so you do not need to solve a puzzle to send us a message.
What stays the same#
- Docket Cache itself. Docket Cache is still a plugin for WordPress, and this change does not touch it. The website and the plugin are separate projects.
- Cronbot. Cronbot still runs at cronbot.docketcache.com, as before.
- Old links. Old addresses from the WordPress site, such as the contact and sponsor pages, send you to the right part of the new site.
- The honourable list. The people and companies who sponsored the project, and the people who helped build it, still have their own page, the honourable list.
Since the launch#
We kept working on the site after the launch day.
- Docs search. Type in the search box above the docs menu, or press / on any docs page. The search runs in your browser, so results show as you type.
- A new docs page. Data Storage explains how Docket Cache stores its cache files.
- This blog. We moved the old blog posts here and rewrote them in simpler English. Old post addresses send you to the new ones. There is also an Atom feed if you use a feed reader.
- Feedback on each post. At the end of every post, you can tell us if the post was useful, and how we can make it better.
If something on the new site is broken or hard to find, please tell us through the contact form. We read every message.