SQLServerPedia

Today I’ve uploaded many under-the-hood changes to SQLServerPedia designed to improve site performance.  SSP began life on a crowded, run-of-the-mill shared hosting box, and this spring we began to outgrow it.  Earlier this month, we moved the site to a fresh, speedy server at WebFaction, and response times have improved dramatically.  With our server problems largely solved, today’s update focuses on client-side performance:

• Common JavaScript, CSS, and image files have been minified where possible using YUI Compressor and moved to a content delivery network (Amazon CloudFront).  HTTP headers on these files have been set to ensure they are cached.
• Where possible, images have been combined into one graphic (specific regions are shown using CSS), saving on HTTP requests.
• We’ve tweaked our stylesheet to reduce the number of images needed to show a page significantly.
• WordPress full-page caching has been enabled on the blog.
• Our two main applications, WordPress and MediaWiki, have been upgraded to their latest versions, bringing further bug fixes and performance improvements.

There are a couple of other changes you may notice:

• We’ve disabled comments on syndicated blog posts.  We felt that it made more sense to keep discussions contained on our contributors’ websites.
• Our generic bookmark icon (also known as a favicon) that shows up in your location bar has been replaced with a snazzy new one.

Our next update will come in another couple of weeks and will center on improving our feed aggregator (this blog) and adding more social features to the site.  Until then, keep sending us your feedback and contributions – SSP is nothing without its community!