Why Is My Website Slow?

This is a question we are asked by people on a regular basis: “Why is my website slow?” The answer provided here, since 2012, is generally speaking in a WordPress context – because we are WP specialists – but a lot of the rules will apply to really any website, particularly one which runs on …

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Minimum Requirements for WooCommerce

Below are the minimum requirements for WooCommerce and (by extension) WordPress. Some are taken from WooCommerce, some from WordPress, and also, some, we are adding as recommendations. It should be apparent, below, which is which! Before getting started, if you’re here to assess a WooCommerce host, then you may be interested to check out our …

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PHP 8 has been released – get Silicon Dales to update your stack

PHP 8 was released on 26th November 2020. This is the latest version of PHP. A note before update Updating to PHP 8 is not without issues , particularly if you have older code. You will most likely get warnings and perhaps even errors coming from some of your scripts. If you’d like help upgrading …

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WooCommerce Hosting – Best Hosts for your Store

Clients often ask for our recommendation when buying web hosting for WordPress and particularly WooCommerce websites. Here, WooExpert Robin Scott gives guidance on choosing the right home for your WP site. The below will be updated in future as recommendations are updated. Best Hosts for WooCommerce Here’s a list in order of my personal preference …

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Case Study: WordPress Optimization for LogoVisual

LogoVisual booked Silicon Dales for a WordPress speed optimization, resulting in a 3.5 second time saving. The Client LogoVisual are a team of designers, manufacturers and installers making bespoke whiteboard walls, collaboration zones, ThinkingWalls, training aids and more from Skipton in North Yorkshire. The Task Silicon Dales performed a speed optimization on the LogoVisual website, including …

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WooCommerce 3.9 Update 22nd January 2020

WooCommerce 3.9 was released on 22nd January 2020. You can see the changelog here. Check out the Silicon Dales Guide to Updating WooCommerce before hitting update. This update raises the minimum WordPress and PHP version requirements. If you’d like help to update your version of WordPress or PHP, get in touch. If you’d like a …

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How to Fix WordPress White Screen of Death (WSOD)

Okay, so you got a problem? Your WordPress website just. Went. White!! In this WordPress tutorial, I will describe some of the processes you can go through to resolve your WordPress White Screen of Death (WSOD) quickly and efficiently, so that you can get your website back up and running; you can worry about the …

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Silicon Dales on GitHub

Back in 2015, we finally got Silicon Dales onto GitHub. It’s the versioning tool of choice for most of our partners and counterparts, so we hauled our assets from internal tools and SVN over to GitHub. There was no need to swim against the tide forever! Note all of our projects and most of our …

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WordPress 5.1 Update – “Betty”

There’s a new WordPress update just been released on 21st February 2019. Called “Betty”, the WordPress 5.1 release builds upon the new editor experience with some enhancements to the block editor, a few log issues and most noticeably for most of our clients, there will be prompts for sites running outdated PHP versions. View the …

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