JSON Encoding in WordPress 4.1

Earlier in the year, we noticed a problem with JSON in WordPress. The JSON spec very explicitly notes that it only supports UTF-8, whereas WordPress can use any character set that MySQL supports. So, for sites that didn’t use MySQL’s utf8 or utf8mb4 character sets, this generally presented itself as json_encode() returning false; which resulted in either… Continue reading JSON Encoding in WordPress 4.1

Partitioning the WordPress Comments Table

WordPress sites can get big. Really big. When you’re looking at a site of Cheezburger, Engadget or Techcrunch proportions, you get hundreds of comments per post, on dozens of posts per day, which adds up to millions of comments per year. In order to keep your site running in top condition, you don’t want to… Continue reading Partitioning the WordPress Comments Table

Welcome, SkySQL!

It seems the SkySQL website just went live, which I hope will breath some life back into the MySQL ecosphere – it’s been a while since there’s been some new competition, especially in the style of classic MySQL services. For those too lazy to read the SkySQL site, the services offered are similar to what… Continue reading Welcome, SkySQL!

Leaving MySQL (Not Really)

I’ve been a bit slack about writing my MySQL thoughts of late. This would be caused by the fact that, as I write this, I’m now one week into a 12 month leave of absence from MySQL. Having given it much careful consideration, I’ve decided that the wisest way to survive the current economic problems… Continue reading Leaving MySQL (Not Really)

MySQL and Geospatial Data

MySQL has had basic support for Geospatial Data since 4.1, but has lacked some of the features of the OpenGIS specifications since then. The good news is, this is rapidly changing. Our own Holyfoot has been hammering away at WorkLog #1327, to provide precise functions for our GIS support. Even better, it’s fast. How fast?… Continue reading MySQL and Geospatial Data