Toru Miki
Speaker Interview
What was your initial reason for choosing to use WordPress? Where did you start when you first began?
I first started using WordPress in 2005, for my personal blog. I tried a few similar applications which were build with PHP and MySQL, but WordPress was the only one that supported the Web standards movement. Being able to publish in both Japanese and English, without needing any weird customization for using Japanese was also a big factor. I was also fortunate to meet a few community members shortly after, and got to know the community in person. This was also a key factor in deciding to go further with WordPress.
My WordPress origin story is on my blog https://torumiki.com/my-wordpress-origin-story/
What has been your most remarkable experience while using WordPress?
Getting connected to many people through the community. Not only in Japan, but from around the World. In various ways too, from meeting at the event, to contributing online.
What do you hope the audience will take away from your presentation?
Cache is something you often encounter at an early stage of getting to know web development. You find out it is something that is supposed to make websites faster, but you often end up getting frustrated with it, and just end up flush, flush, flush … then start to seek for the one best plugin to do all for you. Sure, you can start off by taking that shortcut. But it is a good idea to always try to come back to relearn the fundamentals. The Web is getting more complex, and the WordPress ecosystem is getting more diverse. Answer to “which one should I choose” will often be “it depends”.
Relearning about cache is something I did in the past four years, and it has helped me a lot to understand the technology better, and the recent and ongoing WordPress Core improvement. By sharing what I have learned, I hope it will be a guide for making your own decisions in leveraging various caches involved in WordPress.
Is WordPress a valuable platform for you personally or for your organization? If so, what are your thoughts and reasons?
For me personally, WordPress will always be a valuable platform. It is a platform I leveraged to learn about web technology and culture, to publish, and to get connected. Particularly, a sense of belonging to a wider global community, and opportunities to make global connections are so valuable for me.
How do you usually interact with the WordPress community in Taiwan?
I have watched the previous online-only WordCamp Taiwan, but this will be my first time in Taiwan! So I will be looking forward to meeting new people, and getting to know the Taiwanese WordPress community.