Optimizing your WP_Query queries for better performance

[bph]

Discussed in #27

^{Originally posted by bph December 4, 2022}
Thank you to @zzap for suggesting this topic.

Can you think of an outline for a blog post? What specifically should be covered?

[OlaIola]

I am woring on this. Planned date for the draft—November 20th.

[bph]

@OlaIola Just checking in if there are any blockers on your progress I could help remove?

[OlaIola]

The article draft:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dre7ykgmfqH0IuyBQJBhKiHykQshyJTHz0SslqiJ2Jc/edit?usp=sharing
@bph @zzap

[zzap]

@OlaIola, thank you so much for working on this topic. It is an extremely important one, as I see many bad practices resulting from not understanding what happens when a query is processed.

I reviewed the draft. At first, I started leaving comments directly in the document, but then I noticed the same issues being repeated, so I'll give general feedback here.

The draft does not feel ready for review. The examples and descriptions of problems are unclear. I don't understand the situations you are explaining, and then I'm not sure if the code example shows good or bad practice. I would suggest revising each problem and trying to answer the following questions:

• Why is a custom query needed in this situation?
• What is the common pitfall/mistake in this query?
• What is the consequence (performance-wise) of this mistake?
• What is a better, more performant solution, and why?

You're listing quite a few situations/problems. I'd rather choose 3-5 of the most performance-impactful ones and go into detail with them than have 21 unclear ones. It is OK to state that the article will not cover all situations in detail and just list the rest as the ones to pay attention to and thoroughly test when using.

Please let me know if you want to discuss this further. Thank you ❤️