Présentation du plugin WordPress CrowdHandler : le moyen le plus simple d'ajouter une salle d'attente à votre site WordPress
We're very pleased to announce that there is now a CrowdHandler plugin for WordPress.
Easy to install, easy to use, it means that if you are a WordPress user, you can now integrate a CrowdHandler waiting room with a plugin, instead of using JavaScript.
Why do WordPress sites need waiting rooms?
Most of the WordPress users who come to us are using WordPress as an ecommerce site (using, for example, the WooCommerce plugin). And, although WordPress is extremely flexible, when an ecommerce store built on WordPress becomes very popular, it can be difficult to scale up.
WordPress was originally designed for bloggers, who would have had a very small number of 'publishing' users on the site, publishing to a lot of 'read-only' users. But if you're an ecommerce user, your users aren't passive, 'read-only' users - they are all interacting with the site. Interacting users means that each page request is unique, meaning page caching doesn’t really work, meaning WordPress can handle far fewer users.
Perhaps you're selling products, or using your WordPress site as a booking system. As adaptable as the WordPress and WooCommerce combination is, if you're expecting sudden, peak traffic during a sale or product drop - your site is going to need some protection.
See: Using CrowdHandler for merch drops and NFTs: how to set up your waiting room for a successful drop
So why can't you just pay your web host more, rather than paying for an online waiting room? For sites experiencing occasional but significant spikes in traffic, hoping that your host will be able to utilise a bigger server to save your site from crashing at the crucial moment can end up being an expensive and frustrating mistake. Unfortunately, moving to ‘a bigger server’ won't save your site from traffic spikes.
Why choose the WordPress plugin over JavaScript integration?
Relying on the JavaScript integration method means that WordPress still has to serve the first page to the user, in order for the JavaScript to load. For WordPress users, that alone could take down your site if you have a sudden peak in traffic. However, if you use the WordPress plugin, users will be redirected to the waiting room before the page is served. (And if you check the box to ensure that the plugin overrides your index.php page, it will redirect the user even earlier than this - before WordPress boots - offering even better protection.)
Wait... what about Cloudflare?
Many of our WP users are also users of Cloudflare. If that's you, you might be wondering whether you should install our CloudFlare integration or the WordPress plugin.
Provisioning CrowdHandler on Cloudflare gives you a waiting room service that works directly from the Cloudflare Contend Delivery Network (CDN). The setup is a bit more complicated but, if you have the technical skills required to integrate CrowdHandler with Cloudflare, we recommend it. Cloudflare's CDN sits in front of WordPress, so if you run CrowdHandler from the CDN, your users don't have to reach your server in the first place, offering even better protection.
Ready to install the WordPress plugin for CrowdHandler? Let's get started!
If you're not already using CrowdHandler, you can get set up fast at: https://signup.crowdhandler.com/
To install the WordPress plugin for CrowdHandler, search the WordPress plugin directory for "crowdhandler", then click the 'install now' button and activate the plugin. Alternatively, you can download and install it manually from https://wordpress.org/plugins/crowdhandler-virtual-waiting-room/.
To ensure that users are validated at the earliest possible opportunity, make sure to override index.php by checking the box.
And that’s it! For the full walkthrough, visit the CrowdHandler WordPress plugin support page.