269 posts
The last post covered buying and configuring the server. This one is about Spring Boot optimization and technology choices: I switched to the more efficient FreeMarker, added Redis caching, added performance statistics, and added GitHub Actions workflows.
Contact GitHub — in English — and ask whether the username can be released, then wait for a reply. If you're lucky the username gets released immediately and you need to rename fast, because if someone else registers it first, all your effort was for nothing. Here's my conversation log.
The last post covered buying and configuring the server. This one is about caching strategy — not just the Redis cache inside the application, but also caches at external cloud services like a CDN. Use caching well and your site opens instantly.
The last post was about choosing a network. This one is about choosing and configuring a server. There are many types of cloud servers, each aimed at a different scenario; I'm only describing my own, so weigh it against your actual situation.
In this year's update, the very first thing I considered was where to deploy the program, which data center to pick, and which network to use. So part one shares my reasoning and experience.
By habit I do one major update of my personal site's program every year, and the 2020 one is here. This year's theme is speed — a summary of a year's technical progress and site optimization.
Traffic surged a few months ago when I started sharing cracked Mac software. Now the bill is slowly coming due — what goes around comes around. Let me use this as a cautionary tale to explain the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Younger readers may not have a clear idea of what makes an input method "smart". Long ago, input methods were mostly standard ones — Smart ABC, for instance — where the candidate order never changed no matter what you typed. Today's input methods adjust based on the context of what you type and how often you use it, so it feels like the input method understands you. Behind that, your privacy is quietly being invaded.
Webmasters generally only have a few ad partners to choose from: Google AdSense, Baidu Union, and Alimama. When I first entered webmaster circles everyone praised Google AdSense's high revenue, so I applied back then — and kept getting rejected. This year I kept the site updated and posted original, high-quality articles, and early this year I finally passed AdSense review, reaching the PIN mailing threshold within a few months.
Yesterday I suddenly found that the keyword 'Renfei's Blog' triggered Google Sitelink. This is the second time I've triggered Google Sitelink — the first was in February 2014. Because I changed domains, the new domain triggered Google Sitelink again, so I'll share my experience of triggering it twice.
