WordPress.org has warned plugin developers against paying or otherwise giving incentives to users for reviews, whether those reviews are positive or not. Until recently, there was no clear guideline about what was acceptable where review incentives were concerned, but a recently published blog post makes it clear that the WordPress.org team are strongly opposed to […]

WordPress 4.7 introduced many new features and enhancements. Users are most likely to be interested in the Customizer enhancements or the ability to quickly activate starter content for new themes. But it’s the inclusion of new content API endpoints that has developers talking. While the new endpoints don’t directly change the experience of WordPress users, […]

A popular blog can make a big difference to your bottom line. It will increase traffic to your site, and, if the content is targeted properly, much of that traffic will make a purchase or promote your business. But business blogging is not as easy as it might seem. If you aren’t careful, your business […]

When I first used WordPress, several years ago, I bought a premium theme from a well-known marketplace. I decided on that particular theme because I liked the way its demo site looked. Most theme developers and marketplaces provide a demonstration site so that potential buyers can take a theme for a spin before they buy […]

This July, Andrey “Rarst” Savchenko, published a controversial article entitled WordPress crusade against technical responsibility, in which he makes the claim that WordPress, in its efforts to democratize publishing, has created a dangerous situation where people with minimal technical knowledge pose a security risk to themselves and others. Obviously, we disagree with the basic premise […]

WordPress shortcodes, which are part of WordPress Core and many plugins, can be a source of confusion for new WordPress users. Shortcodes look like this: Let’s take a look at the problems shortcodes solve and how they’re used. The average WordPress page is a mixture of text and images entered into the content management system’s […]

As Jeff Chandler points out on WP Tavern, the next major WordPress release won’t blow anyone’s socks off. It adds useful features that improve the lives of WordPress users and developers in small ways. I, for one, am pleased with in-line link checking — it’ll save me several minutes of manual checking every time I […]

I spend most of my working day writing blog posts, press releases, and other content — much of which is eventually published on a WordPress blog (like this one). I’ve experimented with any number of text editors — Byword, IA Writer, Editorial, 1Writer, Drafts, and even Vim and Emacs — but none has stuck like […]

WordPress is a phenomenon. It’s by far the most used content management system on the web, with many millions of sites taking advantage of the WordPress application and the ecosystem that has grown around it over more than decade. The sheer size and diversity of the WordPress world opens up opportunities for experienced WordPress users […]

Once you make the decision to launch a new website, you’ll need a content management system. Judging by its popularity, most people in this situation choose WordPress. Once you’ve settled on WordPress, a decision has to be made about hosting. Hosting provides the server and the bandwidth that your site needs to connect it to […]