A typical WordPress theme consists of the same basic components put together in novel ways. Almost every WordPress site has a logo, navigation components, blog posts, blog indexes, and so on. Many theme developers create their own spins on each of these components or adapt existing front-end frameworks to work with WordPress. Rebuilding or repurposing […]

Any large WordPress blog has a hinterland of content that isn’t exposed on the homepage. Site owners use tools like “Recent Articles” widgets to surface some of that content, but users still only see a tiny fraction of published posts. Frequently, the only place users are exposed to older articles is in Google search results. […]

The web doesn’t have a native mechanism for protecting content from copyright infringement. Aside from complex digital rights management solutions, which aren’t really appropriate for photography sites, there’s little a photographer can do to prevent determined infringers from copying images and using them without regard for the photographer’s chosen licence. This is a huge problem […]

If you’re a WordPress pro, the awkwardness of deploying from a testing or dev server to a live server will be all-too-familiar. It’s easy enough to replicate a WordPress site, and there are plugins that will do the job for you, but the reality is usually messier than a simple migration. Ideally, a WordPress staging […]

Most WordPress users realise they should backup their site. It’s a dangerous world, and if a business depends on its WordPress site, a backup — or preferably several backups — is a necessary safety net. However, a backup is worthless if it isn’t tested and verified. I’ve come across many sites where the owners have […]

WordPress 4.7 was released towards the end of last year and brought with it a host of new features, including a new default theme, theme starter content, and REST API content endpoints. As is usually the case with a major new WordPress version, WordPress 4.7 was closely followed by a minor release with bugfixes. WordPress […]

Monetizing WordPress blogs has become increasingly difficult over the last few years. If you want to blog for a living, throwing up a few Google AdWords units next to your content is unlikely to cut it unless you have a huge audience — and even if you do, ad-blockers will take a bite. There are, […]

If you develop plugins for WordPress, you’ll be aware of the controversy caused by the removal of plugins from the repository for breaches of its guidelines. Many such incidents are caused by developers stepping over the line with “growth-hacking” or data collection, a prime example being incentivized reviews. Some developers offer free or discount premium […]

PHP 7 is a clear win compared to earlier versions of PHP, yet, unlike Nexcess, many WordPress hosts haven’t upgraded. It’s difficult to get a clear view of the exact adoption rates of PHP 7, but according to figures from Jordi Boggiano, developer of Composer, PHP 7 adoption rates are hovering around 20 percent, with […]

I’m a heavy user of RSS. Every day, I peruse dozens of websites in my feed reader, searching for content by writers and publishers that have, over many years, created content that appeals to me both professionally and personally. I know this is an unusual habit these days. RSS use has declined, and many sites […]