Back when I was starting out as a web designer and developer, my biggest problem was getting stuff to work the way I wanted it to. I was concerned more about getting things (mostly) working as I expected them to be. Getting things to look snazzy was usually one of my primary goals when finishing a website. WordPress security was …
How to Harness the Power of Storytelling for Compelling WordPress Websites
Once upon a time, we lived in a world where websites had screaming neon colors and an overabundance of text to entertain and educate us. The Internet (think Geocities…) was a bright and shiny new place for us to play and, as web developers, we did the best we could, considering the circumstances: HTML, low screen resolution, limited color sets, …
JavaScript for WordPress Developers: Getting Started With Objects
Objects are one of the most important and most powerful features of JavaScript and many built-in features use objects natively. Essentially, an object is a collection of properties, and a property consists of a key and a value. In this sense, objects in JavaScript are akin to associative arrays in PHP but the similarities end there. This is the second post …
50+ Gorgeous Free and Premium WordPress Themes Killing It in 2016
If you haven’t updated your theme this past year – or in even in recent years, gasp! – it’s probably about time you reviewed your site, checked out the current trends, and thought about how your design could be better. Because great designs aren’t just about flashy animations. With a well-thought out design, you not only grab your visitors’ attention, …
Getting Started With Contact Form Plugins for WordPress
Have you ever heard of the Seahawks’ 12th Man? Those who follow football know that only 11 players from each team are allowed on the field at any given time. However, Seattle’s fans have been branded as the “12th Man” because of the profound effect their vocal presence and support has had on the Seahawks’ games. That’s how we feel …
How Fast Is Your WordPress Site? Find out with These Free Speed Testing Tools
How long does it take for your WordPress website to load? Two seconds? Three seconds? Heaven forbid, more than four seconds? If you don’t know, there’s a good chance that a slow-loading website is costing you pageviews and conversions. The first step to fixing any problem is admitting that you have a problem. But how do find out if you …
The Ultimate Guide to WordPress Spam
Akismet, the most popular spam killing plugin for WordPress, encounters 7.5 million pieces of spam per hour on average. That’s twice as much spam as there are people in Los Angeles. Every hour. Back in 2007, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg knew spam would be a growing problem for the CMS, saying at the time it was getting so bad that …
JavaScript for WordPress Developers: Learning the Basics
JavaScript was developed over 20 years ago at Netscape and for a while in the mid-late 1990s it was considered a roadblock to a standardized web. Look how far we’ve come since! JavaScript is now used on 93.6% of all websites in the world. Automattic even recently developed a desktop client for WordPress.com, written in 100% JavaScript. Whole sites and apps …
WordPress Development for Intermediate Users: Internationalization
Internationalization, or i18n, is the process of developing your plugin or theme so it can easily be translated into other languages. And since WordPress is used all over the world, it’s important to ensure your code can be easily translated into whatever language is needed. This is the seventh post in our WordPress Development for Intermediate Users series. This series …
XML-RPC and Why It’s Time to Remove it for WordPress Security
From the very beginnings of WordPress, there have been features that allow you to interact remotely with your site. These same features build your community by allowing other bloggers to reference your posts. At the core of all of this is XML-RPC. XML-RPC, or XML Remote Procedure Call, powers these features in WordPress: Connecting to your site(s) with your smartphone Trackbacks …