When we share our blog posts to social media we want them to look attractive. We spend some time on a nice featured image that lets people know what the post is about and then tweet our creation to share it. For a long time I did this by logging into Twitter, uploading an image …
I’ve been using Laragon for a while now for local WordPress development. Recently someone asked for help because they had forgotten their WordPress username or password. I made a short video walkthrough that shows how to change the password using the HeidiSQL program that comes with Laragon. Below the video are the written out instructions …
Changing Your WordPress Password – Laragon and HeidiSQL Read More
Code snippets are small bits of PHP code that you can use to customize your WordPress website. The Code Snippets plugin is a great convenience for adding snippets. The plugin is available for free from the WordPress plugin directory. It is regularly updated, is widely used, and has good reviews. I’ve been using it for a …
Last Updated November 24, 2018. There are a number of free online services useful for site builders. The four listed below are helpful for checking if DNS changes have been picked up, troubleshooting SSL errors, finding the cause of a site slowdown for speed optimization, and using search engine auto-suggest features to gain insight into …
Introduction If you need a Virtual Private Server (VPS) or a physical machine in a server facility then this article isn’t for you. For a high-level view of hosting considerations, see my previous article. In this article I look at two options for WordPress site hosting: SiteGround and Cloudways. These two options cover most small and medium …
As you may know, Astra is a relatively new WordPress theme created by Brainstorm Force. They are the company behind the Ultimate Addon for Beaver Builder as well as a number of other plugins. Upon acceptance, the Astra theme quickly shot up into the most popular theme category on WordPress.org and has become the go-to …
The WPBuilds Facebook group is a friendly and interesting bunch of site builders. Periodically there is a discussion about plugins for creating the “display template” for Custom Post Types. This is a decision, or hurdle, that everyone using Custom Post Types has to deal with. Fair warning, if you are reading this then I assume …
The Not So Skinny on Custom Templates: Toolset, and Beaver Builder Read More
A few weeks ago I was thinking to myself that WordPress comments were really a black hole. So I was surprised and intrigued when I received an email from Thrive Themes telling me about their new Thrive Comments plugin. I went over to their website to check it out. In this post I want to …
Everyone doing web development or training up in web technologies needs a local test server. You know that testing on a live site is risky. Building websites or evaluating themes and plugins? Yes, you need one too. Are you interested in WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, or PHP? If so, and you are running Windows, then you need …
Best WAMP Server for Local WordPress – Laragon is Easy Read More
Having a good backup option for your WordPress site is essential. It helps you recover in the event there is a problem with an update, a user error, or a site hack. I think that we should have backup options built into WordPress core, but for now, we need to use a plugin. This post …
I have been involved in website hosting since 1995. I’ve worked for organizations and companies who hosted their own sites. I’ve had clients with Virtual Private Servers (VPS) for site hosting. I’ve used shared hosting for personal websites, the websites of family members, and for a small non-profit. From that experience, here are a few …
WordPress and Drupal are two very popular content management systems that are often compared. The common conclusion to most comparisons is that WordPress is good for blogs or small sites and Drupal is better for big or complicated sites. I believe that conclusion is shallow and that a deeper understanding of the differences is helpful …
Last updated February 26, 2018 I’ve tried out hundreds of themes, and my experience is “don’t fight the theme.” If you find you are struggling with a theme then it is likely because you chose the wrong theme for the job, or YOU are not flexible enough. Huh? Yes, I don’t know how many times …
Last Updated August 20, 2019. The ultimate list now has more than 100 WordPress themes and plugins with a lifetime license. A lifetime license can be an incredible value if you use the theme or plugin for several years. A lifetime license helps you step off of the subscription treadmill. Some vendors are moving to …
WordPress Themes and Plugins with a Lifetime License – The Ultimate List Read More
I spent the weekend testing out page builders, to find one that meets my needs. In the course of testing, I remembered a few things that I had forgotten and I came to a conclusion about the future of WordPress that I would like to share. No, this is not a review post. I may …
I Have Seen the Future of WordPress and It Is Not What you Think Read More
Taking PHP Seriously is a very interesting post that talks about why some large companies are using PHP, some of the shortcoming of the language, and how to use 3rd party tools to overcome those shortcomings. A very interesting read.