It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan. — Eleanor Roosevelt
I like Gutenberg, the new WordPress editor. I'm not oblivious to all the conversation around accessibility, UX, and readiness, but I know how hard it is to ship software and I'm glad WordPress got it out the door. Now it can evolve for the better.
I see a lot of benefit to block-based editors. Some of my favorite editors that I use every day, Notion and Dropbox Paper, are block-based in their own ways and I find it effective. In … Read article
Have you seen Local by Flywheel? It's a native app for helping set up local WordPress developer environments. I absolutely love it and use it to do all my local WordPress development work. It brings a lovingly designed GUI to highly technical tasks in a way that I think works very well. Plus it just works, which wins all the awards with me. Need to spin up a new site locally? Click a few buttons. Working on … Read article
I wouldn't say the term "CSS algorithm" has widespread usage yet, but I think Lara Schenck might be onto something. She defines it as:
a well-defined declaration or set of declarations that produces a specific styling output
So a CSS algorithm isn't really a component where there is some parent element and whatever it needs inside, but a CSS algorithm could involve components. A CSS algorithm isn't just some tricky key/value pair or calculated output — but it could … Read article
A few years back, my fledgling website design agency was starting to take shape; however, we had one problem: managing clients' web servers and code deployments. We were unable to build a streamlined process of provisioning servers and maintaining operating system security patches. We had the development cycle down pat, but server management became the bane of our work. We also needed tight control over each server depending on a site’s specific needs. Also, no, shared hosting was not the … Read article
I have a habit of getting some hosting when I need a new WordPress site. That is, a self-installed, self-hosted WordPress.org site. That's served me well over the years. I like my control. But along with that control comes a certain level of extra responsibility that sometimes just isn't worth it.
That's the case for me now with my little blog Email is Good. … Read article
Andy Adams released a book for aspiring WordPress freelancers. It's meant to take a lot of the guesswork and the roadblocks that many folks often hit when making the decision to fly solo and rely on WordPress development for a stable source of work and income.
Aside from being included in it (and Andy being an all-around great guy), I want to share the book with y'all because WordPress and freelancing are two topics I care deeply about, particularly because … Read article
I recently attended and had the chance to speak at WordCamp US 2018 in Nashville. I had a great time. I love conferences that bring people together around a tight theme because it's very likely you'll have something to talk about with every person there. Plus, I rather like WordPress and its community. The vibe was very centered around Gutenberg, as it was released in WordPress 5.0 just as the conference started. … Read article
This is the second post in a two-part series about creating a Gulp workflow for WordPress theme development. Part one focused on the initial installation, setup, and organization of Gulp in a WordPress theme project. This post goes deep into the tasks Gulp will run by breaking down what each task does and how to tailor them to streamline theme development.
Now that we spent the first part of this series setting up a WordPress theme project with Gulp installed, … Read article
This is the first part of a two-part series on creating a Gulp workflow for WordPress theme development. This first part covers a lot of ground for the initial setup, including Gulp installation and an outline of the tasks we want it to run. If you're interested in how the tasks are created, then stay tuned for part two.
Earlier this year, I created a course for building premium WordPress themes. During the process, I wanted to use a … Read article
I just read a nicely put together story about WooCommerce over on the CodeinWP blog. WooCommerce started life as WooThemes, sort of a "premium themes" business started by just a couple of fellas who had never even met in person. Two years and a few employees later they launch WooCommerce, and 2 years after that it hits a million downloads. A major success story, to be sure, but a collaborative and remote-work based one that wasn't exactly overnight. Another 2 … Read article