One of the arguments for using WordPress is that affordable help for the platform is easy to find. It’s something I have seen claimed around the web a lot of times and I have made this argument myself, repeatedly. It seems simple enough: WordPress has less of an entry barrier for developers, meaning it’s easier to get into. It also has the largest ecosystem among all content management systems. That should mean a high supply of developers, which should result in low prices. However, it recently occurred to me that I have no concrete evidence to support that claim. Like […]

You’ve probably heard rumblings in the tech industry around the innovations in Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality. These mediums can broadly be defined as Extended Reality or XR. My first venture into development in XR was in 2010 when I was exploring Flash development. My application was straightforward; show the webcam a Quick Response (QR) code and the program would superimpose a 3D model to the marker. In hindsight, this was such a life-changing moment for me. On top of being my first experience with manipulating digital 3D objects, it was also my first augmented reality experience accessible […]

Keeping an activity log of everything that happens on your WordPress websites and multisite networks is a vital security measure. As such, it’s important to understand how the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will impact the way you use your security and activity log. With the GDPR set to roll out soon, you’ll want to ensure that you are following it to the letter. Fortunately, WordPress plugins such as WP Security Audit Log can help you move towards compliance for your website, and for your security log itself. The GDPR stipulates that you must keep a log so you can remain […]

If you have ever worked on a WordPress site with a massive amount of posts and pages, you might have noticed something about the WordPress search: it doesn’t perform well. In this article, we dive into why the default WordPress search doesn’t scale and some ways to make it better. How WordPress Searches By default, the native WordPress search performs a query on your database that looks something like this: Let’s break down this query a little bit. First, we are using SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS on the wp_posts table. This says, if there were no limit (coming later), how many results would […]

Creating ideal web designs for a site is not an easy task. Different types of websites have different goals, and you need to work accordingly. For instance, if you are working on a lifestyle blog, graphical images and white space are the norm. That said, for an educational website, a simpler design would work fine. Though you can absolutely customize every piece of your design, that can be very time-consuming. What if you could find a beautiful website you love and mimic that design? It would definitely save some time and show you what’s truly possible with WordPress. The Criteria […]

From self-driving cars to stores with no checkout stations, AI is changing our world. The business world is jumping aboard the AI train. Their eyes are focused on big profits. With its potential to reduce labor costs, provide marketing information, and reach new heights in data management, artificial intelligence stands poised to change business just as much as the Internet. Experts agree that companies that use AI to their benefit will see tremendous growth. Future of artificial intelligence for small businesses No one in technology doubts AI’s impact on small businesses. Experts agree it will increase in the coming years. […]

This post is part of a series of posts on extending the WordPress REST API using advanced object-oriented PHP. In the first post, I showed you how to use three filters to modify the schema of any post type route. Using an object-oriented approach is more complex, and takes more work than using functional programming styles or using some object-oriented code but not following the SOLID principles closely as I am attempting to do in these posts. That code we’ve been working with uses three WordPress filters and interacts with multiple WordPress APIs. The goal of these posts is to […]

One of the biggest changes to WordPress ever is coming soon. Are you ready? How can you prepare? Why is WordPress making this change anyway? These questions and many more have been flying around the WordPress space for nearly a year since the new Gutenberg editor was announced by Matt Mullenweg in Summer of 2017 and with good reason. Many developers have concerns, namely around backward compatibility. Read on to learn how Gutenberg will affect your existing site. Intro to Gutenberg For those who have not yet heard, Gutenberg is the nickname given to a new Editor for the WordPress […]

For the second year in a row, WPMU Dev’s Smush Image Compression has won Plugin Madness! This year’s competition was fierce, but in the end, the image compression plugin came out on top. The plugin beat out Autoptimize, ShortPixel Image Optimizer, Hummingbird Page Speed Optimization, previous winner Advanced Custom Fields, Custom Sliders, and finally Restrict Content to keep the throne. This year’s competition was even bigger and better than the previous two years. Huge competitors like Yoast and WooCommerce were knocked out fairly while Smush stayed consistent. Congrats to the team and to anyone who voted for the plugin! Thank […]

More often than not, if someone wants to find a new product or service, they begin with a Google search. Getting your WordPress site to the top of Google is a huge advantage over other sites and can bring in more traffic and potential customers. To do that, you’ll need to have great SEO. Traditionally, getting a business noticed is hard work. You have to advertise for youself in varying markets, hoping the right people notice your site. This can take a lot of time and energy. Most people looking for a new business will go straight to Google. Making […]