I recently talked about WordPress web design trends we can expect for 2018. On that list: microinteractions. If this word causes you to raise your eyebrow questioningly, microinteractions are a way to make websites more pleasant to work with. They do so by turning up the entertainment factor of otherwise mundane or tedious tasks in a subtle way. Oftentimes microinteractions are so small that you don’t really register them consciously. However, they are everywhere both on the web and in real life. For that and other reasons, in this post we will dive deep into how to introduce microinteractions to […]

Is there a WordPress plugin you can’t live without? An awesome tool that helps you promote your site or optimize images? Perhaps there’s an administrative plugin that’s saved you hours of work? Now is the time to say thanks! Torque’s Plugin Madness 2018 is taking nominations from now until February 23rd. Nominate your favorite plugins by going to PluginMadness.com. Plugins will be divided into four categories: Marketing Maintenance Optimization eCommerce. We’ll take each of your top nominations and put them through a bracket-style competition throughout March until we’ve landed on the ultimate plugin! Voting in March is important, but if […]

Social media is a huge part of life on the internet. Every brand and business needs to have a presence on Facebook on Twitter. Get those profiles seen by integrating them directly with your site. WordPress and social media For WordPress, the best way to include social media elements is to use plugins. These plugins can not only extend the functionality in enhancing the traffic but also help in exchanging the traffic between the website and social media, leave positive impacts of users/visitors, brand building and promote profiles in social media. Increasing popularity of social media Social sharing has become […]

Having a local development environment set up on your computer is an efficient workflow for developing a site, but what do you do when you have multiple projects to work on simultaneously? This is the function of Virtual Hosts — which allows you to run multiple sites all on the same server — whether that be a local or production server. This post will walk through the steps to setting up Virtual Hosts on MAMP, although the steps are roughly the same for any server running Apache. Enable virtual hosts The first step is to find the MAMP application in […]

I’ve covered adding custom fields to REST API responses before. While my original post from a few years ago is still largely valid, there are new improvements. I’d like to share what’s changed. When I wrote that post, the only way to add a custom field to a response was using register_rest_field and adding your own read, write and schema handlers. That method still works. But, you can also use register_meta(), which handles the callbacks for you. If your custom fields are stored using the WordPress object’s standard meta API, for example, user meta for users, then this new method […]

WordPress has grown from a blogging platform to a powerful tool that powers 29 percent of the web. It has become a place you can build a portfolio, enterprise site, or an ecommerce site. You can sell anything from plugins to sweaters using the CMS. We’ve compiled all the tips and tricks you need to know to create a fully-functional online store into a free ebook. Download the Ultimate Guide to eCommerce for WordPress Here! This ebook will teach you everything from A/B Testing to site design to customer retention all in one place. Create a beautiful website from start to […]

At this year’s WordCamp US, I was super excited by the possibilities that Gutenberg presented for WordPress. I came home and started making blocks. Having built a few custom block plugins, I’m even more excited. This isn’t a tutorial, instead, this is a reflection on what it’s like to develop for the WordPress of the future, as of Gutenberg version 1.9.1. Yes, I was skeptical when Gutenberg was first released as a “beta”. I think calling it a beta was a mistake as what we had to work with six months ago was not feature complete. Version 1.9 isn’t feature […]

Is your website accessible to those with a disability? Approximately 56.7 million Americans have a disability. Unfortunately, the majority of websites, even newly built ones, do not meet accessibility standards. If you haven’t considered accessibility until now, your site most likely has barriers that make it difficult for anyone with a disability to view and engage with the website. Having an accessible website ensures a positive web experience for all consumers. According to a study in the U.K., 71 percent of web users with a disability will simply leave a website that is not accessible. What Is Website Accessibility? Broadly […]

The Internet allows us to do almost anything we want whenever we want. We can research any topic, buy whatever we want, do banking or our taxes, educate ourselves, and so much more. It’s a 24-hour buffet of possibility. However, along with these new means, the web has also increased our risk. First of all, it has created a space where anyone can put out any information they want. In addition to that, there is the issue of keeping your private information secure. Phishing emails, people who hack your website and other dangers have given us all collective trust issues. […]

WordPress advertising can do one of two things for you – drive your website and company’s growth, or destroy it. This is why digital advertising is both a blessing and a curse and requires plenty of attention if you want to get the best of it. Regardless of the quality of products or services you offer, learning how to manage ads on WordPress is key to increasing traffic and an investment return. A well-managed campaign can bring a fortune to your business. It all comes down to what you know about advertising. Instead of teaching you the many do’s of […]