Many developers today are buzzing about how they use the WordPress REST API in conjunction with a JavaScript framework. While that process does work well, I’ve been exploring how to correlate the REST API to a PHP MVC framework, specifically Laravel. In this article, I will highlight a few different ways to integrate the WordPress REST API into Laravel. I recently built a web application to serve helpful tips and links into my WordPress plugin Caldera Forms. Most of the content it sends exists in WordPress so I thought about creating a plugin that would run on the Caldera Forms […]

The web hosting space is expanding. As such, it can be particularly challenging to sort through dozens of different options to determine which one is right for your business needs. G2 Crowd released its Winter 2017 web hosting results, providing a side-by-side comparison of 13 popular managed website hosting companies — all of which offer a WordPress hosting option. Results can make it easier to choose your next host. Each host was evaluated across a range of different categories, including overall satisfaction, satisfaction by category, and satisfaction by feature. In calculating the Grid Scores, G2 Crowd also took into account the […]

From newbie bloggers to established businesses, everyone loves WordPress. Since its inception in 2003, WordPress has grown by leaps and bounds. Today it powers more than 60 million websites and has left its other counterparts such as Joomla and Drupal far behind. Thousands of plugins, themes, and widgets add a great flexibility to the WordPress ecosystem. However, it may be overwhelming for you to find the right plugins and themes that are suitable for your business. Thus, if you use WordPress to run your blog or website, then you must subscribe to ultimate resources which help you gain more out […]

Last month we launched our second annual Plugin Madness competition, where we pit 64 plugins against each other. Voted on by the community, this year’s victor was none other than WPMU DEV’s Smush Image Compression. Torque spoke with CEO and Co-founder of WPMU DEV, James Farmer, about his WordPress journey, what he’s learned along the way, and more. Torque: Tell us your WordPress story. How did you first get involved? How was WPMU DEV founded? Farmer: Well, it’s been a long and winding road. There are a couple of ways you can approach it, either a bit more of a regular […]

WordPress sites are everywhere these days, but hiring a good developer is challenging. Before you go out and start trying random developers that may or may not work out, read this guide for how to hire the best WordPress developer for your team and decide on the best type of WordPress site for your business. Off-the-shelf vs. Custom build When you are building a WordPress site, you have two different paths you can take: Buy an off the shelf theme from somewhere like themeforest.net Work with a WordPress developer to create a custom theme Off-the-shelf WordPress themes are great for […]

Registration for Contributor Day at WordCamp Europe is now open. The day-long event will take place before the conference in the Business Center of “Les Docks de Paris” — the same location as the conference — and will be held on Thursday, June 15 from 8:30 a.m – 5:30 p.m. “Unlike previous years, Contributor Day is going to happen the day before the conference, on Thursday, June 15th, 2017,” the official announcement said. Contributor Day is an opportunity for WordPressers to work alongside and learn from some of the best WordPress contributors in the community. In this setting, contributors can work within […]

We are excited to declare Smush Image Compression Torque’s 2017 Plugin Madness Champion! In the final championship round, Smush Image Compression defeated WordPress security plugin WordFence, making it Torque’s 2017 Plugin Madness Champion. Smush Image Compression’s journey to victory was not without challenges. Last year, the plugin made it to the exceptional 8 but was ultimately knocked out by powerhouse plugin WooCommerce. This year it faced off in some suspenseful matchups throughout the competition but held its own along the way. The plugin knocked out EWWW Image Optimizer in a nail-biting round 1 before going on to beat Autoptimize — optimization […]

The WordPress REST API is a really awesome way to get WordPress content in the JSON format so you can use it in a JavaScript-driven interface. Normally, this means that your page loads without any content included and then you make an AJAX request to the server for the content as JSON, and render it on the page. For a first page request, that is one extra request. As long as you’re on the server, why not get the content, as JSON, included in the response to the first request. In this post, I will discuss using the REST API’s […]

There are so many ways to contribute to WordPress. More specifically, the Core development team recently announced they need help speeding up the adoption of REST API within the WordPress admin. Why not get involved? If you’ve been thinking about finally jumping in and becoming a WordPress contributor, now is the time. Even if you only contribute one line of code, you will have still helped make WordPress a better project. This is also a great opportunity to get hands-on with the REST API and see what’s possible, with all the support of the WordPress community behind you. In this […]

The WordPress theme repository is the best place to find safe and beautiful themes. However, it has been plagued with long queues, fewer contributors, and a flawed contribution process. The theme repo is flooded new entries on a regular basis but, how many actually make it to the list? The answer is — very few. The future of the theme repository on WordPress.org has been in discussion for quite some time, but after the recent launch of the new plugin repo, I think that it’s high time to discuss the theme repo as well. Matt Mullenweg’s biggest dream for the […]