This piece was contributed by guest author Peter Suhm. Peter is a web developer from the Land of the Danes. He is the creator of WP Pusher and a huge travel addict, bringing his work along with him as he goes. The other day I posted a warning about using Composer in WordPress plugins…
Tom McFarlin published a thoughtful piece on what he perceives to be the sad state of the WordPress community. Too many people are participating in behavior that is embarrassing from the outside looking in. It’s a long read, but it highlights the need for members of the WordPress community to stop and reflect on our…
One of the habits I developed when I started using WordPress is to always read a plugin’s changelog before updating. The changelog is a communication channel that bridges the gap between me and the developer. It tells me what’s changed, what to expect, and any other information the developer thinks I should know. The most…
Earlier today, I watched a free presentation on how to use the WordPress REST API by Rachael Baker via WPSessions. If you missed it, you can watch the recording for $9. As I watched the presentation, it was clear that no matter how many tutorials I read, WordCamp sessions I attend, and videos I watch,…
For the last three years, the WordPress Theme Review Team has tried to encourage theme authors to adopt the Theme Customizer. In April, the decision was made by the TRT to no longer encourage, but require all theme options to be in the customizer. Although the decision was three years in the making, the community…
This opinion piece was contributed by guest author Peter Suhm. Peter is a web developer from the Land of the Danes. He is the creator of WP Pusher and a huge travel addict, bringing his work along with him as he goes. Yet another WordPress prophecy Okay, I admit that the title of this…
Donnacha MacGloinn published an excellent post on WPMayor.com predicting the end of the webhosting industry. Although he talks about the industry as a whole, MacGloinn says the need for specialized WordPress hosting is quickly disappearing. With the lingering perception that this stuff must be difficult, and the customer’s delight with all that WordPress can do…
Over the weekend, the WordPress plugin directory implemented a major change that better reflects how popular a plugin is. The number of total downloads has been replaced with the number of active installs. While the numbers are not exact, they’re close enough to give people insight into usage. When it comes to reporting WordPress plugin…
I’ve used WordPress to write about WordPress for more than seven years, it’s how I make a living. Recently though, writing in WordPress feels more like being a data entry specialist. I guess in some ways, it’s not surprising considering that’s exactly what I’m doing. The post editor is more or less a pretty user…
In the last year or so, WordPress.com has been experimenting with a new post editor. As a user of WordPress.com, I clicked the add new post button and was shocked to discover an entirely different interface than what I’m used to. Continuously pushing improvements across the platform with little to no announcement and measuring feedback…
This week Envato published stats on how WordPress product sellers are doing within its economy. Theme authors make up the bulk of WordPress-based earnings on its marketplace and continue to dominate sales. Inspired by his interaction with the WordPress business community at Pressnomics, Ben Chan, director of Growth and Revenue at Envato, penned an insider…
Mika Epstein, who helps oversee the WordPress plugin directory, has published a simple request to stop using copy protection. Epstein explains how copy protection degrades the user experience, makes it difficult to provide tech support, and perhaps most importantly, how they don’t work. She suggests that photographers use a watermark and not put full-size images…
Mario Peshev published a great article that looks at where the WordPress community stands on job titles and skills. Peshev explains why titles are out of control and how they don’t match their expected skill sets. The problem with a number of general titles is that they are overused and it is no longer clear…
WooThemes announced this week that it will be retiring @WooSupport, its Twitter support account, in favor of other support channels. Social media manager Marina Pape reports that support at the company is otherwise healthy. “On the contrary, our support is cooking with Customer Happiness this week averaging 90%, all support teams coming in under 24…
I’ve used WordPress for more than seven years and I can’t think of any features it has that are innovative. I believe part of the reason is that I’ve been stuck in the WordPress bubble for so long, I haven’t been exposed to different ways of doing things. I only know the WordPress way and…