There is a very useful command line tool called which. This tool determines which file will be executed when you type it. Unfortunately, this command can sometimes provide the wrong answer. Background The PATH environmental variable is a list of directories to check for an executable when it is entered. This means that an executable Continue reading
Using Vim to View Git Commits
This tweet blew my mind. $ git log | vim -R –Now press <K> on a commit hash. — Luke Diamand (@LukeDiamand) February 21, 2018 I spend a lot of my time in Vim and Git and this is an amazing combination of the two. While I love this command, I think we can do Continue reading
WordPress Anchor Shortcode Plugin
Once an article reaches a certain length, it is valuable to allow linking to a specific part of the page by creating anchor locations. Unfortunately, creating an anchor location in WordPress involves writing raw HTML, which is not an ideal client solution. There are other solutions out there but Blinebury Design wanted a specific set Continue reading
Delete Transients on Plugin Deactivation
When I was a child, my mother often reminded me to clean up after myself. While I’m pretty sure she was talking about the kitchen, this is great advice for plugin authors as well. When someone deactivates your plugin, it is good form to remove anything you added to the database. The most common place Continue reading
WordPress sanitize_title() in JavaScript
I was working on a project where I needed the functionality provided by the WordPress PHP function sanitize_title(). Unfortunately, I needed this functionality in JavaScript. As with many problems in programming, this turned out to be more complex than I originally thought it would be. I discovered there were a number of edge-cases that I Continue reading
Why I prefer CMB2 over ACF
When working in WordPress, it is common to extend the platform with Custom Fields that go beyond the default functionality. Two popular choices are Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) and CMB2. My Preference My personal preference is CMB2. At the same time, there are many developers I know and respect who prefer ACF and use it Continue reading
WordPress PHPMailer Vulnerability
There is a vulnerability in the PHPMailer library that affects any version before the critical release of 5.2.18. This PHPMailer vulnerability has been publicly disclosed at legalhackers.com. The PHPMailer library version 5.2.14, a vulnerable version, is included in WordPress 4.7 (the latest version at the time of this writing). In other words, WordPress 4.7 and Continue reading
WordPress Responsive Images
On November 20th, 2016 I gave a talk called How Responsive Images Work in WordPress at WordCamp Baltimore, this is the companion post to that talk. The slides for the talk are available at How Responsive Images Work in WordPress How Do Responsive Images with srcset Work in General? In my previous post Responsive Images Continue reading
Responsive Images with srcset
When loading an image, historically I loaded the largest size of the image that would be used. e.g. example.jpg is an 1170px wide image for large screens. On small screens this big image is loaded but scaled down to display properly. The important thing to note here is even if the image is only displaying Continue reading
Improve Git Log
I use Git a lot and by default git log is not very helpful. Git log has a lot of optional parameters, which can make the output much more useful. Examples Default Git Log Improved Git Log Using a combination of command line parameters, the git log output becomes beautiful and infinitely more useful. git Continue reading