As a WordPress developer it is a painful (and all too familiar) feeling of angst, when I find a plugin that does almost exactly what I want but the author has left no way for me to modify the behavior without changing their code. Don’t Hack Core (or plugins) A popular refrain in WordPress developer Continue reading
Overridable Templates in Your WordPress Plugin
There are many WordPress plugins that allows you to provide your own template in your theme that overrides the default template (e.g. WooCommerce). I’d like to look at how you can add this functionality to your own plugin. Default Template For demonstration purposes I’ve created a WordPress plugin called the Raptor Button plugin. This plugin Continue reading
Make Your Plugin Translatable
As we watch the number of non-English WordPress installations grow faster than English installations, the value of making your plugin “translation ready” grows as well. In order to make your plugin translatable (this is also know as Internationalization or I18n), there are three things you need to do. 1. Use Translation Functions Whenever you use Continue reading
Improve Genesis Theme Search
Over on the Yoast SEO Blog there is a great post on How to Improve WordPress Search. It is definitely worth a read (I can wait if you want to read it right now). I’m a big fan of the Genesis framework (see Why I Use the Genesis Framework) and implementing some of these changes 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
WordPress Transients
WordPress transients, like most things in programming, are about being lazy. Unfortunately, in this case it isn’t about making the programmers life easier but rather about making the web server’s life easier (and the people who maintain and pay for the web server). Jump to Resources What is the temperature outside? When someone asks what 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
Introduction to Post Meta
Extending WordPress Posts By default, WordPress posts include a Title and the Content. If we want to store additional information with a post, we need to store it somewhere. In this example, I want to look at adding a Subtitle to a post. I presented this topic at WordCamp DC 2017 and the slides for Continue reading
WordCamp Supplies
When attending a WordCamp (a community-driven WordPress focused conference), these are the supplies I take with me. phone with extra battery reusable water bottle tiny notebook & pen laptop extra bag for giveaways (a.k.a schwag) an open mind Phone with Extra Battery I spend a lot of time on Twitter at WordCamps, it reminds me Continue reading