Development

There are certain times when you just don’t want every aspect of your website hanging out in the breeze. That is, you don’t want every templated aspect of a page, post, header, or footer shown in every instance it appears. And while it might seem as though you have to rewrite the template or theme code for each time you want this omission to occur, that’s not actually true.  In fact, you can hide elements on your website quickly using just CSS. And it’s actually pretty easy. Today, we’re discussing eight different ways to do so. Each of these options […]

Page experience has become an increasingly important aspect of how Google ranks websites in the SERPs. Page experience constitutes several factors but there are a set of core web vitals that must be accounted for or else your site’s rank will suffer.  Understanding core web vitals will help you improve your site’s rank and its overall user experience. Today, we’ll be define what they are and propose ways to improve them on your website.  Defining Core Web Vitals  Everything we’ll be discussing here today relates directly to page speed and user interaction. That is, Google highly values page speed and […]

In this post, we will talk about CSS custom properties, also known as CSS variables. Their usage is becoming more popular. For example, if you open up the style sheet of the Twenty Twenty-One default theme, you will find a lot of them in there. One of the reasons is that their browser support has become very good, making them a valid tool in your arsenal and a useful CSS feature. If your knowledge of CSS custom properties is limited and you’d like to know more, you have come to the right place. In the following, we will talk about […]

Every WordPress update brings a host of helpful new features to the platform, but the sheer volume of them can make them easy to overlook. Gutenberg especially is jam-packed with a variety of hacks and shortcuts, many of them hidden under the hood and inside menus you may not have even noticed before. If you’re not taking advantage of these, you’re definitely missing out, as they can save you a ton of time and unnecessary frustration. From ways to save seconds when writing and page building to little tips that can revolutionize how you use WordPress, here are 17 little-known […]

WordPress 5.8, anticipated to be released in July, takes the next step towards Full Site Editing. This release includes the Query Loop and Page List blocks, which introduce the concept of displaying content dynamically and allow you to build dynamic layouts using new WordPress core blocks. WordPress’s plan for Full Site Editing is to eventually allow users to build all parts of their sites without any PHP using blocks. This includes full control over your page, single post, archive, and 404 templates, as well as areas formerly controlled by themes, such as headers, footers, and sidebars. It will make the […]

Uninstalling WordPress plugins: Probably the simplest thing in the world, right? Just click a few buttons and the problem plugin is gone. In an ideal world that would be the case. But the default uninstaller can actually leave a lot of garbage data behind on your site. This ranges from useless tables left in your database to a bunch of little files taking up space in the background. While this usually isn’t a big deal, these leftover files can sometimes cause conflicts or other errors. So what’s the right way to get rid of plugins then? How can you make […]

Accessibility has been a huge conversation in WordPress. It can seem overwhelming to make your site accessible but not doing so will result in missing out on customers. The issue can feel like a tough one to tackle but we sat down with Sanjay Nasta, CEO of Microassist, to look at why and how you can make your site accessible to all. Torque: Accessibility has become a growing focus for websites and mobile apps, especially in recent years (even though many sites are still lagging on implementation). What’s behind this growing awareness? Sanjay Nasta: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) […]

Progressive web apps are the hot new trend online. Everyone’s making one for their business, and to hear many people tell it, you should be too. But what exactly are these mini-apps and how can your company make use of them? Are they really the best way to draw in new visitors? PWAs have almost all the functionality of a typical downloadable app. But the big difference is that they’re accessible in your browser rather than having to be downloaded and run on a device. This has huge implications for you and your visitors, and that’s why everyone loves them. […]

The WordPress Representational State Transfer (REST) Application Programming Interface (API) opened up a world of possibilities for website owners and developers. However, sometimes you may need to work with content and services that REST doesn’t support out of the box. Fortunately, it is possible to extend this powerful API with a custom REST endpoint. By defining your own endpoints, you can get WordPress chatting to practically any application or service, including your own bespoke mobile applications.  In this post, we’ll discuss why you may want to create a custom endpoint for the WordPress REST API, and then show you how. Let’s […]

Headless WordPress gives you greater control over your content and the freedom to build a completely custom front end. However, the process of configuring and designing this presentation layer isn’t always easy.  That’s where having a solid development framework comes into play. A framework such as Next.js can help you create a beautiful, high-performing front end for your WordPress content, even if you have no previous web development experience.  In this article, we’ll introduce you to headless WordPress, and then explain what the Next.js framework is and its benefits. We’ll also show you how to use Next.js to run WordPress […]