WordPress 3.9, like winter, is coming, but there is no reason to be surprised by what it brings as creating a test site on your personal computer and upgrading it to the pre-release version of WordPress 3.9 couldn’t be easier.
Understand The WordPress Template Hierarchy!!!!
A WordPress theme is a collection of template files used for displaying content, but what template is used for what content? Understanding the template hierarchy can help you answer this question no matter what content you are using.
WordPress Debug Bar Add-On Plugins That I Love!!!!
I’m slowly filling the internet with articles mentioning my love of the WordPress Debug Bar Console plugin. While it is my favorite and most used add-on plugin for the Debug Bar, it is not the only add-on that I use and love. Today I wanted to share my favorite add-ons, most of which are not included in the Developer plugin.
Three Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I Started Doing WordPress Development!!!!
I want to share the three biggest things I wish someone had told me when I started doing WordPress development, in hopes that others will read this and skip as much of the struggles I went through when I started. These simple things will not only make you more efficient as a developer, they will make you better. They may sound tricky, but they are easy. I got more done, solved more problems and was able to actually accomplish something.
Learning PHP Through WordPress Development: Arrays & Objects!!!!
Learning WordPress development taught me everything I know about PHP and I think that’s a great way to learn. WordPress makes so much of working with a content management system simple that you can zero in on one thing at a time to learn and let WordPress take care of the rest.
JPD2 Easy Transient Caching Plugin!!!!
My newest plugin, JPD2, makes caching the results of a WP_Query, WP_User_Query and WP_Meta_Query, via the transients API easy. Realize increased performance, by caching the results of your queries, with one simple function. All saved queries are automatically reset when any post is updated. You can download it from WordPress.org or clone the GitHub repo. […]
The Expertise Trap!!!!
The point of your blog should be to establish yourself as an expert in whatever field you want to sell yourself in. But what if expertise is over rated?
The Suspension Of Disbelief!!!!
I’ve taken a little break from my content strategies for success series lately. I would have loved to have a better excuse than I’ve been busy and a little unsure of what the hell I was doing, even though both are true. What snapped me out of it was having two patches to WordPress itself merged into the next version of the software I use everyday.
The feeling that I still wasn’t good enough was keeping me from blogging, but the sense of accomplishment that came from becoming a WordPress core contributor has helped me get over my temporary crisis of confidence, but I never would have gotten to this point, if I hadn’t suspended my disbelief in myself along time ago. Remembering that I don’t have to know everything about what I do and blog about helped get me through my most recent crisis of confidence, more than any accomplishment.
Evaluating Unset Goals!!!!
When I started this series, I said that I had originally intended to set some goals but then I read an awesome blog post about creating systems instead of setting goals. Thing is, in my mind there are still some goals there, whether I like it or not.
Of course, I will never be happy about not reaching some nebulous, undefined goal about how much I should be posting. So instead, I’m refocusing on systems. Letting the analytics guide my strategy, instead of guilt over goals I never actually set, is a smart system for success.
What’s Your Blog’s Story?!!!!
You may not think of your blog as communicating a narrative, but it is essential to think of it as something that tells a story. Creating a compelling narrative is the only way to create an emotional connection to your readers and that’s the only type of connection that matters. We may like to think of ourselves as rational decision makers, because that supports the narrative that our conscious self is in control of our actions, but a brief study of the modern science of decision making, or a simple observation of the world around shows the falsity of that idea.
We make decisions based largely based on a subconscious thought process that is largely emotional and if your blog doesn’t make an emotional connection with your readers you will never influence their decisions.