Including files in a PHP environment can be tricky for new developers. There are no less than four ways to include a file: include, include_once, require, and require_once. Moreso, there’s very subtle differences in the reasons behind using each one. Throw in WordPress (which has its own specific flavor of include tag – get_template_part) and it can be downright confusing. Using the wrong one,…
Maybe it’s because I’m a website developer, but I get asked occasionally if having a website is still one of those NECESSARY things you have to have. The further we get with web technologies and platforms, however, the more I could possibly maybe see the need for something that’s not a website. People stream games on Twitch. Creators make videos to publish on YouTube. Streamers and…
I've been doing a lot more WooCommerce work as of late. And with good reason - WooCommerce (as of the end of 2016) powers nearly 42% of all eCommerce stores on the internet. One of the biggest requests I have when working with WooCommerce is how to integrate a third party vendor into a checkout screen. An example would be a gift card merchant.…
If you’re like me, you use custom post types a LOT when you’re doing projects (or on your own site, if I’ve done it for you!). There’s a lot of value in having a type of content that’s unrestrained and flexible. Sometimes, however, you want to be able to search a particular post type, and leave out all of the other results (pages, blog…
If you’re running WooCommerce, the Orders screen is a great way to see – at a glance – what’s going on in your store. However, there’s one thing that it absolutely doesn’t show: the products that people have ordered. The code below changes that – it gives you a special column in your Orders screen called “Products” and shows a quantity and product name…
Most WordPress themes, by and large, are ready to go out-of-the-box. Every now and then, however, we have to make changes to a theme that goes beyond the standard options and settings the theme gives us We may have to change a layout, add some content, or simply rearrange the elements on the theme; there are some things you just can't use a radio…
There's nothing scarier than trying to log into your WordPress site and realizing you are unable to do so. Honestly, it happens for one of a few reasons: we forget our password, we've given our account to someone else and they've forgotten the password, or an unsavory individual has gotten access to your account and has now locked you out. Any of these examples are…
WordPress, at its current state, is the most widely used content management system on the planet. Powering over 20% of the popular web (and over 10% of all eCommerce systems), there's no other system that comes close in both scale and usability. It's something you hear about in conversation, especially in small-business circles and blogger meetups. A Definition of WordPress Even though it doesn't really…
If you're a WordPress developer, migrating a finished development project can be one of the trickiest parts. There's moving parts in many places that have to be taken into consideration, and migration is (unfortunately) where WordPress actually could use some improvement. However, it's a necessary evil - one that I've done almost daily for a few years now. I've developed a nice system to…
We've all been there: We're editing the WordPress theme file, setting a new function and *BAM*: We view the site and it's nothing but a sea of white pixels. There's no messages, no errors, nothing to indicate what you've done wrong. And it's frustrating: sure, removing the change would fix the problem, but I (as I'm sure you agree) would rather know why it's not…