Don’t Call Yourself a Developer If You Don’t Code

This essay was originally written in 2015 after years of "race to the bottom" in the WordPress space, especially among service providers who sell low-cost solutions without revealing the drawbacks of their work. For some unknown reason, the number of "WordPress Developers" out there is probably nearing the number of Java developers, despite the fact that all Java developers do program extensively whilst the WordPress developers far too often have no idea what's going on behind the admin panel. Full disclosure: I am a WordPress Core contributor since version 3.7 with a background in Java and Python. Many of our agency projects… Continue Reading

Shortcut to the WordPress Community for Beginners

Last week Siobhan wrote a very thorough and comprehensive article regarding the WordPress Community. People who are just stepping on the WordPress ground have a hard time figuring out where to start, how to get better and furthermore how to give back to a project. Luckily, the continuous work on the community-related groups is leading to handbooks, helping theme and plugin developers, as well as contributors; the Codex provides tutorials and function references, there are meetup groups for WordPress folks. Different divisions are accepting volunteers for important and yet not that obvious tasks such as UX work, mobile, proper and standardized… Continue Reading

17+ Experts Suggest 3 Blogging Mistakes Bloggers Always Make and How to Fix Them

Blogging is one of those areas that is always “about to die” but never lets go. As my agency profiles in high-scale WordPress projects and WordPress is built on PHP, I’ve spent the past decade listening about the decay of both technologies… And yet, PHP is the most widely used programming language with 79% adoption on the web and 43% of all websites out there are built on WordPress. So, if you keep hearing that blogging is dead… Then it’s probably on the rise! I’ve approached some expert bloggers and asked them to list common blogging mistakes that beginner bloggers… Continue Reading

14 Ways To Dramatically Speed Up Your Website From A Technical Perspective

.. But what if the website can’t handle that much traffic? That would reflect in 4xx and 5xx error codes, unresolved pages or complete downtime. As we know, 404s are not a big deal SEO-wise, but customer dissatisfaction can affect your bounce rates and impact your overall strategy in the long run. Performance for UX, SEO, Cost Savings and More DIY site builders and hobbyist service providers are everywhere. This leads to low-cost WordPress solutions bundled with numerous plugins which ends up being a mess. While I appreciate WordPress as a solution that’s free and open source, with a bearable learning… Continue Reading

Xdebug for Fedora with PHP 5.3

In February I wrote a guide on setting up Xdebug for Eclipse usage under Ubuntu. Using a neat debugger while exploring an existing WordPress project is a must and among the two possibilities (the Zend one or Xdebug) I use Xdebug. However, setting it up on my ThinkPad took a bit more time due to the different configuration. Basically the installation process and the Eclipse configuration is all the same - install php-devel and pecl and then proceed with xdebug install, configure Eclipse further. However, adding the Xdebug support for the PHP has several differences to be taken into account.… Continue Reading

WordPress Services and My Pricing Strategy

Pricing has always been a painful topic for everyone, both clients and contractors/companies. Clients try to keep it as low as possible (normally) and contractors try to earn more (again, normally). There are quite a few videos, books, tutorials and blog posts on the subject, and not as many people talking about that. Chris Lema is one of the most open people when it comes to pricing, and he's helped me to negotiate on projects and find out the best possible way to discuss projects with serious customers who would like to build a given software and have a clear vision… Continue Reading

WordPress Security: Critical Vulnerabilities In 10 Popular Plugins (2020 Case Study)

WordPress is often portrayed as an insecure platform that should be avoided for enterprise-grade projects. Having spent the past decade deploying WordPress for SMEs, I’ve busted this myth numerous times – including our guide for important security considerations disclosing our experience working with banks and other financial institutions. As the ubiquitous platform now powers over 40% of the Internet, being a vendor common to attacks from hackers is expected. Any industry leader in tech gathers more attention and “script kiddies” when popularity exceeds a certain point. The Main Security Risk With WordPress The WordPress Core platform (the free software available… Continue Reading

Is WordPress Suitable For Large and Complex WordPress Websites?

Is WordPress suitable for large and complex WordPress websites? You should be concerned about building any complex project regardless of the underlying framework or a CMS. Let me quote the original scope from the comment before discussing further: I am currently in the process of obtaining quotes to build a website. The website is likely to be quite complex, with two user groups (e.g.buyers and sellers), payment system, etc. Should I be concerned by a quote from a web designer who proposes to build it within WordPress? WordPress Platform Fundamentals The first thing to consider is the high-end scope of… Continue Reading

9 Misconceptions By Clients Looking For a Web Platform

The sales process for web development businesses may be confusing. There are endless misconceptions we've seen during sales calls and presales meetings, some more common than others. What Makes Web Development Confusing? Unlike buying a physical product or a service that brings an obvious impact on a physical item (like your home or a car), gauging work quality or time frames is nearly impossible. I've discussed the challenges of estimates several times and this is the leading reason why 95% of our business now is formed by WordPress retainers. Fixed-fee estimates are hardly successful. Tons of unknowns are revealed in… Continue Reading

Submit iframe Form To External Site

Many advertising services and external APIs provide iframes to be embedded on external sites, but also require some data to be transferred from one site to the other. iframe tags are being restricted for many reasons, mostly security. There are iframe busters (or framekillers) that export the iframe behavior in the parent window, takeover the browser, so to speak. If you need something 'in-between', i.e. a controlled iframe on site 1 which, when submitted, loads a new browser page with the request data valid, then add a _parent target to the form, i.e.: [php] <form method="POST" action="http://example.org/someurl.php" target="_parent"> // form… Continue Reading