Every new WordPress website I’ve ever created came with Hello Dolly already installed. It was usually the first thing I deactivated and deleted, too. Although there really isn’t any bloat with that plugin, it didn’t really serve a purpose for me, either. Until this year. Earlier this year I saw a tweet from @lemonadcodegirl where she repurposed the Hello Dolly plugin to display Hamilton lyrics instead. Her father had retweeted it saying how proud he was and how Hello Dolly was one of the first plugins made by Matt Mullenweg. A little more digging, and I discovered that one of the primary purpo ..read more

Last week, Astra Theme was suspended from the WordPress repository for inserting affiliate codes into upsell links included in free plugins. As a result, the entire WordPress Community went into an uproar, some on behalf of Astra, others on behalf of the users, plugin companies, and general WordPress business practices. There is no question about whether Brainstorm Force, the makers of Astra Theme, broke the rules. However, this situation highlights a variety of issues that require a little more retrospective examination. Confusion Over How Rules Were Broken Led to Undue Outrage If we look at ..read more

Full site editing in WordPress is in development and you can already try it out. I took a look and wanted to share my takeaways and how the developments in Gutenberg are paving the way forward for full site editing.  Part of the move toward full site editing includes new developments in Gutenberg itself. So, let’s start by talking through those new features. How to Test WordPress Full Site Editing and New Gutenberg Features Today All the tools you need in order to test full site editing in WordPress are free and available to you today. But they’re in a few scattered places, so I’ll summar ..read more

The great thing about WordPress and the WordPress community is that we build it together. The features and code, the opinions, aspirations, goals, and hard work of each member of the community pushes it forward.  Following up on our first “What to Watch for in WordPress in 2020” piece, we wanted to hear from community members what they think will be important and significant for 2020 in WordPress. These community members know the Zeitgeist of WordPress well, so their “hot takes” are worth bookmarking and watching for this year. Our Hot Take for WordPress in 2020 At Impress.org, we’re most ..read more

There’s a lot to look forward to in 2020 in the WordPress world. At Impress, we asked developers, Automatticians, bloggers, and many other WordPress community members what they had up their sleeves for the coming year. This is what they told us.  A new year, a new decade. In the past ten years, we have seen significant and notable growth in the WordPress ecosystem. The past year alone held some of the best of it, and so we were curious about what 2020 might bring. From WordPress Core itself to events to new products and company news, here are some of the biggest and most exciting things t ..read more

Abstract Factories are next in our series on Design Patterns. This pattern makes the decision making and complexity in creating the right object at the right time more manageable and reliable. Let’s start with an analogy. As an astute entrepreneur you decide to get into the wild world of chair making. With big ambitions you decide to sell modern chairs, Victorian chairs, abstract chairs, simple chairs, and really — all the chairs. Not only that, but chairs will be made to order. Genius! One after another, customers start walking in the front door and you do your best to sell them on how amazin ..read more

Value Objects are the next in our series of Design Patterns. This pattern takes simple values and gives them super powers with the added bonus of catching bugs sooner. Unexpected values is a common problem in development. You think, “Ok, this will always be a positive number,” and then somehow it’s negative. You think, “This post status will be one of these values,” but then it’s something completely unexpected. Your code breaks in really weird ways and it’s hard to figure out what happened. When you find the issue and realize it was supposed to be impossible, a tiny part of you dies. We need ..read more

This article is part of a series on introducing Design Patterns. In this article we introduce what Design Patterns are and why to use them. In other articles we will introduce specific Design Patterns, including when and how to use them. Reinventing the wheel is a complete waste of time, so why do we do it so often during development? Imagine, for a moment, that you were setting out to build a house. Nothing too fancy, just a little square building. Now imagine that you approached the problem as if you were the first person to ever try to build a building. That is, the structures and standards ..read more

WordCamps range in size from small (less than 100) to large (500+) all around the world. Some are held in conference centers while others are at local schools. No matter what size, all WordCamps require sponsorship. Funding a conference event like a WordCamp isn’t easy, especially if you’re in an area where venues are pricey. High-tech venues, which are infinitely more helpful for a WordCamp, are even more expensive. So where do you get the money to do all that you need to do in order to provide the best conference experience? Sponsors. Yes, there are global sponsors for WordCamps, but you nee ..read more

As of December 1, 2018, Quick Checkout is now owned and maintained by Scott Deluzio. As announced earlier this year, part of our rebranding effort was to find a new home for Maps Builder and Quick Checkout. After several weeks negotiating multiple offers, we’re proud to announce that Quick Checkout has a new owner. Scott Deluzio is well-known in the WordPress community for his ability to maintain and develop a wide array of quality WordPress products. His current offerings include Privacy WP, Fullscreen Background Images, WP 1099, WP-CRM System, and his most popular plugin: Conditional Checkou ..read more