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I’m Ben Gillbanks. I make WordPress things at Pro Theme Design, animation things at Brush Ninja, and I co-author a WordPress newsletter called MasterWP. I’m a Dad, a video gamer, and a creative.
Latest Blog Posts
How to fix “Invalid default value” MySQL error on WordPress database
Recently I wanted to duplicate a WordPress database table but I couldn’t because I got the error ERROR 1067 (42000): Invalid default value for ‘post_date’. It took a bit of …
Fathom Analytics: A Privacy First Analytics Solution
Over the last few years privacy online has become a big topic. Lots of news stories about companies like Facebook, Amazon, and Google tracking us have raised awareness of privacy …
Pixel Avatars; a Privacy first Gravatar replacement
Recently Justin Tadlock posted on the WP Tavern about the WordPress Privacy teams plans for local avatars in WordPress to improve privacy options in core WordPress. I’ve been thinking about …
WP Cafe – Developing Themes with Gutenberg
Last week I took part in the first WP Cafe with Keith and Mark from Highrise Digital. The subject was Gutenberg, the new WordPress editor, and talking about the work …
Learning is hard, and so is React
This tweet from Kelly Vaughn caught my eye recently. It came a couple of days after another tweet from Brad Touesnard who said “I have run out of empathy for …
Does WordPress Need a Grid System?
Justin, from WPTavern, has recently posted an article considering whether WordPress needs a grid system. As a designer, I am inclined to say yes. I have been using the Layout …
It’s not all bad for WordPress themes – is it?
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how themes, as we know them, are going to be ending, and then went on holiday. I wasn’t expecting such a big …
The End of WordPress Themes is in Sight
It’s been a long time coming. I currently earn a living selling WordPress themes. In a couple of years that won’t be the case. I might be earning something from …
Toolbelt – WordPress Privacy and Speed
Over the last couple of weeks I have been building a WordPress plugin called Toolbelt. It’s a collection of helper modules that enhance your WordPress website, and it’s inspired by …
Why do people use Medium (the online content publisher)?
I’ve tweeted my thoughts on Medium before: I’m not a fan! I work with WordPress but I like competition, and try to be objective, but Medium is not a good …
Projects
Brush Ninja
Pixel Peak
