Blog - page 3

When I was making my generative art I needed to generate a lot of random things. The simplest way to do that with PHP is to use the rand() function.The rand() function selects a random integer (whole number) between 0...

These last few weeks I’ve been experimenting with Generative Art, using PHP. You can see the evolution of my latest series on Twitter. Generative Art is creating artworks through programming. Generative art has a few different names, Procedural art and...

Early on in the development of the new Gutenberg editor I asked how to get a list of all the blocks available in the new editor, then today Keith Devon asked how to do it on Twitter. So I thought...

Plugin notifications have been a problem in WordPress for a long time now. Last week I saw a conversation on Slack where a developer said he thought they were getting out of hand, and then posted this screenshot: So many...

Last week I had a theme customer who wanted to translate some words on their website. The changes they wanted to make were small, and so I wanted a simple plugin to make the changes.I knew that from a technical...

I recently had the idea to make a Twitter Emoji Maze bot, so I tweeted my idea and it was suggested I write a tutorial about how I made it. So I’m going to try to write the article as...

Last week Keith Devon asked if anyone knew how to fix Gutenbergs floated image blocks. For some reason the floated image gets wrapped in a containing div.I’m not sure why this is done, but the code is right there cherry...

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'.This fix also works for other Invalid default value errors such as invalid default value for...

Over the past few years, online privacy has become a significant concern, with companies like Facebook, Amazon, and Google being criticized for their tracking practices. The Cambridge Analytica scandal in particular has had a profound impact on people’s attitudes towards...

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 making my own avatar system for years. I like doing creative...

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 we have done with it.Below is the video from the...

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 people whining about having to learn React”.I really sympathise with...

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 Grid plugin, that Justin mentions, for a couple of months now...

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 response but since then a lot of people have been...

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 themes, but themes as we know them will no-longer be made.In...

Over the past few weeks, I have been developing a WordPress plugin called Toolbelt, which is designed to enhance your WordPress website with various helper modules. Inspired by Jetpack, Toolbelt is perfect for those who appreciate Jetpack’s features but prefer...

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 solution.Not a day goes by without someone tweeting a screenshot...

This weekend I went to WordCamp London. I think it was my 5th WordCamp London and, as always, it was a really interesting weekend. I learnt a lot, and came away with a bunch of ideas for things to try...

I recently had a theme customer ask how to get rid of the Google plus link on their social menu.My recent themes use a social menu setup similar to the one found in the TwentyNineteen theme. This involves setting up...

This weekend I saw someone link Instant.Page – a small javascript library that prefetches links before you click on them. I’ve seen similar projects before that used Ajax to load the html and then substitute a container with the new...

There has recently been a proposal to introduce a new type of plugin into WordPress. One specifically for editor blocks.I find this an interesting concept, and I can definitely see some benefits, but there are also some downsides. For starters;...