Category: Development

Why You Should Learn Another Programming Language

If you’re a developer in the world of WordPress, you typically know one programming language: PHP. You may have some familiarity with Javascript, but PHP is likely where you feel most comfortable. That doesn’t mean comfortable is where you should stay, though....

Brackets for WordPress: 2016 Edition

I have been an avid Brackets user since 2013. It’s a free, lightweight, open-source code editor that is perfect for beginners and experienced developers alike. One of my favorite features of Brackets is the number of extensions available to allow users to tailor...

Working with Transients like a Boss

We’ve covered the reasons why using transients (and caching in general) can greatly enhance the performance of WordPress sites. I’m offering up what I find to be two compelling solutions for pain points that are often encountered when working with transients–how to create dynamic...

Visual Composer: Taming and Customizing a WordPress Page Builder

Options are great. It’s always a wonderful thing to have options. I think most of us likely grew up being told that having options was important–for instance, fallback options, or when Plan A falls apart. Sometimes, though, too many options can create...

A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Bash & Shell Scripts

Optimizing your development workflow is one of the most important things a developer can do. Being able to leverage your tools quickly and efficiently lets you spend your time working on actual development–instead of fighting your tools or doing boring, repetitive things....

Helpful Books for Front-End Developers

“Please, no matter how we advance technologically, please don’t abandon the book. There is nothing in our material world more beautiful than the book.” –Patti Smith There are many great pathways to glean new information out there, whether it be on the...

Unit Testing Your Plugins with Dockunit

I think we can all agree that unit testing is pretty neat. An automated system for checking if your code changes break any functionality is almost magic, and if you aren’t sure where to get started with it, you should read my previous...

Getting Started with Flexbox: First Impressions, Tips, & Tricks

Recently, here at WDS, we started incorporating Flexbox into our projects. I wanted to share some great resources I’ve come across to get going with Flexbox and highlight some of the early first impressions and some of the struggles you might encounter...

What Are You Paying For When You Hire a Developer?

Usually folks hire someone else for a task for one of two reasons: They are either short on time or skill. In particular, when it comes to creative works like design, development, writing, marketing, et al., it means you’re also paying for a unique perspective...