There are quite a few blog posts, plugins and hacks suggesting to hide the WordPress version number, or hide the overall fact that you’re using WordPress. Don’t do it — it’s pretty useless. There are hundreds if not thousands of ways to not only find out the fact that you’re using WordPress, but also find out the exact version number, regardless of any plugins or...
Using get_template_part within Shortcodes
The get_template_part function is one of the most useful things available to WordPress theme developers. Although mostly used in themes for public, get_template_part is often used in custom WordPress websites as an alternative to the PHP include or require. When using get_template_part with the Shortcode API, there are two things you should always keep in mind: get_template_part executes .php...
Columns for WordPress
Sometimes you need to split your content into two or more columns, perhaps for a list of features on your front page. Unfortunately the standard WordPress editor does not support that out of the box (yet) so you turn to plugins. With quite a few options available, it’s not easy to make the right choice, plus, there’s almost always a learning curve involved, especially with shortcodes...
Maintaining a Local WordPress Subversion Repository
When working with WordPress core, you often have to go back and forth through commits, scroll or search through revision logs, switch between tags and branches and so on. This can be annoying with a slow Internet connection and impossible without a connection at all, but what if you’re working on a core patch on a plane or a submarine?
WordPress Meetup in Moscow
The Moscow WordPress Meetup group is growing, and this weekend we had three sessions and over 30 attendees! We finally seem to have settled with the venue, and started working towards a WordCamp Moscow this year.
Fun fact: next meetup (in March) we will turn one year old.
7 Tips for Better WordPress Theme Development
I gave this talk at WordCamp Norway 2013. It covers several tips and tricks that will make you a better theme developer.
You can follow the slides and the notes/transcript below. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to ping me here or on Twitter, I’m always happy to help :)
Understanding get_template_part
If you’re creating WordPress themes you surely came across the get_template_part function at one point or another. It’s one of those hidden gems inside of WordPress that don’t get the attention they deserve. Let’s change that. The get_template_part function is essentially a PHP include or require, on steroids: It already knows where your theme is located and it will look...
Tip: wp_cron() runs during init
Pro tip: wp_cron() runs during the init action at the default priority, i.e. 10. If you’d like things to be available during your cron tasks, make sure you initialize them earlier: the init action at priority 9 and less, or other actions that run before init — beware of these, since other things might not be available at that time. Also, Core Control is a good plugin to test and debug...
WordPress 3.5
WordPress 3.5 is here and it’s awesome. Media’s lovely, hyphens in shortcodes now work, and switch_to_blog() is so fast, your dog will never catch it, unless your database is down, in which case you should try HyperDB. Always nice to see your own name in the list of contributors, which makes 3.5 the fourth major version I contributed to with at least one patch. The feeling is good...
Theme Publish is now on WordPress.com
I released a WordPress theme called Publish earlier this month, and today, thanks to the awesome Theme Team of Automattic, Publish has been made available to all WordPress.com users. Publish is a clean and minimal WordPress theme, perfect for (but not limited to) single-author blogs. While working on shipping Publish to WordPress.com customers, a bunch of improvements have been made to the theme...